Day of one second deltas

Another nailbiting day of raicng on the Hauraki Gulf at the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series

Another extraordinary day of racing at the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series on the Hauraki Gulf saw the final knock-out rounds completed and the winner, BMW Oracle Racing, take their first race against the other Challenger finallist, Alinghi. This came just hours after the two factions warring over the 33rd America's Cup had had their day (or more realistically their few minutes) at the final hearing before the New York State Court of Appeals.

Unfortunately one of the scalps that was claimed en route, in the quarter finals, was that of Sir Keith Mills' TeamOrigin, the British team falling to the Vasco Vascotto-skippered Damiani Italia.

After controlling the start Ainslie managed to hook the Italian boat a minute and a half out from the gun and a penalty to Damiani seemed imminent, but was not granted. Ainslie went in for the kill a second time but, having been penalised in a previous race for making contact with his opponent, Ainslie played it safe - perhaps too safe, as far as the umpires were concerned - and for a second time no penalty was awarded.

TeamOrigin's position in relation to the committee boat at that stage allowed Damiani the room to accelerate off the start line slightly faster and that was it. Game over: The Italians went on to lead for the rest of the race, despite pressure from the Brits the whole way round the course. The one track race course and steady wind did not lend itself to passing opportunities or significant shifts. The Brits sailed a faultless race, as did the Italians, who crossed the line 29 seconds ahead.




“This has been a great first event for TeamOrigin," said Sir Keith Mills. "The team showed incredible promise which bodes well for the future. The format of the regatta has been great and we have been made to feel very welcome here in Auckland. Now we are looking forward to getting the team back on the water as soon as possible in our preparation for the 33rd America’s Cup.”

Ben Ainslie added: “We have come a long way in this event and the team has huge potential for the future. We are naturally gutted about the result today but its time to move on. The future of the Cup is obviously dependant on the court case but that said, we have a sailing programme ready for the rest of 2009, with mini maxis, super maxi and match racing activity and hopefully some Acts and we look forward to moving on to the next level.”

Mike Sanderson, Team Director, commented “Short term it is sad to be leaving this competition but long term I can see a really bright future for TeamOrigin. This group of people that we put together have shown how well they can work and sail together, we should be very proud of the way we have performed and conducted ourselves throughout this event.”

Iain Percy, Tactician, added: “We are really disappointed to be knocked out of the event but should be proud of our performance generally throughout the series. We have shown our ability to be a top team in this game being able to take on and beat the most experienced Cup teams. The nature of the regatta with its sudden death format didn’t allow for any mistakes and we found ourselves on the wrong side of that today but no point in dwelling on that, better to reflect on the potential of this group of sailors.”

The other more dramatic quarter final match was between BMW Oracle Racing and the other Italian team, Luna Rossa. Coutts led Larry Ellison's team off the start line by a mere 8m and were neck and neck up the beat with the lead constantly changing between them. BMW Oracle Racing led around the first windward mark but at a price - a luffing incident occurred where both teams were given penalties. These cancelled out but as the yachts headed down the run, BMW Oracle Racing had to gybe to prevent Luna Rossa holding them outside the layline. They successfully crossing the bow of the Italian yacht, but the umpires ruled that they had gybed too close and threw them their second penalty of the race.

BMW Oracle Racing led for the rest of the race and headed towards the finish line with their penalty turn still to be done. At the line Luna Rossa were just four boatlengths behind them where normally six are considered necessary to complete a turn to finish ahead. But showing their extensive skill and race experience, Coutts' team managed an impressively quick turn to take the race win by just one second. And so they moved forward into the Semi-final round.

"Russell did a great job and the guys did extremely well with very smooth moves all the way through that turn," commented BMW Oracle Racing tactician Hamish Pepper.

Conversely in the semi final round there were no fireworks or flags when Oracle raced against Damiani Italia Challenge. It was a boat speed contest and the American team won by 35 seconds.

And so on to the first race of the Challenger final, the clash of the titans, between the greatest rivals presently in the America's Cup - BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi, the Swiss team having fast tracked their way into the final having won the round robin series.

Alinghi’s start against BMW Oracle racing was without incident. The Swiss boat used its starboard entry into the start box to claim the right hand side of the course and lined up for the start with the US team to leeward. Coutts had a tiny edge at the start and the US team were ahead at the first cross, rounding the top mark 11 seconds ahead.

Baird drew level and threatened on the run, just five seconds astern as they started the second beat. Coutts opened the lead on this beat, but on the run, sailing some 90 metres ahead of his rivals, Coutts only applied a loose cover as the boats split apart. A 20 degree wind shift at the end of the run made the committee boat end of the finish line favoured. This gave Alinghi helm Ed Baird the break he needed and in the head-forward dash for the line Alinghi clinched victory by a mere second.

"I have to say that we got just a little bit behind off the start and struggled to gain on BOR but we did do our very best to try to keep things close," commented Baird afterwards. "Down the run the team did an amazing job of gybing the boat and every time we gybed we seemed to gain a little bit. Coming in to the line it looked like BMW Oracle was going to be a couple of boat lengths ahead of us. Juan Vila said the boat end was favoured, Brad agreed, we gybed on layline and it was a beautiful gybe and the guys settled in to sailing the boat fast. We had about eight lengths to go to finish and at about five lengths out I sneaked a look at the opposition and we were gaining, from there the guys made an extra effort to do everything they could and it worked!”

"The Committee Boat end was heavily favoured," agreed Hamish Pepper. "We made a mistake and should have gybed across to take that end of the line. Alinghi did a nice job of keeping it close. Against a team like that, you know that if you make a mistake they will pounce. It is obviously disappointing, but we look forward to racing against them again tomorrow. We need to win the next two."

Competition in the three-race challenger series will continue tomorrow, Thursday, and the winner will meet the host team Emirates Team New Zealand in a seven-race series on Friday and Saturday.

More photos on the following pages...