News
The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series:
Auckland, March 9-21 2010
Following the success of last year’s Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, the event was repeated this year from 9-21 March 2010. Auckland played host to eight teams from around the globe:
MASCALZONE LATINO AUDI TEAM |
Italy |
ALL4ONE |
France / Germany |
EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND |
New Zealand |
ALEPH SAILING TEAM |
France |
ARTEMIS |
Sweden |
TEAMORIGIN |
Great Britain |
AZZURRA |
Italy |
SYNERGY RUSSIAN SAILING TEAM |
Russia |
The Round Robin stages featured varying wind conditions. During these early stages the crews were still getting used to the boats, and as a result there were a fair few equipment breakages leaving the shore team from Emirates Team New Zealand with a lot of work on their hands overnight to ready the boats for the next day’s racing! At the end of the first stages the Two Italian teams along with Artemis and Emirates Team New Zealand headed into the Semi finals.
Emirates Team New Zealand were almost out of the racing in the second of their Semi finals against Azzura. This breath-taking race saw Emirates taking a penalty on the line and finishing just a metre ahead of the Italian team. In the third of the semi’s the home team managed an easy win to secure their place in the final. The other semi finals between Mascalzone Latino and Artemis were fiercely fought, but Mascalzone Latino came through as the winner forcing penalties on Artemis in the final of this best of three.
After the excitement of the Emirates Team New Zealand semi final Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf was teeming with boats galore keen to view some of the action. However the finals against Mascalzone Latino were not as exciting as we would have hoped, with Emirates winning both races easily. An elated Dean Barker and his team headed back into the Viaduct to the cheers of a very happy home crowd.