Azzurra racing against BMW ORACLE Racing on Day One in Nice. Image copyright Azzurra.
by Jill Campbell
Day One of the first Round Robin in the Louis Vuitton Trophy saw Azzurra (ITA) up against BMW Oracle Racing (USA). Skipper and helmsman Francesco Bruni showed his worth from the pre-start phase dominating Oracle and leading the American team, with Gavin Brady at the helm, from the start. Unfortunately the wind Gods did not smile on Nice today and the light breezes grew ever weaker as the match proceeded. This did little to deter Azzurra as she continued to increase her lead over BMW Oracle to more than three minutes.
In the end, however, Azzurra was denied an impressive victory as the leg time limit of 20 minutes expired during the final leg. The race was abandoned and will be rescheduled.
“Of course we would have liked to have gotten the point” said tactician Tommaso Chieffi after racing, “but these things happen. Francesco’s start was excellent, the tactics were spot on and so were the maneuvers.”
In the first two matches of the day TeamOrigin (GBR) beat Synergy (Jablonski) and Team New Zealand (NZL) beat Team French Spirit (FRA). Racing tomorrow begins with the combined French/German team ALL4ONE taking on Emirates Team New Zealand followed by Artemis versus TFS – Pages Jaunes, BMW ORACLE Racing versus Russia Synergy and Azzurra will race against TeamOrigin, helmed by Ben Ainslie.
Azzurra
Louis Vuitton Trophy
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