TEAMORIGIN wins first race on Day 2 of Louis Vuitton

TEAMORIGIN, helmed by British Olympic sailing champion Ben Ainslee, has beaten ALL4ONE by 1.33 seconds in the first race on Day 2 of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland.

The race start was postponed until after 12 noon owing to lack of wind, but when the breezes steadied enough to get racing underway, Ainslee took control from the start. The result means both teams now have a 1-1 record.

In the second race of the day Mascalzone Latino Audi Team from Italy put up a very creditable fight against Emirates Team New Zealand before a broken jib halyard spoiled their chances.

The Italians won the start and used a right-hand wind shift to lead by 100m at the top mark. However, the Kiwis pegged them back downhill to just 8 seconds at the bottom mark.

Going back upwind, ETNZ chose the starboard side of the course and when the teams met, Mascalzone on port could not cross ahead of the locals and was forced to tack away. Dean Barker immediately threw a close lee bow tack to put pressure on his opponent, when the broken halyard ended an exciting contest prematurely.

 ETNZ crossed the finish line 4.43 ahead to go 2-0 for the event.

The third match was more of a procession than a race. Although the Russian boat Synergy, helmed by Karol Jablonski, won the start, the new America's Cup challenger-of-record, Azzurra from Italy, quickly moved to a seven second lead at the top mark, increasing this to 17 seconds at mark 2, 28 seconds at mark 3 and 41 seconds at the finish. Azzurra joins ETNZ at the top of the leaderboard on 2-0.

An interested spectator in the observer's position on the Italian boat was women's world match racing champion, Nicole Souter, who could be seen keeping a very close eye on the tactics being employed by Azzurra skipper Francesco Bruni.

In the final match, two unforced errors by the French Aleph team gifted an impressive Artemis team an easy victory. Paul Cayard and his Swedish crew won the start when Aleph misjudged the time-on-distance to the start and arrived late. Aleph threw nearly 20 tacks at their opponents, all of which were easily covered, and by the top mark the lead was 27 seconds. Running downwind and down tide this increased to 34 seconds, but when Aleph messed up their gennaker drop and genoa hoist, the race was over barring broken gear on the lead boat. This didn't happen, allowing Artemis to record their first win, while Aleph remains on zero.

The forecast for tomorrow is for more good weather, but with winds increasing over the weekend, possibly causing racing to be postponed.