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A back to basics approach paid dividends for Team New Zealand today as they registered their first win in the America's Cup challengers yachting series off Valencia, Spain.
After their shock defeat to Mascalzone Latino in their only other Louis Vuitton Cup race so far, Team NZ led from start to finish to down another Italian syndicate, +39 Challenge.
The margin of victory for the Dean Barker-skippered NZL92 in tricky conditions was a comfortable two minutes 41 seconds.
Strategist Ray Davies said it was case of winning the start and then keeping a close watch on ITA85.
"After our loss to Mascalzone, we just went right back to basics and made sure we had very clear communication and nailed the simple stuff," he said.
"It's quite easy to over-complicate things with the amount of data we have coming into the boat, so we left Dean to clean them out in the start and covered hard from there."
Team NZ went into the Louis Vuitton Cup as the top-ranked challengers and favourites, along with American syndicate Oracle and Italians Luna Rossa, to fill one of the four semifinal spots next month.
With each race in the two round robins worth two points, victory lifted the New Zealanders to equal third on the standings, three points behind Oracle and Luna Rossa, with a race in hand over both.
The lack of wind continued to play havoc with the Louis Vuitton Cup programme today, and only one of the two scheduled flights of races was run.
Team NZ's contest with +39 began in patchy eight knot breezes.
Barker won a split tack start, crossing at the pin end 3sec ahead and with better boat speed, and then tacked back to cover ITA85.
There was a brief tacking duel on the first windward leg, with NZL92 gaining each time. By the top mark the margin had opened out to 1min 22sec.
The cushion remained much the same over the next two legs, before Team NZ made a big gain on the final run in a fading breeze, which was so light that +39 barely crossed the finish line.
It was a much more upbeat NZL92 crew that came back to port than after the defeat to Mascalzone.
"We're very happy with the overall performance," Davies said.
"It was great. It was what we should have done the first day."
For +39, who had their mast broken in a collision with Team Germany in the preliminary Louis Vuitton Act 13 event this month, it was a third defeat in three outings.
Skipper Luca Devoti said ITA85's appendages were proving to be a problem and the team would make changes to the front profile of the foil.
"In light airs, when the boat is under nine knots, we are sailing sideways rather than forwards," he said.
"We knew we had modifications to do and planned to do them after Act 13, but we unfortunately had work on the mast."
Team NZ's two scheduled opponents tomorrow are French syndicate Challenge and Spaniards Desafio Espanol.
In other contests today, Oracle and Luna Rossa both made it three wins from three by downing South African syndicate Shosholoza and Team Germany respectively.
- NZPA
