Pain Sailing For Emirates Team New Zealand
DUBAI, U.A.E., 18th May 2009 – Emirates Team New Zealand suffered a low on the high seas yesterday, blowing a tremendous opportunity to win the Alicante MedCup regatta.
Going into the last race only needing a fifth-place finish to seal victory, the team made some costly errors and stumbled home in seventh to allow Matador to snatch the silverware.
“We went out this morning tied for the overall lead. The breeze was slightly better than forecast and we expected a good performance. Seventh was not the result we were looking for,” said Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker.
“We had a buffer of three points going in to the last race. Our game plan was conservative – a top-five finish, which would have been enough to win the regatta overall.”
NZL 380 started fine, rounding the first mark in fourth place, less than a boat length behind Artemis and with a four-boat cushion to Quantum. And with the 9-12 knot sea breeze slightly stronger than forecast, they looked set to pull off a maiden regatta win.
But Emirates Team New Zealand lost two places on the first run and couldn’t recover, conceding another place on the second run to Quantum who took them on the finish line.
“Matador and Artemis did much better today, finishing first and second and taking the top places on the leaderboard,” added Barker, whose Emirates Team New Zealand had to settle for overall third place.
However, although Barker was disappointed with the performance in the last race which cost them the regatta, the first race convinced him the boat has the speed needed to be competitive during the rest of the series.
“We had a good first race, sailing well right around the course, taking the lead and defending well all the way to the finish,” added Barker, whose Emirates Team New Zealand, along with Matador, were the only boats to post two wins in the regatta.
“The real positive is that we know we have the boat that can win. We’re still learning how to sail it and we’re looking forward to the next regatta in Marseille which starts on June 14.”
At the end of the series, only two points separated the first three Matador, Artemis and Emirates Team New Zealand, with the defending champions Quantum Racing in fourth.