Louis Vuitton Pacific Series: Round
Robin 2
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RR2 Head-to-Head Results and Standings: |
Previous Rounds: |
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On This Page: Pairings, Outlook, and Day-by-Day Results RR2: Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 |
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Monday Outlook: In addition to the final RR2 races scheduled, Race 2 today will be Greek Challenge and Shosholoza, moving up their 8th-9th place sail-off originally scheduled for later in the week.
The number one Challenger seed was settled in yesterday's Alinghi-BMW Oracle match, today BMW Oracle meets ETNZ, which does not affect point totals, and Alinghi would own the tie-breaker in any case. What's up for grabs is a chance for Origin
to get ahead of Damiani with a win in Race 2, and a chance for Luna Rossa to
get ahead of Origin if the British lose today and LR wins. Luna Rossa
currently has zero points and Origin one-half point. Of course,
another hard contact penalty could shuffle the deck even more. |
Monday Results:
RR2: Damiani Italia beats Team Origin. Origin protested whether they were OCS, but for technical reasons the case was not heard. Race 4 underway at 3:55. Follow on radio at BSport and BMWO Race ticker. Choppy and windy conditions. After the start ETNZ on the right, BMW Oracle on the left, narrow lead to BMW Oracle. Wind fills and lifts from the left and Oracle gains. 22 seconds for BMW at the first windward. Bear away spinnaker sets, right shift down the run aids BMW Oracle. BMW takes the right gate, ETNZ trails by several lengths. ETNZ onto starboard and BMW covers. They trade several tacks, BMW protecting the left. Starboard layline comes and Oracle controls. Delta 32 seconds at the second windward mark. Little opportunity to attack here, 180m gap. 27 seconds finish delta to BMW Oracle. |
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Sunday Outlook: Start: 11:00 am
Match of the Day: Well, it may settle the LVPS RR2 standings, with both tied at two points and one race each remaining tomorrow. Alinghi would face a currently RR2 winless Luna Rossa on the last day while BMW Oracle gets ETNZ, who has only lost one LVPS race so far. All Matches: Alinghi vs. BMW Oracle. Two litigants finally meet on the water, each with two points on the board. Team Origin vs. Emirates
Team New Zealand. Origin will want to improve on their half-point showing so
far in RR2 after going undefeated in RR1. Emirates Team New Zealand
should be race to ready by now. |
Results: Race 2: Alinghi vs. BMW Oracle. 10-minute warning gun at 4:40. Conditions: Wind 10-14 knots, Flood Tide. Start: Alinghi crosses BMW Oracle on the entry, gets away. Both look to be trying for the right-hand side. Alinghi ahead, nearly early, BMW Oracle trails across the line by one length. Immediate pair of tacks and Oracle comes back at them, breaking cover, while Alinghi protects the right and holds a 30m lead. Tacking duel continues, gains to Oracle. Boats quickly out near the right-hand layline. Oracle tacks behind Alinghi and the boats switch sides. They come back and Alinghi tacks on top, close, Oracle keeps the overlap and luffs, green flag. Alinghi rounds 12 seconds ahead. First Leeward Leg: Oracle chasing, then a gybe and Alinghi covers. Oracle gets some separation in the middle of the course, and trims the lead slightly. Alinghi looks like aiming for the right-hand gate, BMW might follow, but then chooses left, and they split tacks on rounding before both falling in on starboard. Delta 12 seconds at the leeward mark, but Alinghi picked up distance after the rounding, with the right-hand gate favored. 90-100m lead for Alinghi. Both boats on port, layline coming up. Alinghi runs out of water and tacks. Gains to BMW Oracle on a lift. Mark rounding coming. About a 12-second gap again at the mark. Final Leeward Leg: Oracle is close, but close enough? Alinghi lets Oracle open some separation, and Oracle gains. Oracle takes Alinghi toward the layline. Less than a boatlength, but not close enough to pin Alinghi. Oracle splits away. Oracle loses slightly on the separation. Finish line coming. Not much room to continue any attacks for Oracle. Alinghi wins Race 2, finish delta 26 seconds. With the win, Alinghi will take the #1 seed in the Rounds Robin and advance directly to the Challenger Final. Race 3: Emirates Team New Zealand trails by several lengths for most of the race, but nearly catches Team Origin at the finish. Origin wins by 7 seconds. |
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Breaking Story: Alinghi chooses
not to race ETNZ
Results: China Team beats K-Challenge, both advance to sail-offs with chance to enter Quarter-Finals. China was unbeaten in RR2. In a re-started race, Team Origin clipped Luna Rossa by 4 seconds at the finish. BMW Oracle beat Damiani by 27 seconds. And finally, Greek Challenge beat Shosholoza by 1:27. Both will race sail-off to determine 8th and 9th places among the challengers. |
Saturday Outlook:
Today is the last day for Silver Fleet in RR2. Match of the Day: Other matches: Alinghi vs. BMW Oracle: Two litigants finally meet on the water, each with two points on the board. Team Origin vs. Emirates Team New Zealand Team Origin needs points. Emirates Team New Zealand will be ready to race.
