Little change on leaderboard as top three keep pace
Match between ALL4ONE and TFS - PAGES JAUNES. Image copyright Bob Grieser/OutsideImages.co.nz
by Chloe Daycard
On a day where the leaders at the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur kept pace with one another, it was the Synergy team of Russia that made the day’s headline.
Synergy, led by Polish skipper Karol Jablonski, scored an historic triumph by beating the French/German team ALL4ONE. Synergy got the early jump off the start line when ALL4ONE became entangled with the race committee boat (going OCS and earning a penalty for hitting the committee boat) and then sailed to a victory of 1 minute, 30 seconds.
“This is a great victory and great day for Russia,” said Maxim Logutenko, Synergy team manager. “It’s the first time Russia has won a race on this kind of boat. The start was a present for us, but in the rest of the race we did a good job. Karol did a great job helming and we’re happy with the crew work. We’re getting better and better.”
Only once before has Russia attempted to field a team for the Louis Vuitton Cup: That was in 1992, but the team never made the series. Synergy is here with an eye towards the future and the win was welcome because of the team’s hard luck the past few days.
On Sunday, it led Emirates Team New Zealand before “hitting the wall” just three lengths from the finish line and could only watch as the Kiwis sailed past to take the win. Yesterday, Synergy led Artemis up the first beat until the mainsheet broke. Such are the growing pains for a fledgling team.
“We’ve seen a broad spectrum of opportunities and happenstances. It’s been a good thing for the growth of the team,” said pitman Josh Belsky, the American who’s been on three America’s Cup-winning teams. “We’ve got some good international guys in key positions. We lack some horsepower; we’re probably the smallest team out here physically. But at the end of the day I look back and the owner, Valentin Zavadnikov, has a huge smile. He sees the potential for the future.”
Match between ALL4ONE and TFS - PAGES JAUNES. Image copyright Bob Grieser/OutsideImages.co.nz
At the top of the scoreboard, Emirates Team New Zealand kept its perfect record intact with a 23-second win in its lone match against Artemis of Sweden. Team New Zealand has 5 points on a 5-0 record.
Britain’s TeamOrigin, the only other undefeated team at 4-0, holds second place with 4 points. Italy’s Azzurra is third with 4 points on a 4-1 record, and BMW Oracle is fourth with 2 points on a 2-2 record.
Fifth is held by Artemis (2-3), which is followed by ALL4ONE (2-6), Synergy (1-4) and TFS – Pages Jaunes (0-6).
The wind conditions were again tricky on the Baie des Anges. The morning offshore flow died during Flight 9 and led to a lengthy postponement before the start of Flight 10. The day’s second flight was started in winds around 5 knots, and it was difficult for crews to pick a side of the racecourse. TeamOrigin’s lone win, with a decisive 2-minute delta over BMW ORACLE Racing, came in the trying conditions.
“It’s quite often a difficult decision to make whether you want to lose a lot to get the side you want, or whether you accept a close start on the un-favoured side,” said TeamOrigin skipper Ben Ainslie. “Today was like that. We had to make sure we didn’t lose too much in winning the left. We were a bit late and slow off the line, but it turned out to be the right decision.”
The interrupted schedule means teams are struggling to keep their consistency from day to day with the sometimes long stretches of inactivity.
“The toughest thing in this kind of racing is one day you sail two or three races and the next day you don’t sail at all,” said Azzurra skipper Francesco Bruni. “The key for our team is to keep our rhythm going, keep our concentration up.”
Tomorrow’s schedule
Flight 12
M1: Emirates Team New Zealand vs. BMW Oracle Racing
M2: Artemis vs. TeamOrigin
Flight 13
M1: TFS – Pages Jaunes vs. Synergy
M2: ALL4ONE vs. Azzurra
Flight 14
M1: BMW Oracle Racing vs. Artemis
M2: Emirates Team New Zealand vs. TEamOrigin
Flight 8
M2: BMW Oracle Racing vs. Synergy
Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice. Image copyright Frank Socha.
