Emirates Team New Zealand racing on Day 5 off La Maddalena. Image copyright Chris Cameron/Emirates Team New Zealand.
by Warren Douglas
Emirates Team New Zealand has won its third match of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena regatta, beating the Russian team Synergy by just four seconds.
The team’s match against Azzurra, scheduled for the end of the day, was abandoned about 6.45pm.
Emirates Team New Zealand has two matches scheduled for tomorrow: first match of the day against Azzurra and second match of the day against Aleph.
Emirates Team New Zealand racing on Day 5 off La Maddalena. Image copyright Chris Cameron/Emirates Team New Zealand.
Emirates Team New Zealand has now raced three matches, with two wins and one loss.
That puts the team fourth on the leader board. Artemis (Sweden) leads the regatta after Day 5. It has four points after four races. All4One (France/Germany) is second with a 3-3 score line. Mascalzone Latino (Italy) is third on two points – having been penalized one point.
Three other teams - Azzurra (Italy), Synergy (Russia) and Team-Origin (UK) - are on two points but each has had more races than Emirates Team New Zealand.
In today’s race, started in a south-east breeze of 12 – 17 knots, Dean Barker and his crew sailed well, gaining a small advantage at the start and protecting the right of the course to the finish.
Emirates Team New Zealand racing against Synergy on Day 5 off La Maddalena. Image copyright Chris Cameron/Emirates Team New Zealand.
At times Synergy looked to have the advantage but the Emirates Team New Zealand crew kept its nerve, sticking to the game plan and securing the win.
On both runs, the breeze got softer, handing the trailing boat an advantage, but Dean Barker and crew maintained their lead.
On the final run, Synergy tried a dummy gybe, but the manoeuvre was not well executed and they lost vital metres. That gave Emirates Team New Zealand a buffer which they used when they sailed into a soft patch at the committee boat end of the line while Synergy had stronger breeze at the pin end.
Emirates Team New Zealand was first round every mark but there was little in it.
The deltas tell the story: mark 1 11s, , mark 2 10s, mark 3 9s, finish 4s.
Emirates Team New Zealand racing on Day 5 off La Maddalena. Image copyright Chris Cameron/Emirates Team New Zealand.
Other results from today:
Mascalzone Latino b Synergy by 8s
Emirates Team New Zealand b Synergy by 4s
BMW Oracle b All4One by 17s
Arttemis b Luna Rossa by 33s
All4One b Luna Rossa 35s
Emirates Team New Zealand
Louis Vuitton Trophy
