18th man today was All Black Dan Carter.
Emirates Team New Zealand
made it five wins in five races to consolidate its place at the top of the
Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland leader board.
The margin against the Italian team Azzurra may have been 42
sec at the finish, but the race was not without drama for Dean Barker and his crew.
Rounding the first windward mark with a comfortable 50sec
lead, ETNZ broke the spinnaker pole at the hoist and completed both downwind
legs without one.
Azzurra crossed the finish line and dropped their spinnaker
in the water. It wrapped around the keel and was damaged. Sail makers at the
Emirates Team New Zealand sail loft said it
would take at least 20 man hours to repair.
But first the sail has to dry and that could take three to four hours.
Four sail makers will work into the night.
In the boat shed, work started this afternoon repairing the
third spinnaker pole to be broken this regatta. Boat builders say it takes
about 14 hours to repair a spinnaker pole and it “cooks” fur 12 hour before
it’s strong enough to use.
Unbeaten in the round robin, Emirates Team New Zealand on five points is alone at the top of the leader
board.
Each team has two more races in the round robin.
Dean Barker
describes the race:
“We had a clear game plan to start in the left and protect
the left side of the course on the first beat. We managed to force a split tack
start, ETNZ on starboard at the pin and Azzurra on port at the committee-boat
end.
The boats separated to more than a kilometre – Azzurra to
the right and ETNZ to the left. At the
first cross towards the top mark, Barker and afterguard were rewarded with a 7
– 8 boat-length lead, which at the mark translated to 50sec.
Rounding the mark, they set up for a gybe-set. “It’s a
routine manoeuvre and we’re still not sure the cause of the problem, but it
might have been a jam in the halyard. The tip-end of the pole went into the water;
the pole went into the shrouds and snapped,
“We recovered well. The boys retrieved the pole and stowed
it safely.”
“From then,” Barker said, “We sailed a strong race and were
never really threatened.”
Today’s results
ALL4ONE beat Aleph by 1m7s
Emirates Team New Zealand
beat Azzurra by 42s
TEAMORIGIN beat Synergy by 1m18s
Mascalzone Latino
beat Artemis by 1m03s
Leader Board after five flights
EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND
- 5
ALL4ONE - 3
AZZURRA - 3
MASCALZONE LATINO AUDI TEAM - 3
TEAMORIGIN - 3
ARTEMIS - 2
ALEPH SAILING TEAM - 0*
SYNERGY RUSSIAN SAILING TEAM - 0
* ALEPH has lost one point due to a penalty.