Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland - ETNZ wins the regatta

Emirates Team New Zealand has won the final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta with an emphatic 56 sec win over Mascalzone Latino this afternoon.

With the win, Emirates Team New Zealand went 2 – up in the best-of-three final.

Barker and his afterguard wanted the right at the start – Mascalzone Latino wanted the left. Both got their wish and ETNZ was fast off the line.

Neither team had a clear advantage into the beat, a left shift favouring Mascalzone Latino at first and then tactician Ray Davies got the shift in the right that strategist Adam Beashel was calling from his vantage point up the mast.

As Dean Barker said after the race: “For a while the shift looked like it was going to be too late.” But when it arrived, ETNZ got back into the lead and extended. At the first cross, they were ahead and looking strong.

Mascalzone Latino followed into the mark, but there were only 8 seconds in it. Rounding ETNZ gybed into a left-hand shift and Mascalzone Latino continued on.

Barker benefited mightily and extended all the way to the finish. The margins: 21 sec at the second mark, 38 sec at the third and 56sec at the finish.