RC 44 Copenhagen Cup

I think this was the worst start ever for me at a match race event in 25 years. Onboard Katusha, we were 0 and 4 to start. The worst part is that we were first to the first mark in every one of those races. Basically, one way or another, we managed to give the races away. The wind was pretty steady, both in terms of direction and velocity, so no strangeness there. Just rust and bad decisions.

The weather cooperated nicely today. The rain of yesterday was gone and the sun even came out a bit. The wind was from 150 all day, at 10 building to 14 knots by the end of the day. We raced with the #2 jibs on all day.

We finally managed to win the last race of the day against Sea Dubai and that was the only race we were not first to the first mark. We passed them on a tight situation at the top of the second windward leg. Then they hooked the mark and we were gone.

TeamAqua had a blinder winning 6 out of 7 races. Cereef is second with 4 wins out of 5 races and then 5 teams are on 3 wins and 3 teams on one win like us.

So, hopefully we can keep the good from today like the starts and get the rest a little better. We have a new crew member with us here, Peter, who is a great young Dane and is doing a good job. One thing I realize more and more is that consistency with the crew is important and we have not nailed down that one spot on our crew since inception. I think Peter may be our man so we need to build on what we are learning here.

One thing I know is that when you think things are bad you can come back.

Paul

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Louis Vuitton Trophy-La Maddalena

No wind this morning meant no Petit Final for Artemis.

Instead the race committee had to move straight into the finals when the wind filled around noon.

In the first race of the day, the Russians on Synergy kept their winning ways from yesterday and took control right from the start, made it look easy and won by about a minute over Team New Zealand.

So, with the Russians up 2-0 in the first to win 3 final, the Kiwi’s had their back against the wall in race 3. The Russians once again had the better of the start and immediately got control and the lead. With a 25 second lead at the first mark and the southeasterly breeze now well filled in at 11 knots and reasonable steady, it looked like it was going to be a short day.

But the Kiwis found a bit more pressure on the very short side of the course they were give and the Russians failed to cover. The Kiwis closed to near equal at the leeward gate and then the Russians botched the spinnaker drop. Race over. Now it was 2-1 in favor of the Russians but the Kiwis had been given a second life.

The first windward leg of final two races were almost virtual replays of each other with the Kiwis holding the narrowest of leads around the first windward mark. In the 4th race, the Russians were patiently waiting for the Kiwi’s to gybe and executed a perfect “match” and rolled the Kiwis. But the Russians got a bit greedy at the end of the run and tried to push down on the Kiwi’s as windward boat. The Kiwis flagged the Russians for sailing below proper course and the umpires penalized Synergy. The Russians led up the second windward leg but could not get enough distance in front to complete the penalty turn. On the final run to the finish, the Russians tried to engage the Kiwis in an effort to get them an offsetting penalty but the Kiwis managed to stay clear and go in for the win.

Race 5 was for all the marbles. Reply of race for up the first windward leg. Kiwis stayed in front all the way by the narrowest or margins. The Russians got a small tear in their gennaker on the final hoist. A few gybes ensued as the Russians tried to apply pressure to the Kiwi’s. Then the Russian gennaker exploded and that was all she wrote.

So in a miracle of sorts, the Russians found a way to lose after being up 2-0 and with set point in the third.

Team New Zealand remains the standard in the Louis Vuitton Trophy. They do have the teamwork element down. But some of the new teams are getting close to knocking them off and the trend line for these new teams is very steep indeed.

Next Louis Vuitton event will be in Dubai in November. Following Dubai we will be in Hong Kong in January.

For many of us, we are on our way to Copenhagen tonight for the RC 44 event this coming week. Practice tomorrow and then straight into the match racing part on Tuesday. I will take tomorrow off from the reports and pick it up again Tuesday after racing

Paul

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Louis Vuitton Trophy-La Maddalena

No racing for Artemis today. If wind permits, we will race All4One in the Petit final first thing Sunday morning.

In the other semi final, the Russian team Synergy defeated All4One in 2 straight races in light winds.

Following that, the first race of the final was run between Synergy and Emirates Team New Zealand. The conditions were still light and the race was very tight. The Kiwi’s led at the firsts windward mark and down the run to the gate despite a few crew errors at both turns. Then up the second windward leg, the Russians got a break on the left side of the course and passed the Kiwis. The Russians stayed cool under pressure on the final run in very light winds to take the first race in the best of 5 series.

