LVPS: Pataugas by K-Challenge Wins Its First Point In Silver Fleet

Victory for Pataugas by K-Challenge against Greek Challenge. Boats seen against the backdrop of Rangitoto Island, taken from Auckland's North Shore. Image copyright Franck Socha.

by Stephanie Nadin

First race of Round Robin 2 in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series today in Auckland, where "Pataugas by K-Challenge" won its first point in the silver fleet group against Greek Challenge.

The key moment of the match was the first upwind leg, when the French team who was leading the match got enough clearness to cross and sail on the left after a tacking battle, even if the tactical situation was unexpected. The team had to stay really calm in that particular situation while the final goal was important.

Sebastien Col, Skipper and Helmsman for Pataugas by K-Challenge: “all our matches in the silver fleet in Round Robin 2 are "must win matches", and it is great to start the Round Robin with a point for the team. It was very tight, as we made small mistakes, but they didn't cost us the race. But we have more things to work on.

Today we were port entry at the start in light air, so it is never easy in that configuration with an aggressive helmsman like Gavin Brady. But we had a good start with the same timing. Then we had some key moments, mainly when we approached the first mark: we did a cross that was a bit better for us as we were faster, but we were not on the best spot on the race course. However, we managed to take the most out of our manoeuvre at the upwind buoy, and then to increase our lead that we kept till the end. I´m very happy for the team, it will help us to build confidence and aggressiveness for the competition.

I don't prefer light airs compared to sea breeze, but I´m not difficult as we seemed to be fast, and we will be starboard entry for our two other races in Round Robin 2, which will be an advantage, even if we don´t control that and we have to play with it.

Tomorrow will be an other important match against Team Shosholoza, and we really have to use this positive day to get some confidence out of it, and to do less small mistakes under the pressure of our opponent. We need to manage to give all that we have tomorrow, and we have to be confident.”

Christian Scherrer, Trimmer: "for me the key moment were the close tacks on the first upwind leg, even if we lost some meters and we left him sail on the right. We took the left, and our opponent came back, we managed to round the buoy just in front of him, but it was tight. Then we did a better hoist of our spinnaker, we were close, but we were faster. We managed to take some wind from them, as their spinnaker didn't inflate straight away, so we increased our lead.

The other tough moment was when we reached the downwind mark, where we changed our mind on the mark to round, but we defended and we stayed in front."


Pataugas by K-Challenge leads Greek Challenge upwind. Image copyright Franck Socha.

Pataugas by K-Challlenge will sail tomorrow for the first time during the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series against the South African Team Shosholoza (they lost their today´s match against China Team).

Race details:
Mark 1 : 0:00 seconds for Pataugas by K-Challenge
Mark 2 : 0:21 seconds for Pataugas by K-Challenge
Mark 3 : 0:20 seconds for Pataugas by K-Challenge
Finish : 0:27 seconds for Pataugas by K-Challenge

Pataugas by K-Challenge