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Grant Dalton's Emirates Team New Zealand
swept its three races on Monday afternoon
on the Gulf of Valencia, leaping to the top
of the leaderboard at the Valencia Louis Vuitton
Act 2.
The Kiwis beat K-Challenge, Luna Rossa and
+39 to go into the final day with a one point
lead over Luna Rossa. BMW Oracle Racing and
Team Alinghi, both highly touted teams coming
into the regatta will need to win at least
two of their races on Tuesday to threaten
the top of the leaderboard. Based on current
form, Luna Rossa has the easiest schedule
on Tuesday.
It was a tricky day on the Gulf of Valencia
with the Southerly sea-breeze battling against
a more Westerly gradient wind. In the middle
Flight especially, this resulted in big opportunities
for gains and losses on the race course.
The match between Luna Rossa and Team Alinghi
in the first flight was the match of the day.
It was a tight confrontation between two top
teams with Luna Rossa skipper Francesco de
Angelis and his team making a pass on the
final run to win the race.
On the start, both boats hit the line at speed,
Alinghi helmsman Peter Holmberg settling for
the right hand side of the race course, with
James Spithill, ITA 74, claiming the left.
The boats raced out on a long starboard tack,
with Holmberg slowly gaining height on the
Italian boat until Spithill was forced to
tack.
Holmberg used his starboard tack advantage
to keep bouncing the Italian boat left each
time they converged, and led around the top
mark by 18-seconds. On the first run, Alinghi
set a spinnaker while the Luna Rossa afterguard
elected to use an asymmetric sail.
The decision appeared to work for Luna Rossa,
with the Italians closing up on the first
run. But Alinghi held firm and led by 13 seconds
at the second windward.
On the final run, the Italians gybed first
and suddenly found better pressure on the
left hand side of the race course. By the
time Alinghi gybed in a covering position,
the Italians were storming down the side of
the race course and were able to roll over
the top of the Swiss boat. Luna Rossa won
the race by 14 seconds avenging a loss in
Round Robin One against the America's Cup
Defender.
In the other matches in Flight 2, each of
the top teams held serve against their lower
ranked opponents in races that started in
a brisk 17-knot westerly, which eased to 10-12
knots by the finish.
In the Flight 3, the heat of the sun generated
a sea-breeze that quickly extinguished the
gradient Westerly. The wind for these matches
was light and patchy and offered plenty of
peril for the tacticians and strategists on
each boat.
Whilst Alinghi and Emirates Team New Zealand
were able to build an early lead and run away
with their matches, the other two pairs struggled
around the race course with BMW Oracle Racing
struggling on the final run to hold off the
winless South African team. There was a moment
approaching the finishing line when Team Shosholoza
appeared poised to win an enormous upset,
but the Americans prevailed in the end.
The final pairing in this flight was a dramatic
encounter between +39 and Le Défi.
In the fluky conditions the leading boat was
never confident as time and again the trailing
boat found wind that didn't reach the leader.
On the final run to the finish both boats
eventually were forced to drop their spinnakers
and the wind died completely with the pair
just metres from the finishing line. Skipper
Iain Percy on +39 was the luckier man on the
day, and found just enough breeze to slide
across the finishing line, leaving a frustrated
Philippe Presti helpless and adrift.
For the final flight on the day, the sea-breeze
died off, the gradient wind returned at 10-12
knots, and normal service resumed, with each
of the top four teams prevailing in their
races.
Racing continues on Tuesday with Flights 5,
6 and 7 to conclude the second Round Robin,
and the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 2. Racing
is scheduled to start at 11:40. .
Results (RR2)
Flight 2 : NZL 81 beat FRA 57 (delta 1:09)
- USA 71 beat ITA 59 (delta 1:45) - ITA 74
beat SUI 64 (delta 0:14) - FRA 69 beat RSA
48 (delta 0:58)
Flight 3 : SUI 64 beat FRA 57 (delta 3:23)
- NZL 81 beat ITA 74 (delta 6:18) - USA 71
beat RSA 48 (delta 1:24) - ITA 59 beat FRA
69 (delta 2:39)
Flight 4 : USA 71 beat FRA 57 (delta 2:06)
- SUI 64 beat RSA 48 (delta 1:17) - ITA 74
beat FRA 69 (delta 1:08) - NZL 81 beat ITA
59 (delta 3:17)
Leaderboard (Team Name/Won/Lost)
1. Emirates Team New Zealand, 10/1
2. Luna Rossa, 9/2
3. BMW Oracle Racing, 8/3
3. Team Alinghi,
8/3
5. Le Défi, 4/7
6. K-Challenge, 3/8
7. +39, 2/9
8. Team Shosholoza, 0/11
Final Day match race
pairings:
Flight 5 : FRA 69 vs USA 71 - ITA 59 vs RSA
48 - NZL 81 vs SUI 64 - FRA 57 vs ITA 74
Flight 6 : ITA 59 vs FRA 57 - ITA 74 vs RSA
48 - NZL 81 vs USA 71 - FRA 69 vs SUI 64
Flight 7 : ITA 74 vs ITA 59 - RSA 48 vs FRA
57 - FRA 69 vs NZL 81 - SUI 64 vs USA 71
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