February 15. Emirates Team NZ Wins Louis Vuitton Pacific Series

Sail-World Report - Emirates Team New Zealand wins the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series

February 14 (in N.Z.). Sail-World Report - Alinghi win first race in the LVPS Final

February 13. Sail-World Report Day Fourteen

Event web site with content in English French and Italian.

February 12. AUCKLAND, NZ - Switzerland triumphed in a face-off between America's Cup winners Ed Baird and Russell Coutts this morning. Steering Switzerland's Alinghi, Baird slammed the gate on Coutts and BMW Oracle on the start line and went on to win the challenger finals of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series 2-0.

Tomorrow Alinghi meets host Emirates Team New Zealand at the beginning of a two-day, seven-race regatta for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series trophy.

Today's race marked the end of 13 days of high-energy match racing to select a finalist to race against Emirates Team New Zealand. The home team raced in two round robins with nine international teams from eight countries but sat out the sail-off series that finished today.

Yesterday, the Swiss team, skippered by Kiwi Brad Butterworth with Baird steering, pulled off a shock victory against Coutts and his American team. Coutts had led the entire race but lost by one second.

"You can always reflect on things that might have been and yesterday I think perhaps we got a little complacent at the end of the race," Coutts said. "The finishing line was heavily biased towards the committee boat end and it is a pretty elementary thing to spot, but we sort of missed that, so that was our fatal error."

Today, with the threat of heavy wind this afternoon, racing started early in a 15-knot northerly and for Coutts and the Americans it was over before the start gun fired as Baird blocked his approach to the start line.

Oracle had enjoyed the advantage of the right hand entry at the five minute gun and engaged Alinghi in a couple of tight circles, the boats only metres apart. With 1:30 remaining, both boats were lining up for the start inside the starboard layline with Oracle astern and to weather.

As they approached the line Baird remained on starboard but pointed his bow straight at the committee boat. Coutts had nowhere to go and went head to wind as Baird bore off at speed right close to the committee boat.

Coutts could only follow slowly dead astern in his opponent's wake. The American boat was trailing by 40 metres just moments after the start and never threatened Alinghi as the margin opened out to 58 seconds at the second weather mark and over a minute at the finish

"We were in quite a nice position today and had plenty of time to assess the options coming on the final approach to the start," Coutts said ruefully. "We burned up a little too much time when we didn't need to."

Asked if problems with his boat's trim tab affected steering during the start, Coutts acknowledged that there was a problem with its control chain a couple of minutes before the start. "That's not why we lost though," he said emphatically. "No excuses. We lost the race."

Asked if he'd return to New Zealand for a similar event, Coutts said: "I thoroughly enjoyed the racing over the last few weeks. I think it's a fantastic event and I think in these economic times the idea that Louis Vuitton and Emirates Team New Zealand have come up with where all the teams race in borrowed boats, rather than shipping boats all around the world is frankly a commercial reality. There's no question in my mind that this format works, it's something that should be looked at in future."

The results table and scoring chart for the regatta can be accessed at http://www.louisvuitton-pacificseries.com/staging/DOWNLOADS/LVPSResults.pdf

Sail-World Report Day Twelve

Event web site with content in English French and Italian.

February 11. Sail-World Alinghi beats OracleBMW by one second

February 10. Sail-World Report Day Eleven

February 9. Sail-World Report Day Ten

February 8. AUCKLAND, NZ - Switzerland's Alinghi secured her berth in this week's challenger final with a victory in today's Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, while two newcomer teams each racked up wins against long-time campaigners.

Guided by Kiwi skipper and tactician Brad Butterworth and steered by American helmsman Ed Baird, Alinghi won her third race in four days of Gold Fleet competition. Although she will race Italy's Luna Rossa tomorrow, Alinghi has already amassed top points for the round and cannot be beaten. She is now a finalist in the sailoff later this week to decide which challenger will meet host Emirates Team New Zealand in racing for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Trophy. Four other Gold Fleet teams and two Silver Fleet teams will race in a sudden-death sail off and ladder competition to decide the other challenger finalist.

After declining to race against Emirates Team New Zealand yesterday for tactical reasons, Alinghi came out loaded for bear today in a race against BMW Oracle Racing, steered by Russell Coutts, winning by 13 seconds.

In the closest race of the day, TEAMORIGIN'S Ben Ainslie scored a narrow victory over his old team mate Dean Barker in close racing, winning by just six seconds. It was a hollow victory for the new points-starved British team because victories against Emirates Team New Zealand are not counted in this round.

The two Italian syndicates racing in Auckland met in the first race of the day. The veteran Luna Rossa with Peter Homberg as its new helmsman sailed against the fast-rising newcomer Damiani Italia Challenge, skippered by Vasco Vascotto and steered by Francesco Bruni. The newcomers leveraged a small advantage at the start line into a 1min40sec victory after four legs.

Gold Fleet: 
Alinghi,                  3 points
BMW Oracle Racing,        2
TEAMORIGIN,               1.5
Damiani Italia Challenge, 1
Luna Rossa,               0. (Emirates Team New Zealand is not awarded points in this round).
 
Silver Fleet: 
China Team,               3
Pataugas K-Challenge,     2
Greek Challenge,          1
Team Shosholoza,          0

The event web site http://www.louisvuitton-pacificseries.com has content in English French and Italian. Race reports, press reports, features and photographs are being updated daily. The site includes a link to live streaming radio commentary about the racing originating from Aucklandıs radio BSport Sailing 103FM.

