Three Wins from Three Races for Emirates Team New Zealand

Emirates Team New Zealand took three wins from three races on Tuesday, the opening day of the third Audi MedCup regatta in Cagliari, Sardinia.

Emirates Team New Zealand arrived in Cagliari as the series leader, after two of five regattas (Alicante and Marseille), and had a clear 16 point lead ahead of second–place Quantum Racing.

Tuesday’s three wins gave Emirates Team New Zealand three points, finishing the day seven points clear of Matador with a 3,3,4 scoreline and eight points ahead of Artemis (2,2,7). Quantum (7, 4, 8) ended the day in sixth place on 19 points.

Grant Dalton, Emirates Team New Zealand Managing Director, said: “Today the ball bounced our way. As we expected Artemis and Matador were pushing hard. Quantum (the defending champion) had a bad day, but that could happen to anyone. We’ll have one of those days, too.

“Today the plan was to start well and get clear lanes. The sea breeze came in exactly as forecast and sailing conditions were perfect with 11-14.5 knots of breeze and flat water.

“The breeze was not particularly shifty but there were puffs and the first boats into the pressure made gains. As predicted, the right of the course tended to win more often than not so we worked the middle/right all day and were able to make small, incremental gains.

Dean Barker, Emirates Team New Zealand Skipper, said: “Today we got across the line in really good shape in all three races.  Then a combination of good tactics and crew work and a boat that is going really well got the results.

“It was a good start to the regatta. We take the wins and start thinking about tomorrow.”

The 2009 Audi MedCup, TP52 Series, consists of five regattas over the course of five months in four different countries. They are all sailed in Southern European waters, four in the Mediterranean and one in the Atlantic.

Whilst each of the five regattas stand alone as an individual event, winning the circuit requires the best score from all events.

The regatta in Sardinia continues until 25th July.