ETNZ on top after Louis Vuitton round robin

Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta - ETNZ on top after round robin

Emirates Team New Zealand has finished top qualifier in the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta with a six win, one loss record in the round robin.

In today’s final race in the round robin, Emirates Team New Zealand beat Synergy by a minute.

The race committee’s mission on Tuesday was to get seven races away to catch up on the three lost yesterday because of the wind.

Today’s first match, the ETNZ and Synergy clash, was delayed by a soft and shifty breeze. By the time the race started the breeze was a good 16 knots, but it was still shifty and conditions were tricky.

Synergy got the better of the start and looked strong on the beat until Barker applied some pressure from behind and Synergy split rather than engage. That gave Barker the leverage he needed and when the yachts came together again he was comfortably ahead.

Skipper Dean Barker: “Synergy did well in the start and got away fast. Our guys did a great job to keep it close up the beat.

“Then we threw a few tacks at them, forcing a split to the left. We got some leverage and crossed in front of them before the top mark.”

From there, Emirates Team New Zealand maintained control, and sailed well to comfortably maintain their lead.

ETNZ rounded the first mark 26 sec ahead, extended on the run to 38 sec and by mark 3 was mare than a minute in front. At the end the margin was one minute.

Race format: for the rest of the regatta:

At the end of the round robin each team has raced every other team once to determine a ranking used in the following stages of the event.

1. Elimination round one – the competitors sail a knockout series, using the rankings from the round robin so 1st vs. 8th, 2nd vs. 7th, and so on. The two highest ranked teams (using the round robin ranking) that win their matches in this round advance directly to the semi-finals. The two lowest ranked teams (using the round robin ranking) to lose their matches in this round are eliminated.

2. Elimination round two – the four remaining teams are paired and race for the two remaining semi final berths, with the winner from each pair advancing and the loser eliminated.

3. In the semi-final, the four remaining teams are paired and race a ‘first to two points’ series. The winner from each pair advances to the final.

4. In the final, the winners from each semi-final pair race a ‘first to four points’ series to determine the winner of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland.

The above format is called the MacIntyre System, named for Ken McIntyre who developed it for Australian rugby league tournaments in the 1930s. Ioday it is widely used in top sports tournaments,.

The system makes each race meaningful for each team, right up until the moment they are eliminated. It rewards teams that build a good record in the round robin by referring back to that ranking at later stages, yet it allows teams that improve over the course of the regatta to advance if they keep winning.

ENDS

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