LVPS: Third Win in a Row for TEAMORIGIN

TEAMORIGIN lead Shosholoza upwind. Image copyright Ian Roman/TEAMORIGIN.

by Leslie Ryan

Racing was delayed due to an initial lack of wind and eventually the first warning signal was fired at 1430 and races 1 and 2 got underway in a nice 8 knot and building breeze.

Race 1 saw Emirates Team NZ place a fairly emphatic win over China Team and Race 2 saw Luna Rossa similarly defeat the Greek Challenge. It must be remembered that these two ‘new’ teams have had only a maximum of 5 short practise sessions and are then expected to take on the likes of ETNZ and Luna Rossa who have been training and racing these boats for at least 4 years – so the quality of racing and boat handling they have been producing is pretty impressive despite their respective losses today.

Following a further delay whilst the crew transfers took place and the teams had a short practise time in their boats, race 3 warning signal was eventually fired at 1640. Race 3 was between BMW Oracle Racing and Pataugas K Challenge and this was followed 10 minutes later by the start of race 4 – TEAMORIGIN vs. Shosholosa, the South African team helmed by Paolo Cian.

Ben Ainslie again engaged in fairly aggressive pre-start manoeuvres with the South African team, they managed to sail Shosholosa away from the start line but Paolo Cian was able to use the spectator fleet to tack away from TEAMORIGIN and made it back to the start line to cross just to leeward of TEAMORIGIN.

Up the first beat Team Shosholosa showed good pace to be slightly ahead and kept TEAMORIGIN on the right side of the course. As they approached the top windward mark a luffing incident occurred and TEAMORIGIN managed to maintain momentum despite being luffed and gain the inside track to lead around the first windward mark by a narrow 13 seconds.

They both headed downwind with Shosholosa following TEAMORIGIN trying to take their wind and close the gap. They eventually gybed off and TEAMORIGIN held their lane and gained some distance through picking the right shift and led around the 1st leeward mark by 29 seconds.

The 2nd beat saw TEAMORIGIN extend their lead and keep a loose cover on Shosholosa allowing TEAMORIGIN to round the 2nd windward ahead.
On the last downwind leg TEAMORIGIN maintained their lead and led across the finish line by 48 seconds.

Sir Keith Mills, TEAMORIGIN Team Principal, commented after his first 18th man experience with his own team, “Finally I get to race as 18th man with my own team and what a great race it was. Team Shosholosa kept us on our toes up the first beat and around the first windward mark and we then had to battle hard to keep them behind us, another good day for TEAMORIGIN but a long way to go yet!”

Other results from day four of RR1:
Emirates Team NZ 1 : China Team 0
Luna Rossa 1 : Greek Challenge 0
BMW Oracle 1 : Pataugas K Challenge 0
TEAMORIGIN 1 : Shosholoza 0
Luna Rossa 1 vs. Shosholoza 0 – re-scheduled race from day three

Damiani Italia and Alinghi – bye

TEAMORIGIN