Two Upsets In Light Winds And Powerful Tides

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On a day made challenging by light winds and powerful tides, the Auckland Match Racing Cup saw two major upsets as the regatta got under way in Auckland, New Zealand today.

Before racing began, Japanese skipper Takumi Nakamura declared his one ambition was to beat defending champion Dean Barker and his Emirates Team New Zealand crew on their home waters.

In their first encounter of the regatta, Nakamura and his crew achieved their goal, leading from start to finish on a track full of pitfalls with patchy winds and a very strong outgoing tide.

"We are very happy," said Nakamura, who has raced Barker twice before in match race events but never beaten him. "However, we know it is just one win and we must keep going."

After a good start, Nakamura and his crew adopted unconventional tactics to score their victory. "We are not so good at tacking and gybing, so we did not try to cover Barker. We just sailed our own race."

The other major upset of the day came when the Russian team led by Eugeny Neugodnikov took another America's Cup scalp by beating James Spithill and his Luna Rossa crew.

Spithill and his crew travelled direct from Valencia, Spain, where they have been in winter training for the America's Cup, while Neugodnikov took time out from playing ice-hockey in -25°C conditions to compete in the Grade One regatta hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

"We arrived here a week ago and we did some training with the Squadron's Youth Programme," said Neugodnikov. "That was very good. We have raced against Spithill five or six times before, but that was our first win," added the Russian, who is ranked 7 on the ISAF World Match Racing order.

Racing took place on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour in light, fickle south-westerly breezes that seldom got above 6-7 knots. "There are no easy races in these conditions," commented Barker. "It is not going to be an easy race track for the next few days, if it stays like this."

By the end of the day, six flights of the first round robin had been completed. Barker was one of four skippers sharing the top of the leaderboard with four wins and two losses. Spithill was also in that group along with Frenchman Mathieu Richard and Englishman Ian Williams.

Just behind them on a 3-3 record were the Russian team and the Minoprio brothers, Simon and Adam, both leading New Zealand crews. US skipper Brian Angel and New Zealander Simon Dickey were on 2-4, while Nakamura had to content himself with his sole victory over Barker at 1-5.

Ten teams from seven nations are competing in the Auckland Match Racing Cup. The regatta format features two round robins, followed by a semi-final and final on the weekend.

Round Robin One

Flight One

Barker beat A.Minoprio by 36s

Neugodnikov beat Nakamura by 1m21s

Williams beat S.Minoprio by 1s

Richard beat Angel by 53s

Spithill beat Dickey by 1m30s

Flight Two

Neugodnikov beat S.Minoprio by 13s

Williams beat Angel by 1m24s

A.Minoprio beat Richard by 9s

Barker beat Dickey by 33s

Spithill beat Nakamura by 1m43s

Flight Three

A.Minoprio beat Williams 21s

Richard beat Dickey by 13s

Nakamura beat Barker by 13s

Neugodnikov beat Spithill by 1m19s

S.Minoprio beat Angel by 2m09s

Flight Four

Richard beat Nakamura by 1m54s

Spithill beat Barker by 2m18s

Angel beat Neugodnikov DNF

S.Minoprio beat A.Minoprio DNF

Williams beat Dickey DNF

Flight Five

Barker beat Neugodnikov by 2m06s

Angel beat A.Minoprio by 36s

Dickey beat S.Minoprio by 10s

Williams beat Nakamura by 1m12s

Richard beat Spithill by 26s

Flight Six

Dickey beat Angel by 1m56s

S.Minoprio beat Nakamura by 8s

Spithill beat Williams by 11s

Barker beat Richard by 27s

A.Minoprio beat Neugodnikov 1m58s

Competing teams:

Dean Barker (NZL), Don Cowie, Terry Hutchinson, James Dagg, Jeremy Lomas

James Spithill (AUS), Michele Ivaldi, Magnus Auguston, Joey Newton, Torben Grael

Ian Williams (GBR), Laurie Jury, Graeme Sutherland, Stu Molloy, Sam Tucker

Mathieu Richard (FRA), Greg Evrard, Thierry Briand, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon

Eugeny Neugodnikov (RUS), Aleksander Ekimov, Konstantin Besputin, Michael Pozhidaev, Nikolay Kornev

Simon Minoprio (NZL), Michael Bullot, Sam Bell, Ryan Houston, Matthew Johns

Brian Angel (USA), Payson Infelize, Logan Fraser, David Hochart, Nick Bastow

Takumi Nakamura (JPN), Kazuhiro Hahara, Yasuhiro Okamoto, Tatsuya Sasaki, Masahiro Nagao

Adam Minoprio (NZL), Dave Swete, Josh Puckey, Tom Powrie, Nick Blackman

Simon Dickey (NZL), Guy Pilkington, Garth Ellingham, Lukasz Wosinski, Marcin Banaszek

ENDS

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