LV ACT 8 - Day 1: Vive la France!!

L'équipe de France, France's team, K-Challenge delivered the first surprise in the opening day of Louis Vuitton Act 8, held in Trapani. Skippered by Thierry Peponnet, the French not only beat Emirates Team New Zealand they also achieved it with a comfortable advantage of 1:45 minutes. Although they rounded the first mark slightly behind the New Zealanders, during the second leg they chose to go for a major wind shift, unlike their adversaries, and built an immense advantage of 2:30 minutes. From that point it was an easy race to victory. That victory followed an earlier close win over the Italian team Mascsalzone Latino, a decisive achievement among the teams in the middle of the table.

TOP FOUR: Excluding the tough defeat of Emirates Team New Zealand, all other races turned out exactly as expected. Alinghi, BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa all won their two races of the day. The Swiss defender of the America's Cup has now reached their twenty ..... (we've lost count) straight victory in match racing. With Ed Baird at the helm for the first time, Alinghi beat the Spanish Desafío Español, despite trailing at the start of the race.

MIDDLE OF THE TABLE: The Spanish challenger, Desafío Español, disappointed today, losing both races, as did +39. Victory Challenge won both races, a gratifying performance after the difficult times in Malmö. Nevertheless, in our opinion, what really stands out is the disastrous performance by Mascalzone Latino, especially their defeat against United Internet Team Germany, where the Italians finished almost 10 minutes behind the Germans. We are not Cup historians but we have never seen such a difference before, barring any breakages or technical failures!!

BOTTOM OF THE TABLE: As mentioned above, the German victory really stood out. Both China Team and Shosholoza lost their two races.

Valencia Sailing's take: Conditions are tricky and can produce considerable surprises. Competition-wise it's nice to see such upsets, making the fight at the top and middle of the table even more interesting.