Luna Rossa unable to defeat Kiwis
by Paolo Martinoni on 4 Jun 2007

2007 Louis Vuitton Cup Finals. Luna Rossa ITA 94
Luna Rossa Challenge /Bruno Cocozza
Third match of Louis Vuitton Finals. The race gets underway at 3 p.m. with a 8-10 knot south easterly breeze, calm seas and sunny skies. After an initial dial up both boats are well over the starting line head to wind for a couple of minutes until they simultaneously peel off on port sailing towards the Committee boat end.
Luna Rossa is closer to the start and Spithill holds Barker over the line keeping to leeward until the Australian helmsman decides to enter the box again and accelerate towards the center left of the line. At the gun Luna Rossa leads by 4 seconds on NZL 92.
A 12 degree wind shift to the right favors the Kiwis who at the end of a long beat to the left force Luna Rossa to cross behind them. Emirates Team New Zealand defends the right hand side of the course and increases her margin maximizing the lifts and rounding the top mark with a 40 second delta. At the end of the first run 55 seconds separate the two boats and the delta is unchanged at the end of the second beat, although ITA 94 tries to separate in a couple of occasions.
All of Luna Rossa’s attempts to free herself from NZL 92’s cover prove to be useless on the final run and Emirates Team New Zealand cuts the finishing line with a final delta of 1 minute and 38 seconds over Luna Rossa. The Kiwis now lead 3-0 and the fourth race will take place on Tuesday June 5th.
Francesco de Angelis, Luna Rossa’s Skipper, at the end of the race said: 'All races are decided by many small things. When we return to shore we will look at the race and will try to understand what happened.'
Crew
1. Skipper - Francesco de Angelis
2. Helmsman - James Spithill
3. Tactician - Torben Grael
4. Navigator - Michele Ivaldi
5. Afterguard - Ben Durham
6. Traveller - Andrew Horton
7. Runner - Magnus Augustson
8. Main Trimmer - Jonathan McKee
9. Main Grinder - Gilberto Nobili
10. Trimmer - Joe Newton
11. Trimmer - Christian Kamp
12. Grinder - Emanuele Marino
13. Grinder - Andrew Taylor
14. Pitman - Simone de Mari
15. Mast - Shannon Falcone
16. Mid-Bow - Max Sirena
17. Bow - Alan Smith
Today’s results
'Louis Vuitton Cup' - Finals - Race 3
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 92) wins against Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA 94)
'Louis Vuitton Cup' - Finals - Results table
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 92) 2
Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA 94) 0
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