Challenger for America’s Cup
Two of Sunday’s five results involved breakdowns that aided victories by U.S. entry BMW Oracle and France’s Areva Challenge:
Highlights: On the southern “Juliet” course off Valencia, Spain, Emirates Team New Zealand rebounded from an opening-flight loss to Italian team Mascalzone Latino Capitalia with a convincing victory over winless +39 Challenge, which was racing with its repaired mast for the first time. The competition came after organizers and the body representing the 11 challengers altered the racing schedule for the second time after unstable weather had postponed eight flights of sailing.
Lowlights: Desafio Espanol of Spain appeared to lose a spinnaker pole as it rounded the second marker before losing the lead and the race to Areva Challenge of France by 2 minutes 6 seconds. The afternoon’s fourth flight was postponed until today after a drop in wind.
Oracle: BMW Oracle Racing, the U.S. entry, improved its record to 3-0 by defeating Shosholoza of South Africa. Shosholoza led before losing a kite when rounding the second wind marker. A poor tack allowed the Americans a chance to cross and establish a starboard course and take the lead for good on the third lap of the northern “Romeo” course.
What’s next: The first round-robin stage will be sailed until all 20 match races are completed and the second stage, consisting of one flight a day, will finish by May 9.
Quote of the day: “In these conditions nothing is assured. All the boats are very close in speed this time around. ... But there was a quiet confidence on board that if we didn’t try anything fancy and we kept it close, something would come good and it did,” Peter Isler, navigator of BMW Oracle Racing, said of the U.S. competition against Shosholoza.
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STANDINGS
*--* Boat Pts 1 BMW ORACLE Racing 9 1 Luna Rossa Challenge 9 3 Emirates Team New Zealand 6 3 Mascalzone Latino Capitalia 6 3 Victory Challenge 6 6 Desafio Espanol 5 6 Areva Challenge 5 8 Team Shosholoza 4 9 +39 Challenge 2 10 United Internet Team Germany 1 10 China Team 1
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