Louis Vuitton Trophy, Auckland- A day of mixed results for Azzurra

by Team Azzurra on 16 Mar 2010 Today team Azzurra of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda conquered one victory and suffered one loss. In the first match the Italian skipper Francesco Bruni, with Tommaso Chieffi calling the tactics, took a comfortable win against the French of Aleph, led by America’s Cup and match race veteran skipper Bertrand Pace. Then came the much awaited duel between Azzurra and the other Italians of Mascalzone Latino Audi Team led by New Zealand skipper Gavin Brady, who defeated Bruni by a narrow 13 second margin.

With today’s matches the initial round robin of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland is over. The home favourites Emirates Team New Zealand led by Dean Barker are now leading the series, followed by Mascalzone Latino Audi Team in second place, All4One in third and Azzurra in fourth.

Tomorrow all eight teams will proceed to Elimination Round One where the competitors sail a knockout series, using the rankings from the RR. So first vs. eighth, second vs. seventh and so on. Azzurra will face the Swedes of Artemis led by celebrated American skipper Paul Cayard in the first match of the day.

Riccardo Bonadeo, President of team Azzurra and Commodore of the YCCS, today followed the 'derby' against Mascalzone Latino Audi Team as 18th man on Azzurra. The match, sailed in 20 knots of wind, was very close and aggressively fought right from the start. Azzurra rounded the first mark seven seconds ahead of Mascalzone, then Gavin Brady grasped the opportunity to squeeze into a controlling position. Francesco Bruni and his crew kept up a really good fight, closely chasing their rivals against the very end, where Mascalzone registered a delta of 13 seconds.

At the end of this long day, Bruni commented: 'I am happy about our races, even though obviously I would have loved to win against Mascalzone. The match against them was a really good one. They did a very good job in keeping the match open until the end. We had a couple of indecisions and we didn’t expect that big wind shift to the right in the second upwind beat. It was a very exciting match right until the very end and I am very happy with the work of my crew who did an excellent job.'

The last day of the initial round robin of the Louis Vuitton Trophy was a very long and thrilling one, starting at 10 am and ending at 7.30pm. The Race Committee, led by famous Principal Race Officer Peter 'Luigi' Reggio, did an amazing job in competing seven matches in one day, including the three that were canceled yesterday due to the strong winds.

Regarding the format of racing for the next few days, the two highest ranked (using the RR ranking) teams that win their matches in Elimination Round One will advance directly to the semi finals. The two lowest ranked teams (using the RR ranking) to lose their matches in this round will be eliminated. In Elimination Round Two the four remaining teams will be paired up and race for the two remaining semi final berths, with the winner from each pair advancing and the loser eliminated.

In the Semi Final, the four remaining teams will be paired up and race a ‘first to two points’ series. The winner from each pair advances to the Final. In the Final, the winners from each semi final pair will race a ‘first to four points’ series to determine the winner of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland.

The above format is called the MacIntyre System and is widely used in top field sports tournaments around the world today. Among the basic principles of the system are that it makes each race meaningful for each team, right up until the moment they are eliminated. It rewards teams that build up a good record in the Round Robin by referring back to that ranking at later stages, yet it allows teams that improve over the course of the regatta to advance if they keep winning. The outlook for tomorrow is for 15-20 knots of wind with a few light showers.

Outcome of all matches sailed today:

Round Robin Flight Seven
Emirates Team New Zealand (skipper Dean Barker) def Synergy (skipper Karol Jablonski)
Azzurra (skipper Francesco Bruni) def Aleph (skipper Bertrand Pace)
Artemis (skipper Paul Cayard) def All4One (skipper Jochen Schümann)
Mascalzone Latino Audi Team (skipper Gavin Brady) def Team Origin (skipper Ben Ainslie)

Round Robin Flight Six (canceled yesterday due to strong wind)
Artemis def Team Origin
Mascalzone Latino Audi def Team Azzurra
All4One def Synergy

Ranking at the end of the Round Robin
1.Emirates Team New Zealand – 6 pts
2. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team (Italy) – 5 pts
3. All4One (France/Germany) – 4 pts
4. Azzurra (Italy) – 4 pts
5. Artemis (Sweden) ­– 4 pts
6. Team Origin (Great Britain) – 3 pts
7. Aleph Sailing Team (France) – 1 pt
8. Synergy Russian Sailing Team (Russia) - 0 pts

Matches scheduled for March 17
Azzurra vs Artemis
All4One vs Team Origin
Mascalzone Latino Audi Team vs Aleph Sailing Team
Emirates Team New Zealand vs Synergy Russian Sailing Team


Louis Vuitton Trophy WSTA site: http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com

www.azzurra.it