Louis Vuitton Pacific Series: Race One of the Finals

by Louis Vuitton Pacific Series media

Race 1: Alinghi beat Emirates Team New Zealand, 22s

Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand dominated the challenging Alinghi team in the pre-start in a nice 17 knot southwest breeze. Barker had the favoured end and used it to advantage, pinning Alinghi helmsman Ed Baird out above the line on three reaches backwards and forewards, parallel with the line and leaving Baird no escape route. Barker wanted the left and broke away from a port reach to make a long circling turn below the committee boat and make a high speed start in the middle of the line, conceding an opportunity for Baird to start closer to the committee boat, but with plenty of separation. The Kiwi boat enjoyed a slight lead for long minutes but any anticipated left shift never materialized and the Swiss boat edged ahead on a small right shift to take control and lead around the rest of the course as the breeze increased to 22 knots.

Deltas
Mark 1 - 0:12 Alinghi
Mark 2 - 0:20 Alinghi
Mark 3 - 0:25 Alinghi
Finish - 0:22 Alinghi

Race Report, 1530 hours, NZ time

With the southwesterly still in the high 20s, Principal Race Officer Peter Reggio abandoned racing for the remainder of the day. The final has been shortened to a best-of-five series. Racing will resume at 1100 hours tomorrow, Saturday.


Louis Vuitton Pacific Cup Finals board, copyright Louis Vuitton Pacific Series.

Louis Vuitton Pacific Series