Sunday,
April 29, 2007
The
ANNOTICO Report
The
Louis Vuitton Cup opening round-robin ended
with the top four of the 10 entrants advancing to the Second round, with the
winner of that round advancing to sail against the America's Cup
champion, Alinghi of
BMW
Oracle
Racing finished atop the four with 9 out of 10 victories and 21points.
Sailing:
BMW Oracle Tops Standings as First Round Ends
International Herald
Tribune
From The
Associated Press
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The Americans,
which earlier on Saturday lost for the first time in challengers' series racing
to Desafmo Espaqol by a
minute, finished with 21 points, with nine victories from 10 races, two points
ahead of the day's best performer, Luna Rossa of
Luna Rossa beat another Italian boat, Mascalzone
Latino, and Desafmo to push the Kiwis down to third,
with 18 points. Desafmo finished fourth, with 17
points, having received a huge morale boost with its victory over Oracle in
front of an enthusiastic holiday weekend home crowd.
"We proved
we can compete with the big teams, and it was a great performance to beat the
only boat with a 100 percent record," the head of the Desafmo
team, Agustin Zulueta, said on Spanish state
television.
Against
BMW tacked to the
left-hand line after being three seconds behind at the windmarker
to move three lengths ahead, when the Kiwis tacked back after jibing to
starboard. The Americans rounded the top mark with a 24-second advantage and
were never headed.
"It was a
tough day," Dickson said. "It was a tricky day. But we came out with
an important win and a relatively important loss, also."
The Kiwis earlier
defeated Victory Challenge of Sweden by 1:42. The Swedes bounced back in the
11th flight with a victory over Mascalzone Latino, a
triumph that left them tied with the Italians for fifth place in the standings
with 14 points.
Mascalzone Latino's second loss of
the day, to Victory Challenge, saw it lose ground on the top four.
The South African
challenger Shosholoza was seventh with 12 points.
The final flights
of the first round-robin stage on Saturday were rescheduled after erratic wind
had disrupted racing on the southern "Juliet" course on Friday.
The second
round-robin stage was to begin Sunday and must finish by May 9. The top four
teams advance to the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals,
May 14 to 24.
The victorious
challenger will then sail against the
Dickson said the
close races reflected well on the Louis Vuitton Cup.
"There are
plenty of teams with fast boats out there," he said. "Like last time
in
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