Sea, Sail & Surf newsLouis Vuitton Cup
Semi repechage • D3 : ORACLE BMW Racing Just One Win Away From a Place in the Finals
dimanche 22 décembre 2002 –
- Chris Dickson est en route vers une nouvelle série face à Russell Coutts...
- Photo : F.Socha
OneWorld did a good job down the first run, bringing a little extra pressure down the racecourse and closed the gap to within eight seconds at the leeward mark. The second upwind leg was marked by a major right shift that effectively turned the leg into a procession to mark three. ORACLE BMW Racing predicted the shift to extend the lead to 46-seconds as the wind filled in to just above 15-knots. The increased pressure meant that USA-76 could put the pedal down and stretch out ahead by one minute and 11-seconds at the final leeward mark.
With the wind dropping to between 8-11 knots for the finals stages of the race it was a case of keeping a close watch over OneWorld. Both sailboats are remarkably even on boat-speed and any mistakes would have been costly. The ORACLE BMW Racing team held the starboard advantage up the final windward leg to round the last mark 50-seconds ahead.
A close final downwind leg to the finish line saw a classic gybing duel with OneWorld throwing everything at USA-76 hoping to force an error. Although, by the finishing gun ORACLE BMW Racing held the lead before OneWorld exonerated their penalty with a 270-degree turn to finish 55-seconds astern. The challenge from the San Francisco based Challenger team is now at match point in this series. ORACLE BMW Racing only requires one more win to advance to the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.
TEAM QUOTES :
CHRIS DICKSON, TEAM SKIPPER : "The team did well today, but we still have one more race to win. Like the two previous races in this Repechage series, OneWorld kept attacking us and we sailed well to hold them off."
IAN BURNS, AFTERGUARD : "We got a good position at the start in the dial up, and with the sailboats so close, side by side, it takes a lot of skill to control them. It was a very difficult day where any advantage could have been lost by the highly variable wind shifts."
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• USA-76 BEAT ONEWORLD (USA-67) - DELTA 00:55
Oracle BMW Racing leads OneWorld in the best of seven Repechage 3 to (-1)*
*Following the America’s Cup America's Cup #AmericasCup Arbitration Panel decision of 9th December 2002, OneWorld Challenge has had one point deducted from its score.
This race was decided in the prestart, with USA-76, skippered by Chris Dickson, gaining a comprehensive advantage over OneWorld in the crucial five minutes before the starting gun. USA-76 came in from the port entry and dialed up head to wind. OneWorld came in from starboard and dialed up very close to USA-76. With both yachts head to wind and slowly reversing back from the line, OneWorld found itself trapped in the windward position, too close to their opponents to tack away or move forward. Eventually, the inevitable happened and OneWorld incurred a penalty for failing to keep clear from the windward position.
OneWorld did a nice job of recovering control of the start in the final seconds before the gun, heading for the line well ahead of USA-76. But, the OneWorld crew misjudged their timing and compounded their problems by crossing the line a split second ahead of the gun. Forced to return for a restart and carrying a penalty, OneWorld, skippered by Peter Gilmour, faced an uphill battle to overcome USA-76.
Although OneWorld made a valiant effort to keep the battle close, they were never able to overcome the burden of their pre-start mistakes. OneWorld threw everything at USA-76 in the final run, including a duel of 17 gybes, but ultimately trailed across the finish line by 12 seconds. Once the pin end was rounded and the penalty had been unloaded, 55 seconds was the final delta.
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