Dubai: Emirates Team New Zealand was the undisputed leader at the end of three days of sailing in the Louis Vuitton Trophy on the Viaduct Basin in Auckland, yesterday.
After dominating performances against Artemis and Mascalzone Latino Audi Team on the first two days, the home side led by Dean Barker and guided by Grant Dalton, capped a third win — this time against Teamorigin led by British Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie.
Though the Kiwis representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron are at the top of the standings with three points, three teams are lying close by in wait with identical 2-1 records — the French/German alliance of All4One, the Swedish team Artemis and Italian challengers Azzurra.
Anti-climax
The highlight of the day was the match between Team Emirates New Zealand and British challenger Teamorigin, but this turned out to be an anti-climax when Ainslie's boat came to a sudden halt at the first leeward gate following a mess-up between the spinnaker and jib draped over the foredeck, and a broken spinnaker pole over the side.
Keeping up the pressure on the leader was a trio of challengers led by Azzurra, All4One and Artemis with all three looking good with wins yesterday.
The Sebastian Col-skippered All4One defeated Azzurra with Francesco Bruni at the helm by 46 seconds in a match that had several incidents and protests from both ends. Though Azzurra controlled early from the right side, All4One gained ground in a series of tacks forcing their Italian challenger beyond the starboard layline and above the mark.
The Mascalzone Latino Audi Team used their starboard tack entry to advantage to gain a 55-second victory over the Aleph Sailing Team. The two boats then swapped leads several times until Brady pushed his French opponent out beyond the starboard layline and then consolidated to win comfortably.
