Emirates TNZ second again in Fleet racing

by Emirates Team NZ Media on 22 May 2006 Emirates Team New Zealand was second in the last fleet race of the America’s Cup pre-regattas, taking third place overall.

NZL 84 finished the regatta with the same number of points as Luna Rossa but on the countback, ITA 86 was second. Alinghi, today’s race winner, also won Louis Vuitton Act 11.

It was another thrilling fight for second place today, with Emirates Team New Zealand, Mascalzone Latino and BMW Oracle fighting for second place.

While ITA 77 and USA 87 engaged in a luffing duel in the sprint to the finish, NZL 84 was able to sail its own race and put the outcome beyond doubt.

SUI 75 was first, NZL 84 second 1.27 behind, USA 87 third 1.49, ITA 86 fourth 2.15, ITA 77 fifth 2.16, ITA 59 sixth 2.26, FRA 60 seventh 2.53, RSA 83 eighth 3.13, ESP 65 ninth 3.34, GER 72 10th 3.47, SWE 63 11th 4.10 and CHN 79 DNS.
The weather today was fine and the breeze again was light from the east.

Grant Dalton said: Alinghi is still sailing well and the challengers pretty much left them alone as they battled amongst themselves. 'We are seeing some of the challengers making great strides towards 2007 and I’m satisfied that we have come a long, long way since 2003. We are right up there but we still have some way to go before I will be happy.

'There’s a lot of self-imposed pressure on the team. Tonight, 12 team members leave for Punta Ala to compete in a TP52 regatta. They are core crew on Warpath and Mean Machine. The rest of the team will have a couple of days off and then we start testing again.'

He said the pace would intensity in the weeks leading up to the start of the next regatta on June 22.

Final Team points:
1 SUI 75 53
2 ITA 86 45
3 NZL 84 45
4 USA 87 41
5 ITA 77 39
6 RSA 83 33
7 FRA 60 32
8 ITA 59 31
9 ESP 65 26
10 SWE 63 24
11 GER 72 13
12 CHN 79 6