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Auckland, January 31, 2009
Friday’s first day of sailing was under a significant cloud cover and fairly cool temperatures. But Saturday’s weather was much warmer, with lots of sun among the clouds. The question was whether sun would translate into wind. There was a good crowd in the LVPS village already when the teams docked out, and a steady stream of spectator boats heading out to the course. Even getting out there is easier at this regatta. The racecourse is barely 15 minutes from the Viaduct instead of the hour-long trek out to the America’s Cup course on the other side of Rangitoto Island. As advertised, there was plenty of wind on the course, a steady 20 knots building to 22-25 knots as the day progressed. Emirates Team New Zealand won the start by a short margin, but BMW Oracle surged ahead after the starting line. A tacking duel ensued, with Dean Barker getting the better of Russell Coutts, rolling over the top of his former mentor. Interestingly the Kiwis appeared to carry a fuller mainsail on their USA-87, and seemed to handle the conditions better than USA-98 despite both teams asserting that all the boats really are equal. ETNZ rounded ahead at the first mark and held their slight lead downwind, with the teams splitting sides at the leeward gates. Sailing upwind again, edging toward North Head, BMW Oracle ducked ETNZ to take the right side of the course. Theories immediately abounded among observers as to why BMW Oracle didn’t leebow ETNZ in that situation. Could it be that with a slightly slower boat BMW Oracle’s only option was to try for starboard advantage going into the rounding? Wouldn’t it have been better to leebow ETNZ and try to force them into the current coming up the channel?
That sort of tactic has been emerging as a significant feature in this regatta. With courses inside Waitemata harbor, the tidal current has sometimes played a very major role. For the American team the race was pretty much over after the second windward mark, and the home team Kiwis took a 24 second lead from there down to the finish. BMW Oracle skipper Russell Coutts talked after the race about the decision to duck. "In the position we were in, we really couldn’t leebow them, we were obligated to duck," said Coutts. "I didn't think it was going to turn out too bad, I thought we’d be pretty close to them at the top mark. But the breeze really went left when we hit the [right] boundary." The area toward the shoreline gets pretty shallow. LVPS organizers have marked the boundaries of the course with yellow buoys that the teams must stay inside, so there was little the team could do. In the other big match of the day was between Alinghi’s Ed Baird and Peter Holmberg, formerly of Alinghi and currently Luna Rossa helmsman. The expected fireworks didn’t materialize in the pre-start, as Holmberg was forced to the right side of the starting box, making a late start and tacking right at the committee boat. A tacking duel ensued up the first beat, but it was for naught as Alinghi continued to use the shifting breeze, varying from 195 to 220 degrees, to her advantage along with the harbor currents, delivering a comfortable margin of victory. Links of Interest: CupInfo's Main Louis Vuitton Pacific Series page Visit the Official Louis Vuiton Pacific Series Web Site |