The forecast for tomorrow is for slightly better conditions than today…maybe 8-10 knots.

For complete results and live TV and Virtual Eye go to www.louisvuittontrophy.com

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Louis Vuitton Trophy-La Maddalena

Tough day for Artemis. The short story is we won the first race leading all the way around.

The second race was abandoned after one lap when the Northeasterly died as the Northwesterly filled.

The restarted second race was all about the left and ETNZ got the left at the start. They led all the way.

The third race was for all the marbles. The wind was the same. Both boats fought hard for the left and our helmsman, Terry Hutchinson got us the left and ETNZ had to tack and head off to the right.

Somehow, for 10 minutes out of the whole afternoon, the wind went right and held. So instead of us getting paid for getting the left like on all other legs today, we didn’t and they rounded just ahead of us. From there they controlled the left, which was good again and that was it.

The Artemis team sailed better this week than we have before. We take that and move forward.

Tomorrow, the other semi final will be raced and then the final on Sunday. Time permitting there will be a petit final which we would be in.

For complete results go to: www.louisvuittontrophy.com

Paul

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Louis Vuitton Trophy-La Maddalena

It was one of the better sailing days we’ve had here in La Maddalena. Just as Chris Bedford who provides the weather forecast for ARTEMIS predicted, the wind started to build mid-morning. In the first race of the day, Emirates Team New Zealand were spot on with their timing for the pin end at the start and Mascalzone Latino were over the line early. Both teams sailed a good race, but there was no contest and the Kiwis put another point on the board to tie with ARTEMIS.

Next up was our race against ALL4ONE who had 5 wins to date. So this was an important one for us as a win for ALL4ONE would mean they would move into first overall. Jochen Schumann’s Franco-German team have been steadily moving up the leader board this event so we knew that this would be a close race. We had an excellent start, winning the right hand side and maintained our lead for two-thirds of the race. As we sailed up the second windward leg, both boats were on port tack with Artemis to windward with a 2 length lead. The wind was going right as we sailed side by side and in fact, had gone 20 degrees right when ALL4ONE decided to tack onto Starboard. I made the call to tack on them and keep the left, thinking the wind would come back to the left following the big right shift. But the pressure was better on the right and they overtook us. Essentially, my bad decision gave ALL4ONE the race right there as they crossed us at the next intersection and built their lead to finish 15 seconds ahead. That’s life as the tactician…big calls that have a big effect on the outcome.

The event now moves into the quarter finals. Next up is Synergy vs Mascalzone Latino for the best two out of three races, followed by Emirates Team New Zealand vs AZZURRA. Time permitting, ARTEMIS will race TeamOrigin after these matches. It’s shaping up to be another long day. I’m off to do a live interview with Giulo in the RAI studio.

Paul

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Louis Vuitton Trophy-La Maddalena

La Maddalena, Sardinia

No racing for Artemis today. The Mistral was strong this morning and racing got underway with the first match at 1530 in about 18 knots of wind.Mascalzone Latino beat TeamOrigin to move up to 5 wins. The Italian team could tie for first in the round robin with that win depending on a few other occurrences. In the second match of the day, All4One defeated the French team on Aleph also to move to 5 wins and a chance to win the Round Robin.

Emirates Team New Zealand and Mascalzone Latino were boarding their boats for their all important match when damage was discovered on ITA 90 and she had to return to the port for repairs. It was 1900 at the time.

So tomorrow morning, round robin racing will start with the Kiwis and Mascalzone and then Artemis against All4One as the last match of the Round Robin.

Following that, the quarter finals will begin. The time limit for the quarter finals is the end of the day Thursday. So, we will go as far as we can before sunset. Quarter final 1 will be 4th vs 5th from the Round Robin. They will race a best of three. Then the second quarter final will pit the 3rd place team from the round robin vs. the 6th. Quarter final 3 will pit 2 vs. 7 and quarter final 4 will pit 1 vs. 8. In quarter finals 3 and 4, a team must win 2 points in order for their to be a result. In quarter finals 1 and 2, if time runs out and a series is partially complete when time runs out, it will be scored as follows; if one race has finished, the winner of that race will move on to the semis. If two races have been finished and the score is 1-1, the team who is higher ranked from the round robin will move on.

