Greeks push but Origin in control

Published: 4:02PM Tuesday February 03, 2009 Source: ONE Sport

  • Print this article
  • Text size + -

The Greek Challenge put up a good fight but the experience of Ben Ainslie's crew on TeamOrigin lead them to another victory in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series.

The Greek boat announced a change in their afterguard with Kiwi Gavin Brady moving from the helm to tactician for this race and Theodoros Tsoulfas driving the boat.

Tsoulfas, Greece's Star class champion, gained some vital experience in this class of boat and kept his crew in touch with his stronger competitior for most of the race.

Origin started on the favoured right but as both boats came head to head on each tack on the first leg the Greek Challenge maintained a slight advantage.

The lead changed when TeamOrigin picked up a slight breeze but they were only leading by 16 metres approaching the first mark.

Origin went around 14 seconds ahead at that mark and the Greek Challenge were slightly slow getting their spinnaker set so Origin grabbed another few vital seconds straight away.

On the second leg the Greeks struggled to stay in touch and seemed to make a mistake when they failed to get their spinnaker drop done smoothly and had to make a late change to turn on a different mark.

But the manoeuvre paid off as they gained ground and what looked like a mistake was actually a clever move when they saw a touch of wind.

Unfortunately the wind then shifted on them again so the Greeks had to leave that left hand line and chase after the Brits.

Ainslie and his hugely experience afterguard pulled ahead and eventually built a solid 200 metre lead.

For the Greek boat the steady winds meant it was difficult to find any wind shifts to use and they were forced to just stay on the same line and try to play catch up.

They stayed right but the wind did not come and then distance between the boats stayed over 250 metres all the way down the last leg.

TeamOrigin crossed the lead 58 seconds ahead to make it four wins from four races and top place in Pool B.

There is a lay day on Wednesday (with no coverage or live stream) and then the second round robin gets underway from Thursday.

  • Print this article
  • Text size + -
  • more...

Sailing Video

Most Popular

  1. Fleming's Chennai charge into IPL final
  2. All Blacks to hit-and-run in Australia
  3. Camper flies into leg seven lead
  4. Black Sticks wallop Argentina
  5. Hurricanes hope to vanquish last year's demons

rssLatest News

Advertising

How do you want your news?

  • Mobile Devices

    TVNZ is available on mobile phones: Text TVNZ to 8869.

  • News Feeds

    See when TVNZ have added new content. You can get the latest headlines anywhere.

  • Podcasts

    Enjoy TVNZ on the move - a wide range of programmes and highlights are available.