ETNZ wins after TeamOrigin suffers gear failure

Emirates Team New Zealand has picked up another valuable point in the first round robin of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland, but only after another opponent suffered genoa halyard problems. Just as Mascalzone Latino Audi suffered yesterday while leading the Kiwis, Ben Ainslie's British crew took an early lead this morning but were forced to withdraw when they couldn't get their gennaker down or their genoa up. Dean Barker won the start narrowly, but Ainslie tacked away and picked up a slight shift on the favoured right hand side of the course. The Kiwis were unable to cross when both boats came back to the middle, and after a short tacking duel, Team Origin was able to push the Kiwis past the layline and take a 14 second lead at the top mark. ETNZ came back on the downwind leg and put pressure on the Brits, but the race was over when the Kiwis rounded the left hand mark at the gate while TeamOrigin sailed on, unable to effect the sail change.  

In the second race, the previously flawless and unbeaten Azzurra team showed some vulnerability against the German team ALL4ONE. There was nothing between the boats on the first windward beat, with ALL4ONE rounding just ahead and Azzurra immediately slotting in behind, stealing the wind and moving up level. However, some excellent tactics from the Germans saw them push Azzurra, as the windward boat, well past the layline to the bottom gate. When ALL4ONE gybed and sailed back upwind to enter the gate, Azzurra seemed to have halyard problems and struggled with the gennaker drop and genoa hoist. By the time they rounded the starboard mark at the gate they were 34 seconds behind.

The gap was maintained on the second beat, with Azzurra picking up a solitary second in time. Rounding the top mark they went for a gybe set in the gusty 18 knot winds - and fouled it up in spades. The gennaker wasn't fully hoisted, the tack was flying free and it took nearly 20 seconds more to get the spinnaker pole attached. By this stage ALL4ONE had bolted, winning by a comfortable 46 seconds.

The third race started well, but quickly became a procession. The French team, Aleph, and the Italians of Mascalzone Latino Audi Team crossed the line together with Aleph on the favoured right hand side. After a short drag race, Mascalzone took control, sailing conservatively to ensure no repeat of gennaker halyard problems. They won by 55 seconds to keep the French without a win.

The final match produced the first penalty of the regatta when Synergy gybed too close to Artemis during the pre-start procedures and the rigs almost touched. With only two boats in use (the identical ETNZ boats from the 32nd America's Cup) race organisers are understandably paranoid about damage. Both boats have twin rods protruding from the transom which are considered part of the boat, aimed at avoiding bow-stern collisions.

Although Artemis could sail a conservative race, knowing Synergy had to do her penalty turn, they were still keen to push the Russians into a tack. However, when they met for the first time Artemis on port wasn't able to cross and had to tack away. The second time they got it right, crossing about a boat length in front and holding the lead to the end.

Synergy put up a good fight, closing from 24 seconds down at the top mark to eight seconds at the gate, then dropping just four seconds to round the top mark within 12 seconds of the leader. They held the margin right to the finish, when they performed their penalty and crossed the line well in arrears.

So at the end of day 3 ETNZ is the only unbeaten team, with Azzurra, Artemis and ALL4ONE on 2-1, TeamOrigin, Aleph and Mascalzone Latina Audi on 1-2 and Synergy yet to register a win.