Yachting: Winning start for Team NZ

Team New Zealand made a belated but winning start to the Louis Vuitton Trophy yachting regatta off the Italian island of La Maddalena today.

The New Zealanders made up for lost time after the conditions prevented them racing for two days to secure a 15-second win over Britain's Team Origin.

British skipper Ben Ainslie seized the left and an early advantage in a split tack start that saw an 850m split before the British boat tacked to follow the New Zealanders on port.

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker bided his time before taking the lead approaching the weather mark.

Ainslie then closed on the run but Team New Zealand led as they rounded opposite gates at the bottom mark.

It was the narrowest winning margin of the six races today

Results

Team Origin (Britain) bt BMW Oracle Racing (US) by 1min 3sec
Synergy (Russia) bt All4One (France-Germany) by 35sec
Azzurra (Italy) bt Luna Rossa (Italy) by 29sec
Artemis (Sweden) bt Aleph (France) by 1min 12sec
All4One bt Mascalzone Latino (Italy) by 43sec
Team New Zealand bt Team Origin by 15sec.

- NZPA