Wind stops play - almost

The only match completed on day eight of the Louis Vuitton was Orn v Luna Rossa

Prada v Orn - a hard fought win for the Italians

Another day of light and variable winds on the Hauraki Gulf and the only match that was completed today was betwwen Luna Rossa ITA 74 and Orn SWE 63 of Sweden's Victory Challenge.

The Race Committee fired the gun for the match of Luna Rossa and Orn at 12:20. Both boats crossed the line on a port tack, with Luna Rossa to windward of Orn. Rod Davis was helming the start on the Italian boat.

During the first windward leg, Luna Rossa and Orn went left and sailed fairly close with Luna Rossa slightly in the lead. In the top part of the course there was a split and Orn managed to gain a little advantage rounding the first mark 14 seconds ahead of Luna Rossa. After the first gennaker run, Orn rounded the second mark still ahead of Luna Rossa by 15 seconds.

The breeze then began to die and the four boats on course Romeo found themselves practically stalled with no wind. Luna Rossa, on her second beat, attacked from behind with a series of tacks and was able to fill the gap with Orn.

Both boats, however, were well over the lay line and Orn managed to round the top mark with a lead of 31 seconds. In the meantime the Race Committee canceled the match between Oracle BMW Racing and OneWorld as the boats had absolutely no wind left on their course. A few minutes later racing was abandoned also for Le Defi and Stars & Stripes.

During the second gennaker run the wind dropped further and SWE 63 increased slightly her lead, rounding mark 4 with a 27 second advantage over ITA 74. After a series of split tacks during this last upwind leg, Luna Rossa and Orn were very close and Torben Grael, tactician on Luna Rossa, favored the right side of the course. The tactics played by Torben Grael paid handsomely on this leg and Luna Rossa rounded the last mark with a huge 3 minute and 45 second lead over the Swedish boat.

While Luna Rossa and Victory were still racing in very light air trying to reach the finish line within the 45 minute time limit for the leg, the match between Mascalzone Latino and GBR Challenge was abandoned while Mascalzone was leading.

Towards the end of the last leg the crew on Luna Rossa dropped the gennaker heading towards the finish line, almost sailing upwind in a very light breeze of 3 knots. ITA 74 was finally able to cross the finish line within the time limit well ahead of Orn SWE 63. The final delta was 2 minutes 35 seconds.