Azzurra go through

Italian team beat TeamOrigin to go into Louis Vuitton Trophy final against Emirates Team New Zealand

One of sailing’s most revered brands will square off tomorrow against one of its most iconic brands when Emirates Team New Zealand races Azzurra in the Final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur.

The final was scheduled to commence this afternoon, but light winds again frustrated competitors and organizers in their attempt to race. Although the championship was put on hold around 1440 CET, three races were held earlier in the day to wrap up the Semi Final Round and the Petit Final.

Azzurra advanced to the championship by defeating TeamOrigin in their showdown match. After a close first beat, the Italians luffed the British at the top of the leg to gain an advantage at the first mark.

Yesterday the Italians suffered in the strong winds and big waves. But today skipper Francesco Bruni and crew revelled in the 8-knot winds and won by 29 seconds.

“I think that we, as Italians, are used to sailing in lighter wind. We all know that,” said Bruni. “I think that we were driving the boat fast today as trimmer and skipper. Also the acceleration on the start line and how the boat reacts in turns, we’re just more confident in those conditions.”

Emirates Team New Zealand then took to the racecourse and booked its place in the final by defeating the pesky Synergy Russia Sailing Team.

Team New Zealand and Synergy had sailed three ding-dong battles, highlighted by yesterday’s second race when each team was penalised 1 point by a combination of the on-water umpires and International Jury. But this morning’s anticipated showdown proved to be more of a let down.

In a fashion similar to the day’s first match, the crews were evenly matched on the first leg. With both yachts on port tack and Team New Zealand to leeward, skipper Dean Barker, reigning champion of the Louis Vuitton Cup, luffed Synergy near the first mark.
During the incident the on-water umpires penalized the Russian-flagged yacht and Team New Zealand opened an advantage it wouldn’t relinquish. The Kiwis won by 4 minutes although the delta became skewed as Synergy completed a penalty turn on the finish line in light winds.

“We sort of parked it up and they didn’t give us enough room when we bore away,” said Barker of the incident at the windward mark. “It’s tough as the windward boat because you’re trying to not lose the race at that point. It was close through the manoeuvre. I don’t know if there was contact, I couldn’t see, but it was nothing like yesterday.”

After a break for lunch the four crews returned to the water to resume racing, but the Petit Final between Synergy and TeamOrigin was the only match sailed in winds between 4 and 6 knots.

The British boat had the port entry today, but managed to win the right hand side of the start after swapping with the Italians half way through the pre-start. TeamOrigin in the dominant starboard position and 150 metres to windward lead the pair up the first beat. The Azzurra team sailed fast, found better pressure to the left of the pair and started to move bow forwards on TeamOrigin. The Italians initiated a tacking duel and on the first approach achieved a strong leebow position requiring TeamOrigin to tack away. The second and third approaches were similar with, bit-by-bit, TeamOrigin losing the advantage. The weather mark was fast appearing in view and skipper Ben Ainslie attempted to live in the windward position for as long as possible and maybe even remain overlapped as the pair crossed the two-boatlength circle around the top mark. But the Italians luffed gently and slowed the pair down to almost stopped, and then, in a better position to leeward, accelerated quickly and rounded the first weather mark with a lead of 18 seconds.

The British team needed badly to do something on the run and managed to split away from the Italians, but a confident display by the Azzurra crew to stick with their side of the course and enjoy better wind saw them continue to extend.

The pattern remained the same for the rest of the race and in spite of every attempt the British team were unable to make any significant inroads into the Italian lead and crossed the finish line 29 seconds behind.

Skipper Ben Ainslie had this to say after the race: "We are obviously disappointed to lose that race. It was a close race especially up the first beat. Azzurra did a great job, and all credit to them. We fought hard all the way round but it was not to be.”

Ben continued: “Reflecting on the whole regatta we have come such a long way through this event. We are disappointed not to be in the finals but we still performed really well as a team. For us it is all about building for the future so in that respect this event has been fantastic for us. We are looking forward to Auckland in March next year for sure."

Team Principal Sir Keith Mills, who rode on board again today as 18th man, had this to say minutes after the race: "That was a very close race up the first beat, with both teams arriving at the top mark within half a boatlength. We got an overlap and thought we had given them a penalty but the umpires did not agree. We had to slow down as we were luffed and the Italians got away from us and that was the race really. A close one, but not to be for us - a great competitor in Azzurra, they are well practised and a team that knows conditions on the Mediterranean really well."

TeamOrigin then sailed the Russian Synergy team in a one-off petit final race for third and fourth place. TeamOrigin won the start and the right hand side of the course and led around the first mark before heading down the first run in light, light airs. Synergy rounded 24 seconds later and committed themselves to a costly gybe set and split from the leader. The British team chose not to gybe, a potentially costly manoeuvre in these extremely light conditions, allowing a big split to develop. When the pair came back together Synergy, with good momentum, sailed right through to leeward as TeamOrigin gybed and slowed right down allowing the Russian team to sail into an unassailable lead. TeamOrigin therefore finishes the Louis Vuitton Trophy in fourth place.

“Not making the final is very disappointing,” said TeamOrigin General Manager Mike Sanderson, a past round-the-world race winner. “We put a lot more effort into this regatta than we did Auckland. We were here to win and to win it you need to get to final. I’d be lying if I said not making the final was a big disappointment.”

Racing tomorrow is scheduled to begin early with the warning signal slated for 0800 CET.

Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice-Côte d’Azur - current standings
Competing teams - Country - Skipper - Record (W-L)

1. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) - Dean Barker, 11-2
2. Azzurra (ITA) - Francesco Bruni, 9-5
3. Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS) - Karol Jablonski, 8-6
4. TEAMORIGIN (GBR) - Ben Ainslie, 9-6
5. ALL4ONE (FRA/GER) - Jochen Schuemann, 5-8
6. BMW ORACLE Racing (USA) - Gavin Brady, 5-8
7. Artemis (SWE) - Paul Cayard, 5-7
8. Team French Spirit – Pages Jaunes (FRA) - Bertrand Pacé, 1-11