Louis Vuitton Final - Match 1

What a great race we saw today between two fine teams Luna Rossa & Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ). ETNZ's weather team did a fantastic job making the call for Dean Barker and his boys to protect the right hand side up the first beat and they did successfully. Both boats took a long port tack out to the right and near the starboard layline. ETNZ tacked first and were advanced far enough forward to make Luna Rossa tack to leeward. Luna Rossa did well early on this tack however and took some gauge out of ETNZ. But near the windward mark ETNZ received a nice little right hand shift and sheered off Luna Rossa enable them to round 12 seconds ahead. Luna Rossa managed to put pressure on ETNZ during the first downwind leg but ETNZ held the lead to round 9 seconds ahead. True to form ETNZ then kept a close cover never letting Luna Rossa any opportunity to pass. ETNZ win by 8 seconds in a close much. It looks like this finals series may require the full 9 matches to decide the worthy winner.