Pool draw for friendly yachting series
29 Jan 2009
Fast boats and world famous yachtsmen are no strangers to Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour, but the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series will provide some extraordinary off-shore scenes when racing gets underway this Friday (30.01.09).
Some of the world’s biggest names in yachting are in town for the friendly series as well as some of the fiercest opponents.
Supporters and sports enthusiasts will be treated to unprecedented sights as long-time adversaries share secrets and deck space in what’s been dubbed ‘the friendly series’.
Official draw
Members of the 10 participating teams learned the level of their competition when the official draw to select the daily pairings was made at a cocktail function at Sky City Grand Hotel in Auckland.
The pools were determined by seedings based on past results, or in the case of the new syndicates, in order of entry.
Emirates Team New Zealand heads pool A, with BMW Oracle Racing likely to be the only real threat in the group. But with Team NZ advancing straight through to the final, the round robin stages of the regatta will be purely a training run for the Kiwis.
Pool B, which features top seeds and America's Cup holders Alinghi along with Luna Rossa and Team Origin, looks to be the strongest pool.
Practice halted
The Oracle boats - USA 86 and USA 92 - have been assigned to pool B for the round robin stage of the regatta, with pool A drawing Team New Zealand's yachts.
High winds gusting in to the high twenties halted practice on Tuesday giving teams only two days left to familiarise themselves with the two sets of boats and prepare for the start of racing on Friday.
First round robin draw
Pool A:
Emirates Team New Zealand
K-Challenge (France)
BMW Oracle Racing (USA)
Damiani Italia Challenge (Italy)
China Team
Pool B:
Greek Challenge
Team Origin (UK)
Team Shosholoza (South Africa)
Alinghi (Switzerland)
Luna Rossa (Italy)
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