Yachting: Hat-trick tightens Team NZ's grip on title

Team NZ have a firm grip on the MedCup title with one regatta remaining. Photo / Chris Cameron, ETNZ

PORTIMAO - Team New Zealand today made it three regatta wins in a row on the MedCup yachting circuit, coming from behind in testing conditions to claim the Portugal Trophy.

Team NZ managed just seventh in the day's only race off Portimao, but it was enough to overhaul overnight leaders Artemis, who came home in 10th and last place.

Added to their victories at Marseille and Cagliari, skipper Dean Barker and his crew, in their first appearance on the TP52 circuit, have a firm grip on the overall title with one event left.

During the course of the past week, they have extended their margin over the rest of the fleet to a hefty 52 points, with Argentina's Matador heading the pursuit.

Artemis, a Swedish entry with a predominantly New Zealand crew, and defending champions Quantum Racing of the United States are tied for third 5.5 points further back.

Light airs meant only one of the five races scheduled for the last two days at Portimao went ahead, but it was enough for Team NZ to snatch the outright lead in the regatta for the first time.

The contest on a sweltering afternoon on the Algarve coast, where temperatures were in the mid-30s C, was staged in streaky conditions, the eight to 10-knot winds being unsettled and changeable.

It ended as a Russian one-two, with Synergy crossing ahead of Valars, two yachts in the lower half of the table.

NZL380 was in mid-fleet for most of the four legs of the windward-leeward course on the Atlantic Ocean but, in the race within a race, it was always ahead of Artemis.

The margin between the two boats closed up during the second beat, but Team NZ were able to force two extra tacks out of Artemis heading into the top mark.

Tactician Ray Davies said there was obvious pleasure in being able to turn a 1.5-point overnight deficit to Artemis into a 1.5-point regatta victory.

"But they certainly made us work for it," he said.

"In those conditions, anything can happen."

Davies ruled out any thoughts that the title was in the bag, saying no lead was ever too big in yacht-racing.

"We've seen it before with big leads that you just need a gear breakage on a three-race day and suddenly you're only 20 points ahead again," he said.

"We have to keep going through all the procedures we do before each race to make sure the boat is bullet proof and we sail smart."

What the points buffer did mean was that Team NZ could sail "a click more conservatively" at the final stop at Cartagena.

"You wouldn't push being over the line at the start and at any potential crosses you would take the option to dip," he said.

"But you still have to race the boat hard. There's a definite danger when you sail too conservatively that you actually go backwards through the fleet."

Quantum skipper Terry Hutchinson accepted that his crew's hold on the crown was probably over and they would most likely be sailing for second place overall in the season finale, given Team NZ's position .

"If they sink, they're catchable, but even then it's only five points a race or something," the former Team NZ tactician said.

"Stranger things have happened and it's sport, but I would be surprised it did."

- NZPA