The Louis Vuitton Trophy came to a climax in La Maddalena yesterday in sensational style, with Emirates Team New Zealand coming from 2-0 down to win the best-of-five final. The day began with Synergy Russian Sailing Team holding a 1-0 overnight lead against ETNZ and bursting with confidence. Asked, before taking to the water, how many races they expected to sail, several crew members of the Russian boat replied emphatically, "two". In the first race, sailed in light and tricky conditions after a two-hour wait for the breeze, the pre-race favourite ETNZ took a kicking. From the moment Karol Jablonski and his tactician Rod Dawson won the start for Synergy, nothing went ETNZ's way and they trailed in to finish 1 min 22 secs behind. "We have to start winning. That's the biggest issue," said the Kiwi tactician, Rod Davies, as they prepared for the crucial third race. As Synergy led out over the line after another of the tight and aggressive pre-starts that have become a Jablonski signature, the chances of a Kiwi win seemed even more remote. This time, with the wind up to 10-12 knots, Davies and his skipper, Dean Barker, kept in touch throughout the first two legs. Then, after ETNZ sailed a beautiful third leg to be just six seconds behind at the bottom mark, Synergy bungled its spinnaker drop and ETNZ jumped to the front. Taking complete control of the race, Barker and his crew extended the lead all the way to a very comfortable win.
The level of aggression was reflected in protest calls in the pre-start (against Synergy) and on the first leg (against ETNZ), both green-flagged by the umpires. On the first downwind run both boats continued to attack in a series of close-quarters gybes until Synergy came in too deep on ETNZ. Davies protested and the umpires awarded a penalty. Unable to extend their lead enough to take their penalty turn, the Russians changed tactics on the final run, slowing the race down and hoping to manoeuvre ETNZ into a foul. Instead, half-gybing right in front of ETNZ's nose, Synergy narrowly missed drawing down another penalty. The Kiwis held off, and won by just four seconds, to square the final at 2-2. Sailing as 18th man on ETNZ, Sid Bensalah of Dubai International Marine Club, who will be Race Director when the regatta comes to Dubai in November, described the race as "absolutely awesome - the guys here were fighting to get every inch". At 3.55pm, with regatta rules stating that the last race must begin before 4pm, the organisers could have called a halt, handing the championship to ETNZ on a points count-back. However, the teams chose to fight it out on the water and Peter Reggio, the Principal Race Officer, sounded the warning signal just two minutes later. Almost a carbon copy of the previous race, the pre-start and first leg were extremely tight. Synergy stayed hot on the heels of ETNZ all the way and, at the final mark was just 14 seconds behind. As they hoisted their spinnaker a small tear appeared, presumably the result of catching it on the rig; then, disaster struck as the chute exploded on the first gybe. Despite getting a replacement gennaker up within two minutes, it was all over as Emirates Team New Zealand crossed the line to win its second consecutive Louis Vuitton Trophy. "We had to work pretty damn hard to get it but we got there in the end," said Davies. On the turning point of the finals, he joked: "the last run, when their spinnaker blew out".
"Even though we lost 3-2 we feel very, very satisfied, as we have made a lot of progress in this regatta," said Jablonski. "These were tough, tough matches and we made more mistakes than New Zealand today. But we have to be realistic, you know - we can't expect to beat those guys three times in one day." "It seems someone has to put a blow-torch on us to perform at the top [of our game]," said Grant Dalton, the director of ETNZ. He added that the standard of the competitors has risen dramatically. "The format of these regattas is bringing everyone to a closer and closer point. It's getting hard to keep people behind us. Dubai [in November] will be great, with more settled conditions I think, and there's no doubt it will be even more competitive." During the closing ceremony, attention turned to the next regatta. "Dubai's reputation is renowned for staging remarkable events and we are excited to turn our focus to Dubai,' said Yves Carcelle, the CEO and chairman of Louis Vuitton. The lack of wind early in the day caused the abandonment of the petit final between the losing semi-finalists and, on a count-back, the French-German All4One was confirmed in third place, with Sweden's Artemis fourth. * Compiled by Sandra Lane