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Day 2 Outlook:
Match
of the day: Race 1: Alinghi versus Damiani Italia. A week ago this might have been considered a walk-over. But, Alinghi hasn’t always been on their game and Damiana Italia is ready to exploit any opening. Race 2: Team Shosholoza versus K-Challenge. The South Africans, fresh from a race they were in until a disastrous spinnaker hoist, hope to take a point off K-Challenge. Race 3: Team Origin versus BMW Oracle. Before the regatta started, some thought Team Origin was a dark horse that might vie with the big boys. The element of surprise is gone is gone now, having taken some big scalps. Is American BMW Oracle ready for the British invasion? Race 4: Greek Challenge versus China Team. Two teams that have struggled, but the Greeks might be favored having won yesterday in their opening match against Pataugas K-Challenge. Race 5: ETNZ-Luna Rossa. Best bet for a scrap. After losing to Damiani Thursday the host might be expected to recover here, especially with the benefit of home court advantage, if there is such a thing with so many Kiwis on other teams. But with Holmberg steering for Luna Rossa sparks can fly, as yesterday’s race against BMWO showed. |
Results: Other races: Alinghi beat Damiani Italia, K-Challenge beat Shosholoza, China beat Greek Challenge, and ETNZ beat Luna Rossa. The final race took place in the other pair of boats, USA-87 and USA-98, while the NZL-92 needed repair to a fractured headfoil. |
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Day 1 Outlook:
Outlook: Match
of the Day: Also closely watched: BMW Oracle versus Luna Rossa is another race that people will be using to take the temperature of these usually top-tier teams. BMW Oracle admittedly only lost to ETNZ in RR1, but expectations for Russell Coutts are always for a win. Luna Rossa has not always clicked this regatta, though sometimes they did look sharp under new Helmsman Peter Holmberg. It's a pretty good pairing of skippers, and should be fun to watch. |
Results: Race 2: K-Challenge wins over Greece. Race 3: A good battle ensues, Damiani wins by 21 seconds over ETNZ, another nice upset for a newcomer. Race 4: China wins the start, gets about 100m lead of Shosholoza, but gap closes to 8 seconds at the gate. in the hoist Shosholoza blows out the spinnaker, recovers slowly with sail trailing in water, gives up huge gap to China. First win of the regatta for the Chinese. Race 5: BMW Oracle versus Luna Rossa. Wind picks up into the high teens. Penalty to BMWO in the pre-start? Almost, but green flagged. In the end a good up-speed start for Oracle, to the right of LR, both on starboard. 36 second lead to BMW at the first mark. Choppy, windy conditions are dictating tactics. Damage to BMW Oracle lets the Italians close for a while. 38 second delta at the last mark, and 59 seconds at the finish, BMW Oracle gets back in control and hangs on to win. |
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