Dubai gets a sailing treat
Everything came together at Dubai today – great weather, a good steady 11-13 knot sea breeze, two evenly matched teams and very close racing.
Dubai got a treat from the resulting demonstration of match racing at the highest level as Emirates Team New Zealand and BMWOracle raced twice.
The honours were even – Oracle won the first race and Emirates Team New Zealand the second handing Oracle its first defeat of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Dubai regatta.
It was classic, close match racing. Each win was set up in the pre-start. Then the leading boat benefitted from the breeze on the right of the course on the beats and defended aggressively shutting down the options for the trailing yacht.
BMWOracle won the first match by 19s. Emirates Team New Zealand won the second by just 1s.
Skipper Dean Barker said of the racing: ”We pushed hard in the first race but couldn’t get around them. The second was very tough, especially when they got better breeze in the left on the runs and whittled away our lead. It was a tough race – and a good one to win.”
The first clash featured a rash of penalty calls and a breeze that favoured the right of the course. Oracle started at the committee boat end of the line – and that proved to be the place to be. Oracle was able to control the action and Dean Barker and crew were unable to break the grip.
Several close encounters near the top of the first beat brought out the protest flags. The umpires were unimpressed and raised the green flag on every occasion.
Oracle rounded the mark 9s ahead. Barker attacked down the run and a composed Oracle crew kept its collective cool. At the bottom mark the margin was again a mere 9s, Oracle going right and ETNZ left. The right of the course paid well in the second half of the long beat and Oracle was able to extend to 21s at the third mark.
Every eye on board the New Zealand boat was looking for a passing lane on the final beat. There was none. Barker closed the distance but Oracle managed a win by 19s.
In the second race, Oracle was looking comfortable in the pre-start when Barker pounced in the last minute, grabbing the initiative and getting the benefit of the line bias at the committee-boat end, taking the right of the course and controlling the race from there.
On the second run, Oracle picked up some good breeze in the left and advanced at pace, cutting into Barker’s lead and almost made it.
The margins at the marks were close – mark 1 11s, mark 2 8s, mark 3 8s and the finish just 1s.
Emirates Team New Zealand is sitting second on the points table after four days’ racing., with a race in hand:
1. BMW ORACLE Racing, 7-1, 7 pts
2. Emirates Team New Zealand, 4-3, 3.5 pts *
= 3. Artemis Racing, 3-4, 3 pts
= 3. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 3-5, 3 pts
= 3. All4One, 3-5, 3 pts
6. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 3-5, 2 pts *
* Scoring penalty deducted by Umpires