Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice, Day 8, TEAMORIGIN vs TFS - PAGES JAUNES, L-R, George Skuodas, Julien Cressant and Matt Mitchell. Image copyright Ian Roman/TeamOrigin.
by Leslie Ryan
TEAMORIGIN beat Team French Spirit – Pages Jaunes in a light airs race and, thanks to other match results at the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice, moves back up to equal second overall on points with three matches still to sail.
It has been a slow day in Nice but following a rearrangement of the regatta format to make up lost time, the event is nicely back on schedule. The regatta organisers, realising that Round Robin One was going to take three days longer than scheduled to complete, decided last night to curtail Round Robin Two such that the first four ranked teams at the end of the first round would race teams ranked five to eight only, in effect the first half of the originally scheduled Round Robin 2. This yields just eight flights instead of 14, two of which were completed on Saturday.
TEAMORIGIN’s first match of the new round was against bottom ranked Team French Spirit – Pages Jaunes, a team that handily defeated the Italian team Azzurra in the first flight of the day today. In the second flight, the Italian team was also defeated by the Franco-German ALL4ONE team, leaving the Italians with a current score of six wins and three losses.
In light winds and a flat November Riviera sun TEAMORIGIN’s pre-start was dominant and skipper Ben Ainslie comfortably won the favoured right hand side of the line. Over the course of the following four legs the British team stretched their lead out over French skipper Bertrand Pacé to a two and a half minute win at the finish. This gives TEAMORIGIN a score of six wins and two losses, joint second place on points, with three matches still to be sailed before the Semi Final stage of the regatta, which begins on Thursday.
TEAMORIGIN leads TFS - Pages Jaunes on the first beat. Image copyright Ian Roman/TeamOrigin.
TEAMORIGIN tactician Iain Percy commented on the day shortly after the finish: "A very difficult race, even if we did get a long way in front! There were 45 degree wind shifts and big holes of wind all over the place. We kept our wits about us and made sure we didn't take any risks.
“Going forward it is not about our position on the leader board today. It is all about winning races and getting better all the time. Our focus now is on getting ready for the semi-finals at the end of the week."
One of the four grinders on board TEAMORIGIN is Chris Brittle: "It was not really a day for the grinders out there today! Bart (Andrew Simpson) and Iain Percy did a great job of calling the wind shifts with input from Rob Greenhalgh up the mast. Overall we had a good grasp of the race."
Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur
Current Standings
Competing teams - Country - Skipper - Record (W-L)
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) - Dean Barker, 7-1
Azzurra (ITA) - Francesco Bruni, 6-3
TEAMORIGIN (GBR) - Ben Ainslie, 6-2
Artemis (SWE) - Paul Cayard, 3-4
Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS) - Karol Jablonski, 3-4
BMW ORACLE Racing (USA) - Gavin Brady, 3-4
ALL4ONE (FRA/GER) - Jochen Schuemann, 3-5
Team French Spirit (FRA) - Bertrand Pacé, 1-8
Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur
Pairing Schedule for Sunday 15th November
Flight 3
Match 1BMW ORACLE Racing (99) vs TEAMORIGIN (90)
Match 2 Synergy (75) vs Artemis (93)
Flight 4
Match 1 Emirates Team New Zealand (75) vs BMW ORACLE Racing (93)
Match 2 ALL4ONE (99) vs Artemis (90)
Flight 5
Match 1 TEAMORIGIN (75) vs Synergy (93)
Match 2 ETNZ (99) vs TFS PagesJaunes (90)
TeamOrigin
Louis Vuitton Trophy
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