SailRaceWin: LVT: Postcard from Nice

Louis Vuitton Trophy, Nice, Côte d'Azur. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All Rights Reserved.

by Anne Hinton

The World Sailing Teams Association's first event, the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice, Côte d'Azur, France, was held in warm sunshine in the northern winter in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere, in the historic seaside city, backed by mountains, in November.

Emirates Team New Zealand, because they had won the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and the Audi MedCup, in particular, were the favourites and the team that everyone wanted to beat in Nice. That situation is hard, and not the 'Course to Victory' adopted in the America's Cup 1995. However, because they had won everything, they needed a challenge, and that of event favourite provided what was needed.

Onshore

Most active onshore were the event commentary team. ALL4ONE's D'Artagnan (aka as top French match racer Sébastien Col) galloped away hell for leather with the commentary in French, ending periodically with an 'over to you, Peter' in English, whereupon an astounded Peter Lester (who favoured the more coach-like 'let's go over this again' type of analysis) would exclaim: 'You didn't stop to draw breath there, Seb!'

Racing as seen on the big screen onshore. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All Rights Reserved.

The big screen showed the racing as both actual images and VirtualEye format, and, with the aid of the bi-lingual commentary team, was easy for all to follow, regardless of their level of sailing knowledge. If not present in Nice, it was possible to follow the racing live through the event website too, again with both sound and images plus VirtualEye to illustrate gains and losses, an excellent addition to the event coverage.

The big screen onshore showing Virtual Eye with the Russian Synergy Team leading the Italians on Azzurra. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All Rights Reserved.

The onshore commentary team were complemented by Martin Tasker and Ross Blackman on the water - and the latter reported directly from the back of a racing boat on occasion. On board cameras and sound also assisted, altogether leaning towards the excellent Ronstan's 'Awesome Aussie Skiffs 1' type of top-rate sailboat racing video.

The Sailors

There were lots of cheery 'Hi's from the BMW ORACLE Racing guys, many of whom were Kiwis, and they went out and beat Artemis. Earlier in the year, the Emirates Team New Zealand sailors, who I didn't see to speak to in Nice, greeted me in similar fashion, and they went on to win almost everything in sight in 2009. In Nice, Jochen Schümann also smiled and waved, and ALL4ONE went up the table to finish fifth.

Just in case you're wondering, I'm not trying to set myself up as some kind of lucky charm here - people's reaction to you is always a reflection of how they themselves are feeling. It's a case of a positive, forward-looking attitude, as exemplified by all of these guys, paying off in results on the water.

Russell Coutts (blue kite) and Cameron Dunn (yellow kite) head downwind on Hamilton Harbour in Bermuda in good breeze and sunshine, rolling the IODs around. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All Rights Reserved.

Cameron Dunn (BMW ORACLE Racing's strategist) reminisced over the Bermuda Gold Cup in 2003, and the 'Coutts-Dunn sequence', shown in the images at the bottom of this article. On a sunny, breezy, day in Bermuda (on my visit to Nice the weather had turned on its best sunshine and breeze of the event to date), Russell Coutts and his then Alinghi squad (of Dean Phipps, Warwick Fleury and Simon Daubney) had got the better of Cameron Dunn in the pre-start of their final match. However, Dunn kept it close and worked his way back to get just ahead of Coutts on the first downwind leg.

As Cameron Dunn put it back then, they both then 'lost it' on the gybe. The case on Dunn's boat was more serious, as a crew member was knocked unconscious by the boom and had to be transferred to the umpire boat and taken to hospital (where he was found to be ok). Coutts went on to take the race. There was some spectacular racing that day as the crews got the IODs rolling downwind in good breezes and brilliant sunshine.

Achtung! Ist der Weisser Hai...
Look out! It's the Great White Shark...

Karol Jablonski hailed me with much gusto from afar prior to the press conference in Nice. Happy as a sand boy at having brought the Russian Synergy Team into the semi-finals in Nice, Karol was on top of the world. The Great White Shark (so-named by a journalist from Hamburg for his 'killer instinct' in pre-starts) was having a whale of a time [sorry] and, with nothing to lose, became a formidable opponent.

Jablonski is a former multiple DN ice boat world champion. The speed of those boats means that they can easily do 25 knots in 5 knots of breeze. This means that quick reaction times are needed - especially as ice is a lot less forgiving of errors than water.

Karol Jablonski racing his DN ice yacht. Supplied image.

Jablonski's pro match race crew from the RC44 Organika had commented to me earlier in the year that 'Karol brings a sense of urgency to the boat. It goes faster as a result'.

Since he is used to helming boats that go the speed of these multihull steeds for the 33rd America's Cup, would he find it easier than most people to helm one? 'Yes, undoubtedly' was Jablonski's reply, at the same time lamenting 'but I haven't been asked to do so'.

