Yachting: Luna Rossa jumps to the top

The recently-concluded Louis Vuitton Act 5 was ultimately a triumph for the impressive Luna Rossa Challenge who were bumped up from second to first place after Sweden's Victory Challenge was disqualified from race four for a technical measurement infringement.

The Italians were strong throughout the three days, never finishing in the bottom half of the fleet, and posting a first and second among their five results.

The Jury disqualification was a hard blow to Victory Challenge but shouldn't overshadow an incredible performance on the water. The Swedes won the race they were disqualified from and also posted second, third, and fourth place finishes on their scoreline.

It was surprisingly dominant performance from one of the later teams to start in this Cup cycle, and amazingly, the team did it with just 27 people in Valencia. On the water they beat the 'big four' teams, many of whom rely on around 100 people (Emirates Team New Zealand is closer to fifty).

Other smaller teams had good results in the fleet racing as well, with Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia posting a win and a second place, and K-Challenge with four, top-seven results.

The home favourite Desafío Espa--ol 2007 struggled in the fleet racing, particularly on the starts, but recovered in fine form on the last day, winning the fifth race in front of huge, supportive crowd.

Two teams that posted occasional good results were +39 and United internet Team Germany, but each also scored several finishes down the leaderboard that kept them from challenging the middle of the fleet. The Act must be considered another good run for the German team who, with one week of preparation, finished just one point in arrears of +39 who have been campaigning for over a year.

The final two teams struggled in both the match races of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 4 and the fleet races of Act 5. Finishing equal on 12 points, China Team beats Shosholoza on the tie-break by virtue of scoring an eighth to the South Africans best race finish of ninth. The South Africans can take solace from finishing four fleet races with at least one boat behind them.

The Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts were a success off the water as well, with nearly 200 000 visitors to the America's Cup Park, and 10 000 VIP guests enjoying the show.

The America's Cup website had nearly 15,000 unique visitors each day during Acts 4 and 5, with just under 500,000 visitors, and over 2.8-million page views.

Special guests at the Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts this year included His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain, Jean Francois Lamour, the French minister of sport and super-model Ines Sastre.

The Louis Vuitton Acts now move to Sweden for series 6 and 7 to Malmö-Skåne beginning on 25 August. The series concludes one month later in Trapani, Sicily with Louis Vuitton Acts 8 and 9.