Louis Vuitton Cup - Nice - Nov 2009

 

Nigel from Bare Knuckles Racing has been skippering the committee boat for Louis Vuitton in the WSTA regatta in Nice for the last couple of months.

Back in October two America's Cup yachts were towed from Valencia in Spain to Nice for the regatta. The tow covered 450 miles up the Spanish coast and across the Gulf of Lyon arriving in Nice 48 hours later with a average tow speed of 9 knots.

The regatta saw some fantastic match racing between the competing teams. After round robin one ETNZ lay in first position with Team Origin in second. The French team French Spirit had a collision with the committee boat during one of the races, causing their boat to be withdrawn fro racing for a couple.

With just two boats racing and very shifty light winds the crews had to endure considerable time waiting for the sea breeze to kick in. All but one race from round robin one was sailed.

Round robin two saw all four boats racing in some very competitive racing. The final was between ETNZ and Azzurra in the Mascalzone Latino boats. First race went to Azzurra after a large wind shift played in their favour allowing them to dominated the lead.

The second race was one of the best from the whole regatta with ETNZ requiring a win to stand a change of winning. Azzurra sailed another perfect race to win the Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice - 2009.

Following the regatta Nigel and a crew of other dedicated yacht builders, riggers, sail makers and the like towed two of the yacht back to Valencia via La Ciotat in France. The tow saw some large waves just off Hyeres and the Cap D'Armes which caused some damage to one of the yachts and one of the tow vessels. After a weather break in La Ciotat the tow entered the Gulf of Lyon in a westerly direction to avoid strong winds and large sea further offshore. As the sea state settled down the tow speed went up to a blistering 15 knots.

After 48 hours towing the boats arrived in Valencia safe and sound.