Team New Zealand lose final to Italians

Team New Zealand were gracious in defeat after Italian yachting syndicate Azzurra won the Louis Vuitton Trophy final in France today.

The Italians beat the New Zealanders 2-0 in the final, winning by margins of 25 seconds and 17sec in light winds of six to 10 knots off the coast near Nice.

It represented a remarkable comeback for the crew representing the Costa Smeralda Yacht Club, who were returning to international competition after an absence of 22 years.

Skippered by Francesco Bruni, Azzurra were relaunched only last month.

"I think we sailed well today but Azzurra was clearly better than us. They did everything right," Team NZ skipper Dean Barker said.

"Sometimes that's just the way it is. You're either in the right place or you're not. Today, Azzurra sailed very, very well."

Bruni was naturally delighted, if a little surprised.

"It's an amazing sensation. We knew we could do a good job.

"We had very good training before the event. But we never thought about beating New Zealand in the final."

The New Zealanders entered the final as favourites after winning the round robin and suffering only one loss in 10 starts, before beating Synergy of Russia in a hard-fought semifinal.

Team NZ have been the team to beat for much of the year after winning the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in February and the TP52 world championship in September.

Today, however, they lost the first cross in both races and could never find a way around the Italians on the short courses of less than five-nautical miles.

Results:-

Azzurra (Italy) bt Team New Zealand 2-0.

Final standings:-

Azzurra (Italy) 11 wins 5 losses, Team New Zealand 11-4, Synergy (Russia) 8-6, TeamOrigin (Britain) 9-6, All4One (France/Germany) 5-8, BMW Oracle Racing (US) 5-8, Artemis (Sweden) 5-7, TFS (France) 1-11.

- NZPA