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November 21, 2010 |
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On this page, LVT Dubai Round Robin 2/Day 8
Statements:
The American team BMW Oracle Racing sailed a near-flawless race today against Sweden's Artemis Racing to maintain their margin at the top of the leaderboard
Everything didn’t go their way. Earlier in the day James Spithill and his team were defeated by the French/German team All4One whose helmsman Sebastien Col won the start and staved off determined American attacks, especially on the first three legs. It was only the second loss in the series for the American team. The American team BMW Oracle Racing sailed a near-flawless race today against Sweden's Artemis Racing to maintain their margin at the top of the leaderboard Everything didn’t go their way. Earlier in the day James Spithill and his team were defeated by the French/German team All4One whose helmsman Sebastien Col won the start and staved off determined American attacks, especially on the first three legs. It was only the second loss in the series for the American team. Except for BMWOR which holds a four and a half point lead on 13 points, the leaderboard at the Louis Vuitton Trophy remained tightly-packed after the second day of competition in the second round “We got two points for that race today. It’s a big win,” said All4Ones skipper Jochen Schuemann. "BMW Oracle Racing has been very strong so far, so I would say its almost bonus points. We now have a realistic chance to make it to the semis, which is our goal here. Sebastien Col, helmsman of the French/German boat said: We achieved a really solid race. The key point was the first downwind leg, where we defended very well. We were leading at the first mark, and then we defended well with a few close jibes, which was kind of our weakness at the beginning of the event. After a day like this, we will really feel better controlling our competitor downwind." Speaking of BMOR's James Spithill, winner of the 33rd Americas Cup, Col said: “He and I are from the same generation. We raced together very often in youth world championships or on the match racing circuit. He has had an exceptional career these past four years. We’ve known each other for a long time, and it’s always nice to get a win against him.” Ian Moore, the navigator of the American boat agreed that All4One had done an outstanding job. “It was a little disappointing to lose the first race, but give credit to All4One,” said Moore. “They started well and sailed impeccably well. We see a lot in these races that if you win the start it helps to go on and win the race, and that’s what they did.” But you can’t let it get you down. You’re going to lose races in a tournament as long as this and we rallied in the second race. Jimmy got a fantastic start and our tactician John Kostecki did a nice job calling the race and picking the shifts.” Moore said that after losing to the French/German team, it was good to get a victory against a strong team like Artemis. The hard luck story of the day was the Swedish team Artemis Racing which lost two races, each worth two points, to drop from third place overall to fourth. They had started the day in third place, just one and half points behind second-placed Emirates Team New Zealand. Artemis lost first to the Synergy Russian Sailing team even though the Russians were penalized for a collision in the pre-start. In one of the closest races seen in Dubai this week, Synergy skipper Francesco Bruni attacked and gained the lead before surrendering it while unwinding his penalty. He then fought his way back to finish first, only to lose his two finish points with a two-point deduction for hard contact. In their second race Artemis was solidly defeated by BMW Oracle Racing. Racing resumes tomorrow afternoon with race boats now scheduled to leave the dock at 1300 and the earliest warning signal at 1345. Race organizers aim to complete the Round Robin
competition on Tuesday. There will be a lay day on
Wednesday followed by fleet racing on Thursday. The
semi-finals and finals will be raced on Friday and Saturday.
