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America's Cup champion Alinghi
beat BMW Oracle Racing, opening the top of the leaderboard.
The Swiss were sailing SUI 75, the boat they used
to dominate the opposition in 2005. The Americans
had USA 87 as their weapon, a new boat that skipper
Chris Dickson has called the most innovative America’s
Cup class yacht ever built.
There was a near collision in the pre-start as the
teams jostled for position and streaking off the
starting line, Alinghi helmsman Ed Baird appeared
to hold a slender advantage. The boats sailed a
very long starboard tack out to the left side of
the race course only tacking once before rounding
the mark.
As such, it was an ideal opportunity to find out
how the boats stacked up, and although Alinghi rounded
the mark first, the boats appeared to be quite even.
The lead was more by virtue of positioning and starting
ability than pure boatspeed. For the rest of the
race, Alinghi held its position by staying between
its opponent and the next mark, resulting in an
important win for the Swiss.
At the end of the day, Alinghi - which beat Shosholoza
earlier by 21 second - is tied for first with Emirates
Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge.
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Italy's Mascalzone
Latino by 32 seconds and Spain's Desafio Espanol
by 57 seconds. Luna Rossa also won its pair, against
Sweden's Victory Challenge by 55 seconds and France's
Areva Challenge by 18 seconds.
With all to play for in the remaining two flights
of racing (and a extra match remaining between +39
Challenge and BMW Oracle), a great deal of movement
on the leaderboard is still possible.
Flight 8 Results
Luna Rossa def. Areva Challenge (0'18'')
Team Germany lost to Desafío Español (0'20'')
Shosholoza lost to Alinghi (0'21'')
China Team lost to BMW Oracle (4'38'')
Team NZ def. Mascalzone (0'32'')
Victory Challenge def. +39 Challenge (0'15'')
Flight 9 Results
Areva Challenge lost to Mascalzone (1'31'')
+39 Challenge lost to Shosholoza (0'57'')
Team Germany def. China Team (1'50'')
Luna Rossa def. Victory Challenge (0'55'')
Team NZ def. Desafío Español (0'54'')
Alinghi def. BMW Oracle Racing (0'21'')
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