Round Robin 1 : Flights 9-11 match summaries
FLIGHT 9
M1: Emirates Team New Zealand d. Artemis – Delta 23 seconds
Emirates Team New Zealand kept its position as the top team in tact with a workmanlike victory over Artemis of Sweden. The two yachts started the match on starboard tack, with Team New Zealand on the leebow of Artemis. The Swedish team helmsman Terry Hutchinson quickly tacked away to port and when the pair met for the first time on the racecourse they were in similar positions: Team New Zealand tacked on the leebow of Artemis. Kiwi skipper Dean Barker eventually got his crew to the right of Artemis in the top half of the beat and then covered into the windward mark. Team New Zealand led by 15 seconds at the first windward mark and then covered with deadly efficiency over the rest of the course to move to 5-0. Artemis fell to 2-3.
"There was always a little more pressure on the left," said Team New Zealand tactician Ray Davies of the first beat. "On the second beat the race committee moved the mark 10 degrees left, but the wind shifted right so it was always a little skewed."
Both teams move to the sideline for a few hours until Flight 12 when Team New Zealand is scheduled to race BMW Oracle Racing in Match 1, and Artemis takes on TeamOrigin in Match 2.
M2: ALL4ONE d. TFS – Pages Jaunes – Delta: 50 seconds
The combined French/German team ALL4ONE scored a similar workmanlike victory over partial compatriot team TFS – Pages Jaunes on Remembrance Day in France. TFS – Pages Jaunes skipper Bertrand Pace appeared to want the right side of the racecourse, even holding to the right of the committee boat with 20 seconds to the start. ALL4ONE helmsman Sebastien Col was content to take starboard onto the racecourse at mid-line while TFS – Pages Jaunes tacked away to port shortly after the start. ALL4ONE gained control of the match on the first windward leg and then never gave Pace and TFS – Pages Jaunes an opportunity to come back. ALL4ONE led by 14 seconds at the first windward mark, 27 seconds at the leeward gate and 38 seconds at the second windward mark. ALL4ONE now stands at 2-3, tied with Artemis for fifth but owning the tiebreak advantage by virtue of a head-to-head win. TFS – Pages Jaunes, a team formed in the two weeks leading up to this event, is at 0-5.
Match between ALL4ONE and TFS - PAGES JAUNES. Image copyright Bob Grieser/OutsideImages.co.nz
FLIGHT 10
M1: Azzurra d. Synergy – Delta: 1:09
M2: TeamOrigin d. BMW Oracle Racing – Delta: 2:01
Both matches in Flight 10 were plagued by light winds in the pre-start and on the first beats. Consequently, when the leaders were established on the first beat they were never threatened around the rest of the course. In fact, the two deltas were among the largest of the regatta.
The wins kept Azzurra and TeamOrigin apace with regatta leader Team New Zealand, which is undefeated at 5-0. TeamOrigin holds second with 4 points on a 4-0 record and Azzurra is third with 3 points on a 3-1 record. BMW Oracle fell to 2-2 and Synergy, another newly formed team, remained winless.
FLIGHT 11
Wind: 9-11 knots
Course range and bearing: 195 degrees, 1.3 NM
M1: Synergy d. ALL4ONE – Delta: 1:30
The Russian Synergy team picked up its first win in AC racing by defeating ALL4ONE. The French/German team committed a huge error in the pre-start when it was OCS. ALL4ONE also picked up a penalty for hitting the committee boat. ALL4ONE was on port tack and aiming amidships for the committee boat. When helmsman Seb Col hardened up to avoid a t-bone collision, the starboard transom hit the committee boat on its port transom. ALL4ONE performed its penalty turn on the finish line while the Synergy crew, led by Polish skipper Karol Jablonski, rejoiced in victory.
M2: Azzurra d. TFS – Pages Jaunes – Delta: 1:32
Azzurra strengthened its grip on third place with its win over TFS – Pages Jaunes. Despite the delta, this match was close around the first lap. Bertrand Pace and his French crew, formed just two weeks before the start of racing, were within one boatlength approaching the leeward gate. But the French crew had trouble hoisting the genoa at the gate and began the second beat bearheaded. Azzurra made a port rounding through the gate and quickly opened a 270-metre lead. Azzurra increased that advantage around the second lap for the win. The Italian crew has 4 points on a 4-1 record. TFS – Pages Jaunes remained winless in six matches.
Louis Vuitton Trophy
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