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Sail-World.com : Louis Vuitton Trophy - One vital match left for Azzurra
Louis Vuitton Trophy - One vital match left for Azzurra
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'The on board observer is ready to call the overlap as Azzurra nears the top mark against Emirates Team New Zealand. Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland'
Paul Todd/Outside Images ©
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Today team Azzurra of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda completed their first day of the Louis Vuitton Trophy semifinals ending with an even score, one win and one loss, against the favourites of this series Emirates Team New Zealand. Azzurra lost the second match by one metre and a delta of one second, so the day ended on a sour note for the Italians who had almost conquered their spot in the finals.
Tomorrow Azzurra will face the New Zealand crew in the vital match that will decide which one of the two teams will advance to the finals. Of the two other teams that today fought for a spot in the finals, Mascalzone Latino Audi Team (skipper Gavin Brady) beat Artemis (skipper Paul Cayard) by 2:1.
Both matches that Francesco Bruni, at the helm of Azzurra, sailed today against Dean Barker of Emirates Team New Zealand were incredibly close and full of suspense, from the aggressive circling of the pre-starts, to the penalties inflicted first by the Kiwis then by the Italians, to the amazing one second win by Emirates Team New Zealand.
At the end of this long day spent at sea, Francesco Bruni commented: 'today has been a really exciting day, too bad we didn’t close the game. As I said to my crew, we were one metre away from becoming a legend, because so far nobody has been able to beat Team New Zealand 4:0 [after the 2:0 that Azzurra inflicted to ETNZ in the LV Trophy in Nice]. Peter Reggio [Principal Race Officer of the Louis Vuitton Trophy] pronounced that on the finish line the Kiwis were one metre ahead of us, unfortunately with the new rule it is the bow that count and not the spinnaker or pole like the old rule, if it had been with the old rule today we would have won. Tomorrow we hope to do better. We are happy but we are also taken aback, throughout the race we thought that the Kiwis didn’t have enough lead to complete the penalty turn and only towards the end Tommaso [Chieffi] started to have some doubts. Whatever the outcome, we were able to get the Kiwi crew to jump with joy – they were screaming and yelling just like us Italians would do and seeing them rejoice like that is already a great achievement for us!'
Riccardo Bonadeo, President of team Azzurra and Commodore of the YCCS, was the 18th man for the second match: 'the team did a sensational job. The races were amazing and I hope that all the sailing enthusiasts in Italy were able to follow them. They represent a great boost for the sport in Italy. Tomorrow we have the chance of closing the game.'
Azzurra fought an incredible first match in a nice breeze of 15 knots. Bruni, with Tommaso Chieffi calling tactics, was able to defeat the home team with an amazing comeback after incurring in a penalty at the top mark. In the first downwind run, the Kiwis appeared to be more vulnerable and Bruni grasped this opportunity to close the gap. During the second beat, with his brother Gabriele 'Ganga' up the mast as wind-spotter, Bruni went for the kill. With a series of well planned tacks in the shifting breeze, Azzurra was able to fight back and take the lead. The Italian crew rolled into the penalty turn and approached the last mark still well ahead of their rival. In the final run, the Italians kept a tight control over the Kiwis and conquered this important victory with a comfortable margin of 18 seconds.
The second match of Azzurra, started at 6.15pm in a dying 12-15 knots breeze, was a real thriller and finished with an astounding win by the Kiwi team who crossed the line 1 second ahead of Azzurra.
This time it was Bruni who inflicted a penalty to the Kiwis in the pre-start. Dean Barker was able to gain the lead in the first beat and keep Azzurra under a tight control throughout the course. A few metres before the end, the Kiwis dropped the spinnaker and completed their penalty turn – the bow of Emirates Team New Zealand crossing the finish line one metre ahead of Azzurra.
Azzurra crew
Francesco Bruni – Skipper/Helmsman
Tommaso Chieffi – Tactician
Tom Burnham – Strategist
Bruno Zirilli – Navigator
Daniele De Luca – Mainsail trimmer
Stefano Rizzi – Jib Trimmer
Pierluigi De Felice – Spi trimmer
Gabriele Bruni – Runner trimmer
Piero Romeo – Runner grinder
Nicola Pilastro – Mainsail grinder
Massimo Galli – Left grinder
Francesco Scalici – Right grinder
Cristian Griggio – Pitman
Luca Albarelli – Mast
Pietro Mantovani – Mid Bow
Matteo Auguadro – Bowman
Michele Cannoni – Pit Assist
Gabrio Zandonà – Coach
Ben Durham – Reserve
Michele Gnutti – Reserve
Giuseppe Leonardi – Reserve
http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/home/
www.azzurra.it
by Azzurra Team
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11:34 AM Fri 19 Mar 2010 GMT
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