Did Emirates Team New Zealand have days of rest and relaxation while Kiwis that they knew so well sharpened their skills and teamwork as they pushed through the Challenger Series? Would the young star and helmsman for the home team best the best of the best that had grown up on the same waters?
While Emirates Team New Zealand watched every move on Virtual Eye, the challengers sharpened their skills and honed their killer instincts. Would Alinghi survive to clash with Emirates Team New Zealand in their first match up in this unprecedented event?
Alinghi’s record in the Gold Fleet, despite opting not to sail home team, Emirates Team New Zealand, was enough to skip the Challenger Sail Off and jump to the Challenger Final. Wind downs, traps, peels and penalty turns on finish lines that would make any heart stop and would eliminate some teams and keep others alive for the next round.
Step into the Gold Fleet where past teammates and longtime rivals squared off in the Gold Fleet while the exotic teams from China, France, Greece and South Africa fought to stay alive in the series and advance to the Challenger Sail Off.
Highlights from Round Robin 1 – hard contact and torn gennakers were part of the fray as 10 teams squared off against each other in some heavy winds. Some teams were so new to one another that they were just getting to know each other’s names. You’ll appreciate the teamwork needed move up a steep learning curve in unfamiliar boats, unfamiliar waters and a short course.
Viaduct Basin and Team Emirates New Zealand’s base was converted to the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Village. The doors were opened to all and the village was alive with sailors, media, spectators and partygoers. Sailing’s heroes were approachable especially during press conferences, after racing festivities at the SKYCITY Pacific Bar and during fun, charitable events such as the Kiwi Cup Challenge.
Unique photos of Auckland’s skyline and streetscape conjure up a month full of summertime in the City of Sails. Appreciate the best view of the racecourse and join the crowds on North Head. They were so close that they could see every move and hear the groans of the powerful rigs every time the trim was adjusted.
Within hours of the prize giving for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, a coffee table book with a foreword by regatta organizer, Bruno Troublé, will be available for distribution.
With just the right balance of prose from sailing journalist, Lynn Fitzpatrick, and eye-popping photos from photographer, Juerg Kaufmann, the book is the perfect keepsake for everyone attending this historic match racing event in Auckland, NZ. For those who were not present for five days of practice and 16 days of exciting match racing between world renown skippers, helmsmen, tacticians and crew from 10 teams representing 9 countries, this photo journal allows you to live vicariously.
Auckland loaded up its summer schedule with the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, a regatta extending over three weekends, and numerous other events. Everything from the largest single day regatta on the planet, to an ISDF world championship, to a superyacht regatta, to Auckland’s Anniversary Day added to the frenetic activities in Auckland’s Viaduct Basin. Legendary sailors and paparazzi mixed and mingled at what has been dubbed “The Friendly Games”.
Emirates Team New Zealand and BMW Oracle Racing reconditioned and equalized the hulls, spars, rigging and sail inventories for the series. Running a match racing series in powerful boats that were unfamiliar to so many of the sailors was risky business and it took a tremendously dedicated shore crew to keep everything in working order and fit so many matches into a tight, action-packed schedule.
Introduces the partners who joined together to offer the sailing community, New Zealand, Auckland, sponsors and professional sailors “the most outstanding gathering of international sailing teams since the Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland in 2003,” according to Emirates Team New Zealand Managing Director, Grant Dalton
