Louis Vuitton- Comfortable win for Emirates Team NZ in first real race

by Richard Gladwell on 14 Jul 2013
Emirates Team New Zealand won the first race by a margin of five and a half minutes, sailed in wind conditions that were close to the top end of the new lowered wind limit, averaging 17kts and peaking at over 19kts.

Emirates Team NZ controlled the start pinning Luna Rossa to windward and well away from the start line. At gunfire, the New Zealanders bore away and reached to the start line at speed of 34kts, before starting the race several seconds after the start signal. But even before the start we saw the story of the race with some quite significant speed differences between the boats even though they were on the same leg of the course.

They proceeded to hit 40kts on the first reach with the Italians maintaining early contact, rounding the first mark 8 secs astern as they headed onto he first downwind leg.

At the bottom mark the margin had stretched to 30 seconds, a combination of better top speeds and more consistent high speeds from the very polished New Zealand boat.

At Mark 3 the margin started to blow out to be just over two minutes, with Luna Rossa inadvertently sailing outside the boundary on the next leg and she received a delay penalty.

The margin incraesed steadily around the course with the final margin being 5minutes 23 seconds in favour of Emirates Team NZ.

The Virtual Eye replay of the race can be viewed at http://americascup.virtualeye.tv/ (for first time users, the application will automatically download and install Silverlight). Once the application starts, select Historical view and the race data will downloaded. See the Chatter Log below to review the key events of the race.

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Chatter Log, Sat 13 July 2013: Louis Vuitton Cup Round 2, Race 1, ITA v NZL

11:23:59 TIM Good morning from San Francisco. Sunny and cool.
11:25:07 TIM July 13, 2013, Louis Vuitton Cup Round 2 Race 1, ITA v NZL at 12:15 PDT
11:25:52 WND Wind 255 at 17.7 kts, 19.0 kts peak
11:26:45 TIM Tidal Current: 2 kts flood (eastward, with wind)
11:50:44 PRO LR Port
11:50:50 PRO ETNZ Stbd
11:50:54 PRO Course 2
11:51:01 PRO Current +2.1
12:00:00 WND Wind 250 at 18.1 kts, 21.5 kts peak
12:05:00 WND Wind 250 at 16.9 kts, 18.4 kts peak
12:12:00 Race 1 (ITA,NZL): Warning, 3:00 until start
12:13:00 ITA Began Entry
12:13:02 ITA Completed Entry
12:13:05 NZL Began Entry
12:13:08 NZL Completed Entry
12:14:30 WND Wind 245 at 17.7 kts, 20.4 kts peak
12:15:00 Race 1 (ITA,NZL): Started
12:15:24 NZL Crossed Start Line
12:15:30 ITA Crossed Start Line
12:16:11 NZL Rounded Mark 1, 1:11.5 after start
12:16:19 ITA Rounded Mark 1, 0:08.2 behind leader
12:18:00 WND Wind 250 at 17.7 kts, 18.4 kts peak
12:20:43 NZL Rounded Mark 2, 5:43.2 after start
12:21:00 WND Wind 255 at 16.8 kts, 17.6 kts peak
12:21:13 ITA Rounded Mark 2, 0:29.7 behind leader
12:25:00 WND Wind 250 at 16.7 kts, 17.9 kts peak
12:25:13 TIM Max speeds leg 2, ITA 36.48 kts, NZL 36.81 kts
12:33:37 NZL Rounded Mark 3, 18:37.8 after start
12:35:00 WND Wind 250 at 17.7 kts, 19.9 kts peak
12:35:39 ITA Rounded Mark 3, 2:02.0 behind leader
12:37:55 UMP ITA Penalty
12:38:04 UMP ITA Penalty Complete
12:38:13 TIM Max speeds leg 3: NZL 25.42 kts, ITA 24.68 kts
12:38:27 TIM ITA Penalty was for Out of Bounds
12:39:22 NZL Rounded Mark 4, 24:22.4 after start
12:42:09 ITA Rounded Mark 4, 2:47.1 behind leader
12:45:00 WND Wind 255 at 17.4 kts, 18.9 kts peak
12:51:50 NZL Rounded Mark 5, 36:50.8 after start
12:55:00 WND Wind 255 at 18.0 kts, 19.7 kts peak
12:55:55 ITA Rounded Mark 5, 4:04.2 behind leader
12:57:13 NZL Rounded Mark 6, 42:13.4 after start
12:58:52 NZL Crossed Finish Line
12:58:55 PRO NZL Finished: time 12:58:52.130, 43:52.130 after start
13:01:09 TIM NZL Finish Time 12:58:52.130, 43:52.130 after start
13:01:48 TIM NZL Max speed on leg 7: 42.33 kts
13:02:14 ITA Rounded Mark 6, 5:00.8 behind leader
13:03:53 PRO Race 1 Terminated
13:05:00 WND Wind 255 at 18.4 kts, 19.9 kts peak
13:07:42 TIM ITA crossed finish at 13:04:15.1, 5:23 after NZL