Still, an excited great white shark is a dangerous beast, and undoubtedly Jablonski's opponents have not heard the last from the Russian Synergy Team at the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice.

On the water

Only time for shooting one race, that of BMW ORACLE Racing against Artemis, and it proved to be a good one... There was a decent (about 12 knots) and reasonably constant easterly breeze, in both pressure and direction, the sun was shining and the photo boat not over-crowded. Ironically it was the same photo boat that had been used at the iShares Cup in Cowes earlier in the year. 'Bluetooth' had been trailed from the Hamble (Solent, UK) down to Nice especially for the Louis Vuitton Trophy.

Tom Powrie from BlackMatch Racing - photo boat driver at the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice. Image copyright Anne Hinton.

If there is a shortage of good boats to use for photographers, there is even more a shortage of good photo boat drivers. To do this job well, the boat driver must not only be a sailor, but someone who is clued up enough about the racing to understand what the boats are doing, are likely to want to do and where they will go, and be able to stay out of the way. Ideally he or she should also have a sense for a good picture. Tom Powrie, of the famous Auckland sailing family, and BlackMatch Racing, New Zealand's ISAF #1 ranked match racers, fitted the bill very well indeed in Nice. Thank you, Tom!

The Sailing

Gavin Brady at the helm of BMW ORACLE Racing's mount, the TeamOrigin GBR 75 (ex-Alinghi's SUI 75) boat, was on port entry against Terry Hutchinson on the wheel of Artemis (ALL4ONE's, ex-K-Challenge's, ACC ver. 5 boat). Essentially, Hamish Pepper was in charge of where BMW ORACLE Racing went tactics-wise, while Morgan Larson played the same role for Artemis, backed up by Paul Cayard on strategy, with the odd Kiwi crew on board too, of course, and Kiwi Jared Henderson as Artemis' team manager.

Artemis checking the starting line. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All Rights Reserved.

In the pre-start there was no dial-up, as both boats ran deep and port-entry BMW ORACLE Racing were able to cross Artemis. Artemis followed BMW ORACLE Racing around, but eventually there was a split decision of which way to go, as Artemis started at the committee boat end, while BMW ORACLE Racing chose the pin.

Lee bow from Artemis forces BMW ORACLE Racing to tack back left. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All Rights Reserved.

There was a good duel initially, as Artemis lee-bowed the port tack BMW ORACLE Racing every time they met up the beat, bouncing the American boat back left. Still, it was BMW ORACLE Racing who gradually got bow forward and led into the windward mark. Although the Artemis crew tried to keep up, the American boat extended thereafter and finished some 36 seconds ahead.

BMW ORACLE Racing heads to victory over Artemis. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All Rights Reserved.

The Boats

The Mascalzone Latino and TeamOrigin paintwork was far more impressive than the neutral-coloured ALL4ONE's boat. A little ironic that, as K-Challenge, before changing to sponsors colours, in the last AC round, had had the most photogenic boat of all - keeping it simple and bold in just three contrasting colours (black, red and white).

Mascalzone Latino boat close up. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All Rights Reserved.

The Mascalzone Latino boats were more evenly matched, but there wasn't a great deal in it with the British and French boats, either. The emphasis was definitely on the sailing and teamwork at the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice. There was also an added challenge for the race committee, in that the water depth just offshore, in the deep offshore channel systems, scoured out at times of lower sea levels, reached 300 metres or more, making anchoring the committee boat impossible, while mark laying was done using weighted buoys that were towed and kept in position by RIBs until the racing approached.

Smiles All Round

At the evening's press conference there was a lot of joking. It had earlier been remarked that there was a need for the Russian crew to shout at each other as they had no communications system on the boat. Karol Jablonski had highlighted the up-the-rig issue, where a Russian-speaking crew member was sent in search of breeze. Altogether there were eight nationalities represented on the Russian Synergy Team, one of which was Italian. Event organiser Bruno Troublé asked Karol Jablonski about his latest Italian recruit, and Jablonski explained that, being a low budget team and so unable to bring reserve crew members, they had found this replacement crew on the dock. 'He had a Luna Rossa shirt on, so we thought he must be good!' said Jablonski.

Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice, Côte d'Azur, press conference. Left to right: Karol Jablonski (Russian Synergy Team), Francesco Bruni (Azzurra), Hamish Pepper (BMW ORACLE Racing) and event organiser Bruno Troublé. Image copyright Anne Hinton. All Rights Reserved.

It was a case of smiles all round at the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice, with the intense early winter sunshine and superb scenery of France's Côte d'Azur forming an excellent backdrop to the racing. Altogether a great event. Roll on the next World Sailing Teams Association Louis Vuitton Trophy match racing in Auckland in March!

Coutts - Dunn Sequence from the Bermuda Gold Cup Match Racing in 2003