Damiani Italia Challenge keeps it close against Alinghi. Image copyright Stefano Gattini/Damiani Italia Challenge.
by Gabriele Cutini (in translation)
Medals, it is known, have two faces. The one coined by Damiani Italy Challenge to celebrate the victory in the match against Alinghi, second challenge of the second round robin of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, carried over on to two excellent starts and on the reverse a mistake led to defeat.
There were two starts because the first one, won by the Italian team, was cancelled by the Race Committee, which signalled incorrectly the early start of Vasco Vascotto's crew.
On the second start, put behind the America's Cup defender, the Italian crew managed the situation with a certain calm until nearly the first cross when, in the attempt to to defend the right hand, they committed a rule violation (the manoeuvre called Slam Dunk) sanctioned from the umpire as a penalty to be performed immediately.
Despite the defeat, the morale of the team appeared good, because, as Vasco Vascotto said: "For the umpteenth time we showed that we can play it with everything. We made a good start and we had no luck in the competition: we went to the right in the moment in which the oscillation of the wind touched the left to its utmost and at the crossing we found ourselves bow against bow".
In regard to the mistake, the skipper from Trieste declared: "We search for supermen when in reality we are sailors, capable but normal. In that circumstance we forget to do the simple things, or to speak the tongue that we know... The most important thing is to have understood the mistake, to metabolize it and to look at with trust to the next engagements".
Tomorrow, Damiani Italy Challenge will sail BMW Oracle Racing. Just like the match against Emirates Team New Zealand, the account is open: the crew of Russell Coutts, in fact, beat the Italians in the match disputed in the course of the first Round Robin.
Round Robin 2 - Gold Fleet Alinghi beats Damiani Italy Challenge; BMW Oracle Racing beats Team Origin; Emirates Team New Zealand beats Luna Rossa
Damiani Italia Challenge
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