Silicon Valley billionaire Larry Ellison slipped off his floating palace Zenji to earn his keep racing against Team New Zealand on BMW Oracle in the Louis Vuitton regatta yesterday.
But his presence was not enough to inspire his syndicate to victory, with Emirates Team NZ winning the Louis
Vuitton Pacific Series match-up by 28 seconds. Spectators took advantage of the fine weather watching the day's four races in which around 100 boats took part.
"It was a fantastic day," said former Team NZ chief executive Ross Blackman, who was commentating on the races for BSport sailing radio.
"The wind was close to perfect - it was a very steady souwester of 15-20 knots. The wind was shifty which, in other words, means it was moving from left to right and that makes for very interesting racing."
Blackman said some of the boats got "incredibly close to the action" when the race yachts sailed into the middle of the spectator fleet.
In yesterday's three other races, Greek Challenge beat Shosholoza by 56 seconds, Damiani Italia beat Team China by 77 seconds and Alinghi beat Luna Rossa by 40 seconds.
Auckland Coastguard reported a steady day on the water but said boaties were well-behaved.
