Tuesday 24 November 2009

LVT: Azzurra Wins the Louis Vuitton Trophy Final


Azzurra crosses Emirates Team New Zealand. Image copyright Frank Socha/Louis Vuitton Trophy.

by Warren Douglas

The Italian team Azzurra has won the final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta at Nice. In light and shifty conditions, Azzurra won the best of three final 2 – 0.

Skipper Dean Barker said Azzurra had sailed well in difficult conditions to win the final. The margin was 23 seconds on the first race and 17 on the second.

Dean Barker: “The breeze was very light for the first race. Azzurra got a small advantage off the line. We worked really hard and crew work was faultless but we could never quite close them down. In the light conditions there were no opportunities to get back into the race.

“In the second race we had Azzurra bundled up in the pre-start. They had to tack away on the line and sailed straight into a right-hand shift.

“From there they took control. We closed right up a number of times but could not get around them.

Tactician Ray Davies:”Azzurra had a few tough decisions to make on which side to cover and unfortunately for us made the right ones. In both races, they did a great job of hammering home the advantage they had.”

Emirates Team New Zealand

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