Louis Vuitton Pacific Series – Day 12 -QuarterFinals Completed

by Keith Taylor on 11 Feb 2009
The Quarterfinals have just been completed in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series

Winds were non-existent for the morning but a breeze of 10-12 kts from the North prevailed for the afternoon's racing.

It may be possible to get one race away in the Challenger Final today, with 18kt breezes forecast for tomorrow, Thursday. The Challenger Final is a best of five series.

Race 2: Damiani Italia Challenge beat TEAMORIGIN – 29s

An umpire’s green flag at the start of Team Origin’s semi final match against the other newcomer team, Damiani Italia Challenge, was the defining moment that spelled the end of the British team’s bid for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series trophy. British skipper Ben Ainslie controlled his opponent, Francesco Bruni, throughout an aggressive pre-start sequence but the Italian helmsman wriggled off the hook with seconds to go before the start gun.

An initial bid to land a protest on the Italians had been green-flagged by the umpires but Ainslie still appeared to be in control as the boats reached down the line on port tack towards the committee boat. The Italian boat gybed across Team Origin’s bow to start on starboard.

Ainslie protested, claiming his opponent didn’t have room for the manoeuvre. The umpires responded with another green flag leaving the British boat to futilely follow Damiani around every mark of the course.

Deltas

Mark 1 - 0:14 - Damiani Italia Challenge
Mark 2 - 0:12 - Damiani Italia Challenge
Mark 3 - 0:22 - Damiani Italia Challenge
Finish - 0:29 - Damiani Italia Challenge

Race 1: BMW Oracle Racing beat Luna Rossa – 09s

Russell Coutts showed why he is still a master of match racing, astounding sailing experts by exquisitely executing a penalty turn at the finish line and driving BMW Oracle to victory over Luna Rossa in their quarter final thriller. In the pre-start, Coutts made it clear he wanted the left, and did a sterling job holding out Luna Rossa, with Peter Holmberg at the helm.

Both boats crossed the start line on starboard tack, with BMW Oracle marginally ahead, but it wasn’t long before Luna Rossa had to tack away. Coutts tacked in response and managed to protect the left all the way to the first mark, but could not shake a dogged Italian attack. As the boats rounded the mark, the American boat copped a penalty for failing to keep clear of the Italians, but that penalty was negated almost immediately when Luna Rossa was flagged for sailing above its course.

A third of the way down the run, Oracle gybed directly across Luna Rossa’s bow and was penalized again for gybing too close. Holmberg then knew the game was to throttle BMW Oracle’s lead to less than six boat lengths.

On the final run, Luna Rossa shadowed BMW Oracle by 100m, and it seemed improbable Coutts’ crew could carry out the penalty and still cross the line ahead. But they did so with total mastery of the situation and won by a clear 9s – advancing Larry Ellison’s team to the semifinals and ending Luna Rossa’s run in this regatta.

Deltas

Mark 1 - 0:04 - BMW Oracle Racing
Mark 2 - 0:12 - BMW Oracle Racing
Mark 3 - 0:19 - BMW Oracle Racing
Finish - 0:09 - BMW Oracle Racing