The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series is organised in association with the New Zealand Government, Emirates Team New Zealand, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland City and SKYCITY Entertainment Group.

February 7. Sail-World Report Day Eight

February 6. Sail-World Report Day Seven

February 5. Sail-World Report Day Six

February 4. Sail-World Report Day Five

February 3. Sail-World Report Day Four

February 2. Sail-World Report Day Three with photographs

February 1. Sail-World Report Day Two with photographs

January 31. Sail-World Report Day One with photographs

January 30. AUCKLAND, NZ - The hint of upsets to come were in the air today off Auckland's North Head as contestants in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series completed four races in building gusty, shifty conditions that tested the skills of crews.

Sail-World Report with photographs

With the wind strength increasing, the new crew of the British TEAMORIGIN syndicate was in total control from the start of its encounter with Italian's Luna Rossa. With two Olympic gold medallists in the afterguard - Ben Ainslie at the helm, and Iain Percy calling tactics - TEAMORIGIN won the start and after a spirited tacking duel up the middle of the course, established a 22s lead around the first mark. Despite efforts by Luna Rossa helmsman Peter Holmberg, the British team pulled away to win by 1m 11s.

In the third race, sailing on home waters, Emirate Team New Zealand's skipper/helmsman Dean Barker led from start to finish against Damiani Italia Challenge. Francesco Bruni on the helm of the Italian boat started in synch with the Kiwis with a safe leeward berth, only to see the home team boat inch slowly away. At the end the Kiwi margin was 19s.

In 18-20 knot gusts, Greek Challenge made their mark, literally, in their maiden appearance, racing against top seed Alinghi. Gavin Brady, the Kiwi skipper of the Greek boat, had no hesitation in testing his mettle against Ed Baird, Alinghi's skipper in the pre-start. He paid a heavy penalty when he lost control momentarily and his bow hit the stern of Alinghi. It cost the feisty Brady one penalty point for "hard contact." Unperturbed, Brady made a good recovery and led Baird out towards the port layline before the Swiss boat settled down and began to sail steadily away. The umpires awarded the requisite one point to Alinghi for their victory and docked the Greek Challenge one point, leaving them in negative territory. The margin was 2m 2s.

At a press conférence on the Village plaza in front of the big screen, the teams racing tomorrow drew for the boats they'll sail. The first race of the day, starting at 11 AM, will see BMW Oracle Racing aboard USA 98, racing against Emirates Team New Zealand in USA 87. The second race features Shosholoza aboard NZL 84 versus Greek Challenge in NZL 92. China Team on USA 87 meets Damiani Italia Challenge sailing USA 98 while Luna Rossa will race NZL 84 against Alinghi in NZL 92.

The event web site http://www.louisvuitton-pacificseries.com went live this week in English French and Italian. Race reports, press reports, features and photographs are being updated daily. The site includes a link to live streaming radio commentary about the racing originating from Auckland's radio BSport Sailing 103FM.

Thursday, 29th January, 2009: Skippers Meet the Press on Eve of Battle.

AUCKLAND, NZ - Ten of the world's top match racing skippers met the press tonight in a crowded ceremony at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) and all promised to deliver two weeks of close and intense racing for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Trophy.

Kiwi Russell Coutts, the skipper of the American team BMW Oracle Racing, summed up the comments of all the skippers when he said: "This shows how much the guys want to go out and do some racing in big boats. It's fantastic. You look around at the standard and level of competition represented here - it's probably one of the best events I've ever been to. Conditions will be very hard but I think we will see some great racing."

After welcomes from Commodore Scott Colebrook of the RNZYS and event organiser Bruno Troublé, representing Louis Vuitton, and a series of press questions, the skippers drew for the boats they will sail in the first day of racing tomorrow.

In the opening race, France's Pataugas K-Challenge will race aboard USA 98 against China Team in USA 87. The second race will see Britain's TEAMORIGIN in NZL 92 starting against Italy's Luna Rossa 84. The third race will be Emirates Team New Zealand in USA 98 versus Damiani Italia Challenge sailing USA 87. The last race of the day is the newcomer Greek Challenge in NZL 84, up against Switzerland's powerful Alinghi team from Switzerland in NZL 92.

Streaming audio of the full press conference is available on the website for BSport Sailing 103 FM at: http://www.bsport.co.nz/Home/BSportSailing/tabid/286/Default.aspx.

Racing will start on the Waitemata Harbour off North Head at 11:00 am and the four races will be sailed one after the other with only a few minutes between each race. The short windward-leeward races are expected to take less than an hour each in the forecast 10 to 15-knot southwest breeze.

Television cameras and still photographers are expected to crowd into the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Race Village tomorrow, even before it open at 8:00 am. The public is welcome to come for breakfast at the SKYCITY Pacific Bar and see the boats depart. Virtual Eye digital 3D coverage of the racing will be viewable all day on a big screen and the public can join the evening press conference each night.

The event web site http://www.louisvuitton-pacificseries.com went live this week in English French and Italian. Race reports, press reports, features and photographs are being updated daily. The site includes a link to live streaming radio commentary about the racing originating from Auckland radio BSport Sailing 103FM.

The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series is being organised in association with the New Zealand Government, Emirates Team New Zealand, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland City and SKYCITY Entertainment Group.