Emirates Team NZ Wins Louis Vuitton Pacific Series
Emirates Team New Zealand have Barker accepted the silver and crystal obviously we don’t sail very well in the
laid claim to the Louis Vuitton Pacific Louis Vuitton Pacific Series trophy for his rain,” Butterworth said.
Series, convincingly beating the Swiss team in a Moët et Chandon, champagne- “But it has been fantastic. I can’t say
team Alinghi with three consecutive wins soaked ceremony watched by hundreds that enough. Today was a great day. It
on a grey, rainy and windy day on the of spectators at the regatta village in was a little hairy for both crews. You
Waitemata Harbour. Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour. really saw how good the crews are. We
The home team’s come-from-behind Today’s win reversed a losing streak couldn’t quite close it out today but
3-1 victory marked the end of a 15- that saw the New Zealand team lose four the sailing and the competition was at
day match racing regatta in modified out of its previous five starts. In all, the a really top level and that’s what we
America’s Cup boats that drew praise Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron as love and that’s what we want to see
for its format and its originality from the organizer and host club succeeded more of.”
all of the nine international teams that in starting and finishing 53 races for the Yves Carcelle, president and CEO
took part. competitors. of Louis Vuitton Malletier refused to
Ship’s sirens and boat horns drowned Brad Butterworth, the Kiwi skipper be drawn on whether his company
out the cheering as the Emirates boat and tactician for Alinghi, had high praise would run a similar event in the future.
docked alongside the Swiss team for for the event. “Its been three weeks “We don’t know for the moment what
the last time. Emirates skipper Dean of very good sailing here, although the future will be but I would like to
concentrate on the last two weeks,”
Carcelle said. “I think we’ve seen here
a fantastic sports series The teams
respected one another in an amazing
way. The level of the competition was
extraordinary.”
Racing today, the Kiwi team was on
fire after its loss yesterday. Barker and
his tactician Ray Davies made the right
calls in the first prestart, allowing them to
convert an even start into the thin end of
a winning wedge. Emirates beat Alinghi
by 29 seconds after leading the helmsman
Ed Baird and the Swiss team around the
course to make the series 1-1.
The breeze was at 20 knots and
gusting higher at the start of the second
race when the Barker/Davies helm/
tactician duo shut Alinghi out before the
gun while laying a penalty on the hapless
Swiss and then starting clear ahead. With
www.fosswaterwayseaport.org
the penalty hanging over his head, Baird
worked hard to stay in touch and bring
the race back to the Kiwis but without
success. That made the score in the best-
of-five series 2-1 for Emirates.
Alinghi had early control of the third
start but broke off to make a start near
the pin, leaving the Kiwi boat to start at
speed in the middle as the breeze got up
to 25 knots. The Swiss enjoyed a small
early advantage, getting out 23 metres in
front of the New Zealanders. However
when Ed Baird tacked Alinghi back on
For more information, contact Skip Anderson port, Emirates was there on starboard
(253) 227-2003 nepenthe@harbornet.com
and pushed them back to the left side.
New Zealand had the upper hand and
cruised to a 20-second victory.
The event website www.
louisvuitton-pacificseries.com
48° No r t h , Ma r c h 2009 Pa g e 60
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