Flight One, Race One, All4One def BMW Oracle
Racing Team, 00:45 Flight One, Race Two, Synergy Russian Sailing
Team def Artemis Racing, 00:26 Flight Two, Race One, Emirates Team New Zealand
def Mascalzone Latino Audi, 00:10 Flight Two, Race Two, BMW Oracle Racing def
Artemis Racing, 01:03 Provisional Results after Day Two of RR2:
In Round Robin One, each team sailed every other team twice, with each win worth one point. In Round Robin Two, each team will sail every other team once, with each win worth two points. At the conclusion of Round Robin Two, the top four teams will advance to the semi finals. The bottom two teams are eliminated. The Louis Vuitton Trophy Dubai is under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, the principal sponsor of the event. -- From Louis Vuitton Trophy
Day 7 at Dubai and Dean Barker and the crew sailing NZL-84 played a patient game to beat Mascalzone Latino and take two more points in round robin 2 of the Louis Vuitton Trophy. Dean Barker led all the way in a race that was sailed in the late afternoon, with fading light and fading breeze. It was shifty, too. It was tight all the way. The margins at the marks were: mark 1m 9s; mark 2, 11s; mark 3, 9s and at the finish Emirates Team New Zealand was only 10s ahead. The team got a great start to the right and wide of Mascalzone Latino. NZL-84 was able to stay with Mascalzone Latino, sailing NZL-92, all the way to the left layline. NZL-84 rounded first. The afterguard correctly picked the left of the course on the second beat. With Mascalzone Latino looking strong in the right, New Zealander played the patient game. They picked up the anticipated breeze as they approached the top mark for the second time; they went around first and Mascalzone Latino could not find a passing lane on the run to the finish. Tactician Ray Davies said: "We liked what we saw in the left in the second beat and decided to back ourselves and stick with it because in the conditions it was too difficult to put a close cover on them." The breeze was dropping and it was quite shifty. Tough conditions and a tough opponent. Overall round robin points at the end of Day 7:
-- From Emirates Team New Zealand
By splitting its two races today BMW Oracle Racing maintained the top spot at the Louis Vuitton Trophy Dubai. BMW Oracle Racing skipper James Spithill and his crew defeated the Swedish-flagged Artemis Racing, a challenger for the 34th America’s Cup, by 1 minute and 3 seconds, and lost by 45 seconds to All4One, the combined French/German team. “It was a little disappointing to lose the first race, but give credit to All4One,” said Ian Moore, the navigator from England. “They started well and sailed impeccably well. We see a lot in these races that if you win the start it helps to go on and win the race, and that’s what they did. “But you can’t let it get you down,” Moore continued. “You’re going to lose races in a tournament as long as this and we rallied in the second race. Jimmy got a fantastic start and John [Kostecki, tactician] did a nice job calling the race and picking the shifts. It was good to get a victory against a strong team like Artemis.” Day 8 of the regatta that runs through next weekend got off slowly as the race committee postponed the first start for more than two hours waiting for the wind to settle. Once in, the conditions were some of the lightest of the week, 6 knots from a northerly direction. In the first race, the key moment came about two-thirds of the way up the beat. BMW Oracle and All4One approached each other on opposite tacks, with BMW Oracle holding the starboard advantage. But All4One was able to tack to starboard on the leeward bow of the American yacht and gain control of the match. “It was a split tack start and we were in phase coming off the line on port tack with a left shift,” said Moore. “Later up the beat a right shift did come in, but if it had come in 30 seconds earlier we might’ve had a different result. They got a strong lee bow and did a good job not giving us an opportunity to get past the rest of the way.” In the second race Spithill gave his crew an early advantage off the start line, crossing the line as the starting signal sounded while Artemis was slow and a few seconds late, but to windward. The key moment came about 2 minutes in when BMW Oracle was able to ride port tack across the bow of Artemis and plant a covering tack. From there Spithill and crew covered to sail away to their largest win of the series. “We could almost tack and cross them straight after the start, but we held on for a little longer,” Moore said. “Then they got up to speed and it started looking dubious. We were getting out towards the port tack layline and at some point you’ve just got to go for it. You tack, have a look and decide if you can cross. If you can, that’s it. It was a very important moment in the race and we all sort of held our breath, but in the end it was an easy cross.” The win improved BMW Oracle Racing’s record to 11-2, good for 13 points, and allowed the team to keep its 4.5-point cushion over second-placed Emirates Team New Zealand on the leaderboard ahead of tomorrow’s showdown race. The pair is the third scheduled match of the day and will race in BMW Oracle Racing’s two boats. Louis Vuitton Trophy Dubai Standings 1. BMW Oracle Racing (USA) James Spithill – 13 points (11-2) 2. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) Dean Barker – 8.5 points (7-5)* 3. All4One (FRA/GER) Sebastien Col – 6 points (5-6) 4. Artemis Racing (SWE) Cameron Appleton – 5 points (5-7) 5. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team (ITA) Gavin Brady – 4 points (4-7)* 5. Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS) Francesco Bruni – 4 points (5-6)* (* Points deducted for collision) --From BMW Oracle
