Sea, Sail & Surf newsLouis Vuitton Cup
Quarters repechage • D2 : ’Top’ team up to the ’Bottom’ ones again
mercredi 27 novembre 2002 –
- Le duel américain tourne à l’avantage de OneWorld
- Photo : F.Socha
• Match 1 OneWorld USA 67 wins against Stars & Stripes USA 77 (1’ 50")
Australian helmsman James Spithill steered OneWorld across the start line with more speed and quickly opened a small lead on the New York boat, enabling OneWorld to take early control of the race.
In a shifty southerly that swung to the southwest and back again, the Seattle boat made gains on each of the upwind legs, only to lose time to Stars & Stripes downwind.
Today’s race also produced the toughest tacking duel yet seen during this Cup season in Auckland. As Stars & Stripes rounded the first leeward mark, just 12 seconds and two boatlengths behind OneWorld, skipper Ken Read attacked relentlessly with a series of 12 tacks in just under ten minutes.
Peter Isler, afterguard on Stars & Stripes : "It was a tacticians’ nightmare or a skippers’ dream, depending which side of the localized puffs you were on. This was a day with minefields and vortexes. It was a day where the boat in front could avoid risk and cover closely and that’s exactly what our opponents did.
It was not a great day to make good boatspeed assessments but from what we saw there was not much difference between the two boats. We were like two one-designs out there. At times we were going better both upwind and downwind and at times they were. There’s a lot of racing still remaining in this series."
Source Team Dennis Conner
- Luna Rossa a deux points d’avance sur Orm
- Photo : F.Socha
• Match 2 Luna Rossa ITA 74 wins against Orm SWE 73 (1’ 23")
Rod Davis at the helm of Luna Rossa ITA 74 wins a long luffing match with Orm SWE 73 in the pre-start and is able to cross the line with a good speed to leeward of Victory, who trails by 1 second. There are 8-9 knots of wind on the course and both boats have a man up the mast to signal from above the puffs of stronger air.
Luna Rossa builds a good lead during the first windward beat as the wind shifts slightly to the left. At two thirds of the beat the two boats exchange sides, with ITA 74 going to defend the right. Francesco de Angelis rounds the first mark with 43 seconds of advantage over Victory.
The wind builds to 10-12 knots. Both boats hoist the gennaker (the asymmetrical sail). The Swedes chase Luna Rossa, benefiting from stronger wind pressure from behind. The gap between the two boats decreases. At the bottom mark Orm SWE 73 is trailing by 12 seconds.
In the first part of the second beat the two boats sail on parallel tacks, then Victory decides to head for the left of the course while Luna Rossa keeps to the right. Only when the lateral separation between the two is more than 600 metres, does ITA 74 tack back to cover. In the meantime the wind has shifted to the right favouring Luna Rossa who made a wise tactical choice. At the third mark rounding ITA 74 is leading by 47 seconds.
Second gennaker run. The wind, at 12-13 knots, has kept shifting to the right. There is very little chance for Orm to find a passing lane at this stage. The Swedes have the only option of chasing Luna Rossa, but are unable to make significant gains on their opponent. At the fourth mark rounding ITA 74 is leading by 29 seconds.
Third and last beat. The breeze shifts to the left. Francesco de Angelis keeps a close control on his opponent. In the first part of the leg ITA 74 defends the left, then the two yachts swap sides, with Luna Rossa going to the right and Orm to the left. At the last mark rounding Francesco de Angelis is leading by 43 seconds.
The breeze, extremely shifty, dies to 6-7 knots. Francesco de Aneglis keeps a close control over Orm. Towards the end of the run the Swedes go for a gennaker peel, but soon after completing the manoeuvre the lighter sail gets torn on the jumper and the crew is forced to change sail again. Luna Rossa goes to win match 2 of the quarter finals repechage with a comfortable lead of 1 minute and 23 seconds.
Source Prada Luna Rossa
TODAY’S RESULTS
RACE 2
Match 2 Luna Rossa ITA 74 wins against Orm SWE 73 (1’ 23")
Match 1 OneWorld USA 67 wins against Stars & Stripes USA 77 (1’ 50")
SCOREBOARD OneWorld Challenge (2) - Team Dennis Conner (0) Prada Challenge (2) - Victory Challenge (0)
Dans la même rubrique
Louis Vuitton Cup : Quarter repechage • D1 : First point for Prada and OneWorld
Louis Vuitton Cup : Quarters of repechage : OneWorld choose Stars and Stripes
Louis Vuitton Cup : Francesco de Angelis about Prada Luna Rossa’s withdrawal
Louis Vuitton Cup : Quarters of final - D4 : Oracle BMW Racing joins Alinghi in semis
