Yachting: Team NZ outmuscle Malta to win first semifinal

Team New Zealand beat Team Malta in their first semifinal match of the BMW Sailing Cup world final in Auckland's upper harbour yesterday.

As top placegetters in fleet racing, TNZ had the right to choose their semifinal opponents and elected to race against Team Malta, leaving the Italian and Portuguese teams to do battle.

Portugal was penalised in a pre-start incident, but came from behind to win the first match when the Italian team dropped their spinnaker in the water and sailed over the top of it.

They failed to finish the race. "It was not bad luck, it was a big mistake," said Italian skipper Jacopo Pasini.

Team Malta received a penalty for failing to keep clear of Team New Zealand in a pre-start duel. However, Team Malta sailed strongly up the first beat in strong winds to narrowly lead around the first windward mark.

On the downwind leg, Malta lost control and broached, allowing Team New Zealand to jump clear and lead by a comfortable margin.

"It was definitely windy," said New Zealand skipper Phil Robertson. "It was more like survival conditions. In the end, I think we just managed to outmuscle them on the downwind run with slightly better boat handling."