It was another day with sour taste for Mascalzone Latino Audi Team on the waters of the most famous race course in the Arab Gulf. Vincenzo Onorato’s team lost its race against Emirates Team New Zealand, in the second qualifying round of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Dubai. Even if two days ago the first race in Round Robin 2 against All4One was particularly brilliant, Gavin Brady (NZL) and the rest of the crew seem they still haven’t found the right ingredients they had just 8 months ago, at the start of this circuit, when they shined and reached the highest pedestals of these events, sponsored by the famous French luxury group. There were no penalties or crew errors on either side, but today’s race was once again decided from the onset. The start was very even and Team New Zealand, to windward, was able to build a comfortable separation from their opponent. In the last minute before the start both yachts were under the committee boat and crossed the starting line practically together on starboard tack. That gave Dean Barker (NZL), having gained the right of way, the opportunity to push his opponent and force them over well over the left layline. As a result, the “Latin Rascals”, even if on Virtual Eye appeared to hold the lead of the race, where in a weaker position in respect to their opponents. They had to tack to head to the first weather mark while Team New Zealand was sailing notably faster, right on the layline. The race was open, from start to finish, with a few meters separating the two yachts but with the New Zealanders always in control. As the sun was about to set, the breeze became weaker and shiftier and these unstable weather conditions favored even more Emirates Team New Zealand. Undoubtedly, another loss is not a reason for joy, given the fact that now, in Round Robin 2, races carry double the points: the overall leaderboard can still turn in favor of Mascalzone Latino tomorrow, since a mere two points separate third from sixth. Tomorrow is the moment of truth for Mascalzone Latino Audi Team. Two races to tackle and win if they want to remain in the regatta. The first one is against Sweden’s Artemis and in the second one the Italian team will face the Russian crew of Synergy. Quotes of the day Flavio Favini (ITA), afterguard on Mascalzone Latino Audi Team commented today’s race: “Today as well we had a race that didn’t go the way we wanted. One has to admit though, regardless of the final score, that we sailed quite well: the race was never really decided, from start to finish, although the it was a decisive factor that Emirates Team New Zealand started the race with the advantage of holding the windward position. That allowed them to push us to the corner of the race course. We let us got pushed over the layline. After that we had some opportunities to attack them downwind and we did so discretely. In the second beat, the right side was initially favored and we went there. However, the last shift was to the left, as we feared, and it took place in the worst moment for us. There was a 50-50 chance it would take place, but luck was on Dean Barker’s side. Unfortunately, it happened in the last stretch, just when it mattered the most. As a result, no points for us but the consolation we started well, not beaten.” --From Mascalzone Latino Audi
Synergy Hurt by Penalty Synergy and Artemis had a collision before the start and the Russian team was returned guilty for it. Synergy lead all the way to the finish despite penalty. The Russians made the penalty turn at the top mark and held the opponent on the second beat to win the race and two points that were wiped out by a two point loss for hard contact. So Synergy still has 4 points. --From Synergy Russian Sailing
Racing got off a bit later than usual today with 9-11 knots of breeze. We had two races and were up against the Russian team Synergy with Italian Francesco Bruni at the helm in the first race, followed by America's Cup holders BMW Oracle Racing. It turned out to be a big battle with Synergy. It was one of those races that we both really needed to win, because it is coming down to the final stages of the regatta. We had a defining moment in the first exchange where they misgauged our dial-up and just crashed straight into the back of us. So that put us with a slight upper hand and meant that we were fairly even off the start line. We had a little exchange up near the top mark and it was a really good battle. They also offset their penalty at this point. Then we got in control on the downwind, but we let them pass us. At the bottom mark, we were even again and got back in control. But they split left half way up the beat where they picked up a shift, extended and won. So that was disappointing, because we had three opportunities where we could have easily won the race. They did a really good job, so we have to give them credit. They still finished up with no points for their win, as they had two points deducted by the Jury for hard contact. Then we went into race two and we actually invited our team Chairman and Owner Torbjorn (Tornqvist) into the racing crew. That allowed us to put him on the wheel if the situation arose and it did. Unfortunately, it was with a deficit to BMW Oracle Racing but Torbjorn drove from just after the midway start finish line gate, all the way to the finish. I think he enjoyed the opportunity although it was bittersweet as we were not winning the race. It wasn't our best day, but the crew is working really hard and we just have to keep refining after every race. We are learning from all the different situations and are still on a big learning curve. Every day we are getting stronger. We'll be back at it tomorrow racing Mascalzone Latino in the first flight. Cameron -- From Artemis Racing Links of Interest: Louis Vuitton Trophy:
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