’Emirates Team New Zealand’ are the second semi-final winners in Valencia, in the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Final stage of the 32nd America’s Cup yacht race. They beat Desafio Espanol 2007 5-2 to secure the semi-finalist position in the Louis Vuitton Cup. The other semi finalist is ‘Luna Rossa Challenge’ who routed American team ‘BMW Oracle Racing’ several days ago. The Final of the Louis Vuitton Cup begins on 1 June, with the first race start scheduled for 15:00.

Emirates Team New Zealand beats Desafío Español 2007: 5-2

Emirates Team New Zealand soon had a 2-0 series lead and appeared well on its way to beating the Spanish team. But in the third race, Desafío Español helmsman Karol Jablonski was dominant in the pre-start forcing a penalty on Kiwi skipper Dean Barker. The Spanish team came off the starting line on the favoured side of the course, which converted into a slim 14-second lead at the first mark. The Kiwis were never able to pass ESP 97, and Desafío Español earned an historic win over the veteran New Zealand squad.

The Emirates squad appeared to get back on track with two more wins, but the Spanish weren’t finished. On Sunday, before a home crowd, they did it again in a tough race. Desafío Español converted a small advantage on the first cross into a 12-second lead at the top mark. The Kiwis kept the pressure up all the way around. When the boats returned to the windward mark a second time, Dean Barker and his men were only 8-seconds back. But the Desafío Español crew held its nerve, executing all the necessary crew manoeuvres flawlessly, to hold on to a 15-second win.

After a day where racing was called off due to too much wind, Emirates Team New Zealand finally ended the series with a convincing victory in strong winds. The Kiwis led of the starting line and extended the rest of the way, eliminating Desafío Español from the Louis Vuitton Cup. But it certainly wasn’t easy.

“The two races they won, we didn’t lead around any marks in those races,” said Kiwi skipper Dean Barker, paying tribute to the Spanish team following the series win. “Try as best we could, we couldn’t pass them. As you get up against better and better teams it gets harder to pass.”

Luna Rossa Challenge beats BMW ORACLE Racing: 5-1

This series featured a dominant performance from the Italian Luna Rossa team who led at every turning mark around the race course in all six races. In fact, were it not for an impressive comeback by BMW ORACLE Racing on the final run to the finish in the second race, the series would have been a sweep.

As the second ranked challenger after the Louis Vuitton Acts, most pundits had BMW ORACLE Racing down as the favourite in this series. But from the very first race, it was clear how Luna Rossa was going to approach its task. Early on the first leg, Luna Rossa tactician broke away for a large split on the left side of the course. When the boats met again, Luna Rossa was well ahead.

 “On a day like today normal match race style can go wrong, so playing the shifts and the pressure is important with so many holes and big puffs,” Torben Grael explained after the race.

“It was clear that it was about connecting the dots with the puffs, and neither the left nor right was necessarily better,” agreed American navigator Peter Isler. “On a day like today you have to keep an open mind, throw away the classic tactics and open your eyes…Good sailors won today by keeping their eyes open and having good boat handling.”

This was to be a pattern repeated over and over in this series. The Luna Rossa afterguard, with healthy doses of confidence, would sail off to find the breeze, and return with a lead.

By the late races of the series, frustration was clearly beginning to show on the USA 98. Skipper Chris Dickson, down 3-1, took two penalties in the pre-start of race four. Team owner Larry Ellison made a change for race five, taking Dickson off the boat and replacing him with backup helmsman Sten Mohr. There was no change in the result however, and Luna Rossa won the series 5-1.

“We are very disappointed obviously, and it isn’t the exit we had hoped for,” said Dickson at the post-race press conference. “My sincere congratulations go to Luna Rossa…The reason for our departure is that they have excelled this week. It wasn’t just one thing. They have been quietly building up and have grown a huge amount stronger. They have out-sailed us in many areas on the race course this week, they’ve had great speed upwind, enough speed downwind, started well, got those first wind shifts, made good tactical calls. That’s sport. They’ve done a fantastic job.”

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