Louis Vuitton Trophy- TeamOrigin caught on startline

by TeamOrigin Media and Sail-World on 24 May 2010
TEAMORIGIN's run of bad luck continued on the second day of racing in the Louis Vuitton Trophy at La Maddalena, Sardinia, when an over-enthusiastic spectator fleet crowded the start area and blocked the view of a tiny lobster pot buoy which caught around their keel.

Sailing team member Craig Satterthwaite swam to clear the foul-up but the incident allowed Artemis to get away and take the race win.

TEAMORIGIN were up against the Swedish Artemis team today. The start warning signal was fired at 1500, the breeze was 5-7 knots, north easterly direction. Pre-start Artemis was aggressive and pursued the British boat away from the start line but TEAMORIGIN held their ground and both boats turned back to the start line. With one and a half minutes to go, the over-enthusiastic spectator fleet crowded the start box area and blocked the view of a small lobster pot buoy which TEAMORIGIN promptly caught around their keel. By the time Craig Satterthwaite went over the side to clear the tangle with a sharp knife the unfortunate incident had given Artemis the opportunity to clear out and lead off the start line.

TEAMORIGIN pushed hard up the beat to get back into this race and trailed the first windward mark by 17 seconds. The Brits did an immediate gybe set and were hot on the heels of their competitors to try and close the gap. Artemis managed to keep their air clear and rounded the left hand bottom gate still with a lead and in control of the race.
At the second top mark Artemis lead by 47 seconds, TEAMORIGIN did a really nice rounding and gave it a final push but it was not to be. A really frustrating race for Ben Ainslie and his crew as the pre-start issue really decided the fate of this race. Artemis took the race win by 45 seconds.

Quotes of the day:

Ben Ainslie, Skipper & Helmsman, 'A real anti-climax today, it was a really busy start area with lots of spectator boats around, large and small and it was pretty hard to manoeuvre around them. We managed to avoid one of them and moving away from another we unfortunately caught a lobster pot. Craig Satterthwaite had to jump over the side with a knife to cut it clear and by the time we got it sorted, Artemis had a good lead.'
'The guys did a great job in keeping the race close and did a very nice manoeuvre around the second windward mark but the race result was decided by the unfortunate incident before the start.'

Craig Satterthwaite, Pit, who jumped over the side with a knife to clear the tangle: 'The water is pretty cold! We had to wait until the boat slowed down so I could jump over the side, it was very clear so pretty easy to spot and cut free and the guys put a rope by the side so I could pull myself back in, not what we needed but at least we got it sorted quickly and calmly.'

David Carr, Runners/ Pit Assist, added: 'What a nightmare, there were so many spectator boats and sirens going to try to get them to clear the area, we could cope with that as its part of the game but made it impossible to see a tiny white lobster pot marker buoy. The positive thing to take out of it was how quickly we got it sorted and how calm everyone remained afterwards and got straight back down to business - but for sure it was a tough break for us.'

In other races today, both ALL4ONE and Aleph took the lead from the start and both took their race victories from Azzurra and BMW ORACLE Racing respectively. Aleph, showing amazing form sailed strongly to beat the America’s Cup defender BMW ORACLE Racing and become the first team to gain two wins.
An all-Italian derby saw Mascalzone Latino and Luna Rossa paired up. Luna Rossa lead throughout the race until the least run when Mascalzone, the Latin Rascals, managed to squeeze past and take the race win by a mere 5 seconds.

Race Results Day Two, Sun 23rd May 2010, Round Robin One

ALL4ONE (FRA/GER) beat AZZURRA (ITA), 20 secs
ALEPH (FRA) beat BMWORACLE RACING (USA), 27 secs
MASCALZONE LATINO (ITA) beat LUNA ROSSA (ITA), 5 secs
ARTEMIS (SWE) beat TEAMORIGIN (GBR), 45 secs

Racing scheduled for Monday 24th May:
Flight 7
Match 1 – TEAMORIGIN vs BMW ORACLE racing
Match 2 – Synergy vs ALL4ONE

Flight 8
Match 1 – Azzurra vs Luna Rossa
Match 2 – Artemis vs Aleph

Flight 9
Match 1 – ALL4ONE vs Mascalzone Latino
Match 2 – TEAMORIGIN vs Emirates Team New Zealand


Feature of the day:

La Maddalena, Sardinia

La Maddalena is an island in the heart of an archipelago of extraordinary ecological value - a favourite summer resorts of tourists and sailors. There are seven islands in the area - La Maddalena, Caprera, Santo Stefano, Spargi, Budelli, Santa Maria and Razzoli.

It is also the centre of a marine reserve that bears its name, which boast of treasures like the spiaggi rosa (pink sand) of Budelli, as seen in many films. In Caprera, Garibaldi, the hero who united Italy, built his Casa Bianca (white house).
The first settlements in La Maddalena were in the 18th century in the area facing Palau. It was also the site of a major naval base whose structures have been converted into the port which now hosts the Louis Vuitton Trophy race village.
The 35th G8 summit was meant to take place in La Maddalena and the Porto Arsenale facilities were built for that purpose, the event then took place in the city of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, on July 8–10, 2009, it was moved from the Sardinian seaside city of La Maddalena as part of an attempt to redistribute disaster funds after the 2009 L'Aquila earthqua