Matt Mitchell, Bowman, TEAMORIGIN. Image copyright Ian Roman/TeamOrigin.
by Chloe Daycard
France’s TFS – PagesJaunes scored its first win of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur today as the regatta began Round Robin 2. Other winners included fleet leader Emirates Team New Zealand, No. 2 TeamOrigin and the combined French/German team All4One.
A new wind direction blew across the racecourse on the Baie des Anges, northeast, but the strength remained light, between 4 and 8 knots. That put a premium on getting to the right side where there seemed to be more pressure. One knot difference in windspeed can add 10 degrees of heading.
Russia’s Synergy played the right side to defeat BMW Oracle Racing in the first match of the day. The showdown was the lone outstanding match of Round 1 and determined fourth, fifth and sixth in the standings.
Synergy and BMW Oracle were separated laterally by more than 1,400 meters (.75 nautical miles) when Synergy tacked to starboard. The Russian team led by skipper Karol Jablonski led by 56 seconds at the first mark en route to a 14-second victory.
Synergy’s win placed it in a three-way tie for fourth in Round 1 with Artemis and BMW Oracle, all at 3-4. Artemis won the tiebreaker by virtue of its win yesterday over TeamOrigin of the U.K. Synergy placed fifth because it beat BMW Oracle, and the U.S.-flagged crew placed sixth.
The standings proved important because the schedule for Round 2 has been amended from a full round robin. Due to time constraints the eight teams have been divided into two halves based on the Round Robin 1 standings. The top four teams will race each of the bottom four teams once. Wins will be worth 1 point.
Christian Estrosi (left), the mayor of Nice, Yves Carcelle, CEO of Louis Vuitton, and Bruno Troublé, Louis Vuitton Trophy spokesman, at the Louis Vuitton Party held at the Castle Mont Baron. Image copyright Paul Todd/OutsideImages.co.nz
Round 2 began with the previously winless TFS – PagesJaunes scoring a wire-to-wire win over Italy’s Azzurra, which finished second in the first round. Skipper Bertrand Pacé and his crew started to the right of the Italians to play the right side of the course, and when they tacked to starboard they opened an insurmountable lead. TFS – PagesJaunes led by 33 seconds at the first mark and kept increasing its advantage and scored a victory of 1 minute, 45 seconds.
TFS – PagesJaunes was formed just two weeks before the regatta and the crew went through some growing pains in the first round. But all of that was temporarily forgotten with the win.
“We knew we could win races, it’s just taken a while for the crew to come together,” said Pacé, a past match racing world champion. “The afterguard picked the right-hand side of the course, and since we had starboard tack in the pre-start it was easy to get to the right.”
It was an afternoon for the French to beat up on the Italians. In the second flight of races All4One scored a 46-second victory over Azzurra. The match was close on the first beat, but All4One protected its early lead and led by 39 seconds at the first mark. All4One was the only crew to win today after starting to the left of its competition.
“We had two good starts today. First one was against Team New Zealand, but we didn't turn it into a point and we missed the opportunity to take the lead in this match,” said All4One helmsman Sébastien Col. “We refocused for the second match against Azzurra, where we more or less adopted the same strategy. The afterguard did nice job to keep the lead, knowing that in these light conditions it was not easy.”
In other Round 2 matches Emirates Team New Zealand defeated All4One by 47 seconds and TeamOrigin won over TFS – PagesJaunes by 2 minutes, 31 seconds.
Dancers were featured in vinyl balls at the Louis Vuitton Party held at the Castle Mont Baron. Image copyright Paul Todd/OutsideImages.co.nz
Round Robin 2 : Flights 1-2 summaries
Light winds from the east/northeast put a heavy emphasis on the right side of the course
FLIGHT 1
M1: Emirates Team New Zealand d. ALL4ONE – Delta: 47 seconds
Emirates Team New Zealand ran its record to 7-1 with its first victory of Round 2. The Kiwis trailed All4One off the start line, but had the favoured right-hand side of the racecourse. When they tacked to starboard they were lifted inside of All4One and led around the windward mark by 38 seconds. Team New Zealand stretched that lead out to 1:32 at the second windward mark.
M2: TFS – PagesJaunes d. Azzurra – Delta: 1:45
TFS – PagesJaunes had been the hard luck team of the first round robin, going 0-7 despite some near misses. Skipper Bertrand Pace and crew corrected that today with a solid, wire-to-wire win over Azzurra, which finished Round Robin 1 in second at 6-1. Pace entered the start box on the favoured starboard tack and started the race on port tack at the boat end with Azzurra on starboard at the pin. Pace’s afterguard, including Philippe Presti and Mathieu Richard, wanted the right side of the beat and about 1 minute into the match the crew tacked to starboard. When they did they were lifted with pressure and quickly opened a two- to three-boatlength lead. TFS – PagesJaunes led by 33 seconds at the first mark and increased that advantage at every mark of the course.
FLIGHT 2
M1: TEAMORIGIN vs. TFS – Pages Jaunes – Delta: 2:31
TEAMORIGIN vs TFS - PAGES JAUNES, TEAMORIGIN round the leeward mark. Image copyright Ian Roman/TeamOrigin.
After scoring its first win of the regatta in Flight 1 TFS – PagesJaunes was hoping to follow-up with another victory. But TeamOrigin controlled this match throughout. TeamOrigin started to windward, tacked to the favoured right side, won the first cross and never was threatened. TeamOrigin led by 58 seconds at the first windward mark and navigated the light winds much better than TFS – PagesJaunes for the convincing win. TeamOrigin now stands at 6-2, one point behind leader Team New Zealand, and TFS – PagesJaunes is 1-8.
M2: ALL4ONE vs. Azzurra – Delta: 46 seconds
The French/German team ALL4ONE got on the scoreboard today with a nice win over Azzurra. Both crews started on starboard tack with All4One to leeward. Azzurra was forced to tack away about 90 seconds into the match. All4One continued and then covered in port. The Mediterranean rivals traded tacks four times, with All4One tacking in front, before finally crossing to the right. All4One led at the windward mark by 39 seconds, and covered the rest of the way. All4One increased its record to 3-6 while Azzurra dropped to 6-3 after its second consecutive loss to a French team.
14th November 2009 results in Nice at the Louis Vuitton Trophy.
Overall results after 14th November's racing in Nice.
FLEET STANDINGS (Through Round 2 : Flight 2)
1. Emirates Team New Zealand, 7-1
2. TeamOrigin, 6-2
3. Azzurra, 6-3
4. Artemis, 3-4
5. Synergy, 3-4
6. BMW, 3-4
7. All4One, 3-6
8. TFS – PagesJaunes, 1-8
Louis Vuitton Trophy
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