The rise of Russia

Emirates Team New Zealand penalised for inadequate rig tension at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena

Russia's Synergy Racing Team joined Sweden's Artemis and Emirates Team New Zealand on top of the points table at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena today as unstable wind conditions limited the schedule to just two races.

There were upsets in both races sailed as the Russians beat the America’s Cup champion BMW Oracle Racing and Emirates Team New Zealand went down to Oracle on an umpire-initiated penalty for failing to maintain adequate rig tension on the last spinnaker run.

There was plenty of wind off the little island at the northeastern corner of Sardinia where ten international teams are racing the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena but the shifty northwesterly breeze, gusting from ten to 20 knots, was never sufficiently stable to start races. The race committee waited five hours before starting the first race at 2:00 pm.

The Russian team led by Poland’s Karol Jablonski has been steadily improving at this regatta. Yesterday they won one and narrowly lost one race, but today they made no mistakes adding the scalps of the America’s Cup champions to their belts. The Russians big move came on the first spinnaker run of their race against Oracle as they overtook in 18 to 20 knot winds and then carefully protected their lead for the rest of the race. They started today with a 3-3 win-loss record, but their scoreline now puts this fledgling Cup team, where half the crew are Russian trainees, as joint leader.

Emirates Team New Zealand appeared to have their race against Oracle sewn up too. They landed a penalty on the Americans just over one minute into the pre-start and then staying close to Oracle after the Americans took the lead on the first beat. They looked comfortable all around the race course but that changed when the umpires penalised ETNZ for failing to maintain adequate rig tension, something which the crews had been warned about in the skippers' briefing that morning. The penalties cancelled out and Oracle sailed on to win.

Blow by blow

Flight 21, Race Two, Synergy Russian Sailing Team def BMW Oracle Racing, 00:21 – Karol Jablonski’s Russian team pulled off a nail-biter come-from-behind victory over the America’s Cup winners. James Spithill claimed the committee end of the start line and although the Russians enjoyed a boat length lead, he controlled at the end of the leg and took them high of the mark to lead by nine seconds. Synergy fought back to roll Oracle on the spinnaker run.

Flight Two, Race One: BMW Oracle Racing def Emirates Team New Zealand, 00:06 – An upset win for the USA’s Oracle which raced carrying a penalty imposed in the pre-start but got off the hook when the umpires penalized the Kiwi boat for failing to maintain adequate rig tension (a rule adopted for this event to protect the supplied boats). At the start, Dean Barker and ETNZ were bow-forward and led, but James Spithill and Oracle dominated after the first tack. Half way down the last run Oracle was still leading but without sufficient room to complete a penalty turn. They got out of jail when the umpires penalised ETNZ. The Kiwis are expected to appeal the decision.

Leaderboard

=1. Artemis, 4-1, 4 points
=1. Emirates Team New Zealand, 4-2, 4 points

=1. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 4-3, 4 points
=4. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 4-1, 3 points *

=4. TEAMORIGIN, 3-3, 3 points
=4. All4One, 3-3, 3 points

=7. Azzurra, 2-3, 2 points

=7. Luna Rossa, 2-5, 2 points
=7. BMW Oracle Racing Team, 2-5, 2 points
=10. ALEPH Sailing Team, 2-4, -2 points *