Editorial- Louis Vuitton Pacific Series - The winners are beaten
by . on 2 Feb 2009
Welcome to the seventh Sail-World newsletter for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series
Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series marked the conclusion of the Round Robin 1 . In reality the phase ended yesterday, as today's results could not affect the split into Gold and Silver fleets for the next Round Robin which begins on Thursday.
Top of their respective pools were Team Origin (GBR) and Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), who are destined to meet for the first time in the next Round.
Racing today was again marked by significant winning margins, and none more so than the match Team Alinghi vs Team Shosholoza where the scoreless South African team picked up a good win by the biggest margin of the series - and against the America's cup Defenders, to boot.
There were no real explanations given at the media conference, late this afternoon, and most put the surprise result to a combination of bad luck and options on the Alinghi part, and some sublime choices and work on the part of the South Africans.
Team Origin are the surprise packet of the series, and look to be gelling very nicely indeed. They have made an art form of pouncing on competitors who are slightly late into the start box, and employing very aggressive tactics to compound their opponent's error.
Emirates Team NZ look to be in a league of their own, and if they continue to dominate the way they have to date, most will be very pleased to see them go straight into the final.
Behind these two it is still anyone's game. The next round will be the opportunity for crew combinations to be refined and for the quirks to be ironed out of the communications between the crew to eliminate some of the mistakes we have seen on the water, later admitted to be bad choices.
Tonight, the shore crews swung into action with a vengeance, lifting the four masts from the yachts, and undertaking a full preventative maintenance check. Really the shore crews have been the heroes of the regatta. Breakdowns have been minimal - and certainly no more than would be the case for a production boat match racing regatta.
On the harbour outside the the Louis Vuitton Village the second qualification round in the O'pen Bic series was being sailed - making a colourful conclusion to the first phase of what is developing into an excellent regatta - and one that already won the hearts of sailors and fans alike.
Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
Editor, Louis Vuitton Pacific Series
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