TEAM New Zealand took the early honours in the final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy yachting regatta on Saturday, winning the opening race against Italians Mascalzone Latino by 12 seconds.
The remainder of the best-of-five series will be raced Sunday.
The win completed a perfect day for the New Zealanders, who started with a 27sec win over another Italian entry, Azzurra, to complete a 2-1 semi-final victory.
Against Mascalzone Latino, who beat the Swedish entry Artemis in the semi-finals, Team NZ skipper Dean Barker controlled the start and had a one-length lead over the line, which was never surrendered.
"We had a very good pre-start, and basically the plan was to protect the right hand side of the course and sail to our own beat," tactician Ray Davies said.AFP
Emirates Team New Zealand (R) crosses in front of Italy's Mascalzone Latino Audi team during the finals of the Louis Vuitton sailing trophy in Auckland yesterday. Picture: AFP
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Print this article
Email this article
Twitter
Facebook
