Yachting: Team NZ make it two in a row

Syndicate head Grant Dalton celebrates Team NZ's victory at the MedCup regatta in Sardinia. Photo / Chris Cameron, ETNZ

Team New Zealand's patience and composure today carried them to their second successive regatta victory on the MedCup yachting circuit.

NZL380 claimed the Region of Sardinia Trophy after consistent placings of third, first and second off the Italian city of Cagliari.

Skipper Dean Barker and his crew ended the event 14.5 points ahead of Argentine entry Matador.

They will head next month to Portimao in Portugal, the penultimate stop in the five-regatta series, with a commanding 32.5-point lead over the rest of the 13-strong fleet of TP52s.

After yesterday's shifty conditions, syndicate head and mastman Grant Dalton got his wish as the Mistral breeze returned.

While the New Zealanders produced a clean performance through the day, their closest rivals, Matador (Argentina) and Artemis (Sweden), were undone by some largely self-inflicted problems.

Dalton said Team NZ hadn't been at their best and had one poor start.

"But we sailed with composure too," he said.

"We managed not to crack under pressure while people were cracking around us, but that is just the way we sail."

Artemis, second overall overnight, were penalised in the first two races and their placings of ninth, eighth and sixth dropped to third overall.

Matador won race one and kept the pressure on Team NZ by coming fourth in the second.

But in the final race, they were penalised for tacking too close to NZL380 and then made a mistake rounding the mark for the run home, and they crossed the line back in 10th.

Dalton said the competition was closer than the points table suggested, as had been the case at the previous regatta in the south of France last month.

"The points flatter us a bit, as they did in Marseille, in the end."

Things were still tight after the first race, so the win in the second "didn't hurt", but Dalton felt his team's best performance came at the end.

"We knew what had to be done," he said.

"Matador helped by getting their penalty, but we were sailing ourselves out of the course. We got right back into it when the breeze came on."

- NZPA