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It was a difficult day for the sailors at the Valencia
Louis Vuitton Act 2 on Wednesday, as very light
conditions made for a day of snakes and ladders
on the race course, with teams realising big gains
or losses with each puff of breeze.
Racing was delayed for nearly four hours with low
cloud cover and haze inhibiting the sea breeze.
But Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio's patience
was rewarded and he was able to start one full flight
of races on the day.
The light, shifty conditions meant that some races
that appeared as though they might be relative mismatches
were in doubt until the finish gun sounded.
The first match had great potential for upset throughout
the first lap of the course, as the K-Challenge
built a nice lead on the America's Cup Defender
Alinghi.
Skipper Thierry Peponnet found a nice right-hand
shift just after the start and converted that into
a 23-second lead around the top mark. The team was
able to fend off Alinghi nearly all of the way down
the course, but on the final gybe for the leeward
gate, K-Challenge wasn't able to sheet in the gennaker,
and that allowed Alinghi helmsman Peter Holmberg
to roll over the French boat, and round the leeward
mark with a one-second lead. Alinghi covered the
rest of the way for the win.
In the second match, Le Défi helmsman Philippe
Presti appeared to have his counterpart Iain Percy
in trouble upwind of the start line just a minute
before the start, but Percy was able to wriggle
off the hook, and within moments of the start was
flying up the right hand side of the course.
But the +39 crew switched sides later up the beat,
and Le Défi was able to make the pass. The
French extended the rest of the way for a well deserved
win.
This third flight was the Match of the Day with
Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand in a heated
battle all of the way around the race course.
Helmsman James Spithill earned full marks on this
pre-start and was in control for the entire five-minutes.
Out of the dial-up, Spithill was in a strong position
to leeward of Dean Barker on NZL 81, and was able
to keep Barker vulnerable as the boats eventually
turned for the starting line. On the run back to
the line, Spithill luffed up and shut NZL 81 out
from the start, Barker with no choice but to stall
head to wind until ITA 74 cleared the start line.
Trailing early, NZL 81 appeared to be right back
in the race after a favourable shift when Luna Rossa
allowed some separation, but at the top mark, the
Italians were in control, and led by 30-seconds
The Luna Rossa afterguard made some brave decisions
on this day, often allowing the trailing NZL 81
to separate by hundreds of metres, potentially very
dangerous in the light, patchy, and shifty conditions.
Even on the final run to the finish Barker and his
afterguard were able to find some room on their
own on the left-hand side of the race course. But
each time the boats converged, the wisdom of the
decision-makers on the Italian boat was borne out,
and despite some anxious moments, Luna Rossa earned
a big win on a difficult day.
In the final match, BMW Oracle was simply too powerful
for Team Shosholoza, and led this race from start
to finish. The results leave the Defender, Team
Alinghi, alone at the top of the leaderboard with
a perfect record of three wins from three starts.
Racing will continue on Thursday with Flights 5
and 6. Flight 4 will be sailed later in the week
when the schedule permits.
Résults
Flight 3 : SUI 64 def. FRA 57 (delta 1:17) - FRA
69 def. ITA 59 (delta 1:55) - ITA 74 def. NZL 81
(delta 0:57) - USA 71 def. RSA 48 (delta 4:01)
Flight 4 : Postponed
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