Valencia, SPAIN — BMW ORACLE Racing engaged in a classic match race
battle with Emirates Team New Zealand on the final day of the Louis Vuitton Act 4 regatta in Valencia, attacking their opposition all the way around the track, upwind and down.

The early advantage went to NZL-82 as the New Zealand team took the left hand side of the course and capitalized on a windshift in their favour.USA-76 poured on the pressure and made gains on every leg, but NZL-82 crossed the line with a 17-second lead.

There will be a two-day interval before the Louis Vuitton Act 5 regatta begins on Friday. This comprises a schedule of five fleet races, finishing on Sunday.

USA-76 vs NZL-82, Race Summary - At the start, the two yachts left the line on split tacks, with USA-76 heading towards the right hand side of the course and NZL-82 going left. The left side paid off and Emirates Team New Zealand moved into an early advantage.

Keeping a close cover, NZL-82 protected its lead and, with the wind
continuing to swing to the left, had a 32 second advantage around the first windward mark.

USA-76 kept up the pressure and made gains on every leg of the race: 31 seconds at the leeward mark and then reducing by increasing amounts. On the second windward leg, the USA-76 crew poured on the pressure, initiating tack after tack.

In the early stage of the duel, the tacks were at about 40 second
intervals, but the BMW ORACLE Racing crew increased the tempo until they were throwing tacks about every 20 seconds.

The time split at the second windward mark rounding was 23 seconds and, after another sustained gibing attack from USA-76, the difference at the finish was down to 17 seconds.

The result of this concluding race put USA-76 into 3rd place for Act 4, with Alinghi 1st and Emirates Team New Zealand 2nd.

Quotes
John Kostecki, BMW ORACLE Racing skipper/tactician: “We got the start we wanted, but unfortunately the wind went left about 7 degrees on the first windward leg. That gave Emirates Team New Zealand a pretty strong advantage and we were never really able to recover from that.

“We never gave up trying. We pushed them hard and it was satisfying that we made gains on every leg. We did 30 tacks on the second windward leg. The crew did a great job. They were awesome, really focused.

“We saw that we were making gains and we did everything we could to get in front, but unfortunately we ran out of race course.

“In terms of boatspeed it was hard to tell. There was certainly not much in it.”

Looking ahead: “We are looking forward to Act 5. We have always had a lot of fun with the fleet races. It is going to be pretty exciting to have 12 of these yachts all on the startline together.”

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