So the odds of 1 vs 8 happening are very low.

Five will most likely get a shot and making the semis.

For complete scores and information go to www.louisvuittontrophy.com or www.artemisracing.com

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Live television returns for decisive days of Louis Vuitton Trophy

The final four days of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena will be televised around the globe, live, beginning on 3rd June. In territories without live television, fans can pick up the programme on a live internet stream.

With 10 of the best sailing teams in the world duelling on the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean off Sardinia, the Louis Vuitton Trophy is a premiere sailing competition featuring America’s Cup style match racing.

The television production will be the next best thing to being there, with inputs from two on board cameras, two chase-boat cameras and a helicopter, as well as VirtualEye animation graphics, on board audio, and expert commentary.

The live television feed will be available both online and from broadcasters. The internet feed will be streamed on the event website, www.louisvuittontrophy.com with English and Italian commentary.

Broadcasters taking the live television feed include Italy’s RAI network, Russia’s NTV, ESPN360 in the USA, and SailingChannel in Europe, while SailTV will stream the broadcast over the web. The SailTV web player for the Louis Vuitton Trophy has also been distributed free as an embed to dozens of top sailing sites worldwide.

In addition to the live production, the 36-strong television production crew is making six highlight shows (of 26 minutes each) as well as a final 26-minute wrap-up programme. These are being shown around the world by select broadcasters, including BSkyB in the UK, Italy’s RAI, Canal+ in France, NTV plus in Russia, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SailingChannel across Europe, as well as Eurosport Asia.

A shorter series of programmes (4X20 minutes) are being shown in Spain, Sweden, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa as well as on Fox Sports in the Middle East, South America, Africa and the United States and ESPN/Star in Asia.

The action at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena has been among the best yet, and as the field of 10 gets whittled down to a final champion over the final four days of competition, the racing is only going to get more compelling. Don’t miss it.

NOTES

About WSTA
The World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA) was founded in 2009 by a group of professional yacht racing teams to develop regular high-level match race regattas in large and complex racing yachts. The WSTA is jointly owned by its nine shareholders (the teams) and represents the interests of those teams in the pursuit of fair and highly competitive racing. The WSTA, in conjunction with title partner Louis Vuitton, co-organises the Louis Vuitton Trophy.

About Louis Vuitton
The world leader in luxury, Louis Vuitton has been synonymous with the art of stylish travel since 1854. Since 1987, it has been part of LVMH/Mo

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Louis Vuitton Trophy-La Maddalena

Big day for Artemis. In our only match of the day, which did not get underway until 1830, we beat Emirates Team New Zealand by 17 seconds to take solo possession of first place.

After a tough pre-start with Artemis entering from the left side on port tack, Dean Barker, helmsman of ETNZ, had control of us. Terry Hutchinson was cool and patient as ETNZ eventually got uncomfortable and went away. ENTZ then picked a nice lay line to the starboard end of the line and we had no choice but to start to leeward on starboard.

Again we were patient and slowly gained on the Kiwis from the left side. They tacked and we followed closely and pinned them out to the starboard lay line. The Kiwis had a go at us at the top mark with a flag but the umpires green flagged it. From there we kept to the right side on the run and got around the gate in good shape with the Kiwis following us by two lengths.

Up the second beat, we played the shifts and stretched to an 8 boat length lead. That made the final run a bit easier. A nice win for Artemis and we move to 6 points from 8 races.

In other racing, Mascalzone lost to BMW Oracle in the first race then stole one off of the French who mismanaged that last 400 meters of the race when they were leading by two lengths.

All racing took place in about 15-20 knots from the northwest. It is always shifty in the Maddalena channel and sometimes there are even two, slightly different breeze directions within the race track. That is called “split breeze”.

Tactician’s nightmare!

In the third race, Luna Rossa beat Aleph, in the fourth race BMW Oracle beat Azzurra, then Azzurra beat TeamOrigin.

We have one more race tomorrow against All4One and that will be the last match of the round robin.

The line up tomorrow will be good:

Mascalzone vs. Team Origin

All4One vs. Aleph

Emirates Team NZ vs. Mascalzone

Artemis vs. All4One

Once the round robin is complete, we will move into the 1/4 finals. It is unlikely we will finish the quarter finals on Wednesday and Thursday so there will be a premium on finishing the round robin 1st or 2nd.

Paul

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