Immaculate penalty turn keeps Team NZ alive

Team New Zealand, starring elimination in the face, completed an immaculate penalty turn at the death today to keep their Louis Vuitton Trophy yachting hopes alive.

Skipper Dean Barker and his crew had appeared headed for defeat off Auckland at the hands of Italian opponents Azzurra before they snatched a 2sec victory that levelled their best-of-three semifinal at 1-1.

With the sun beginning to set, race official postponed the decider until tomorrow, with the winners to face another Italian entry, Mascalzone Latino, in a best-of-seven final.

Azzurra, skippered by Francesco Bruni, had beaten Team NZ in the final of the inaugural LV Trophy regatta in France last November and were on target for a repeat.

They scored an impressive come-from-behind victory in race one, finishing 18sec ahead despite copping a penalty near the end of the first of four legs.

As the boats approached the top mark after a tough tacking duel, Team NZ forced Azzurra beyond the right-hand layline, then luffed to park the Italians there, before peeling back to the mark.

Azzurra followed, but without giving Team NZ sufficient clearance, and were penalised.

However, Azzurra kept the game close and made the decisive move on the third leg, taking advantage of a windshift on the left side of the course to gain a big enough margin to do their penalty turn and still be in front.

They had a great beginning to race two, when Team NZ were penalised in the pre-start for failing to keep clear.

Although the New Zealanders led around every mark, it never seemed like the margin was big enough given the penalty hanging over them, but they pulled off the manoeuvre in a thrilling finish.

"That was the absolute limit," Tema NZ tactician Ray Davies said.

"We could not have done it with any less."

Davies described the penalty as "silly" and unforced, "but we sailed really good from there on."

Mascalzone, skippered by New Zealander Gavin Brady, were also made to go the distance as they downed Sweden's Artemis 2-1.

They came from behind to win race one, hitting the front near the end of the first beat.

However, Artemis, skippered by Paul Cayard and with fellow American Terry Hutchinson at the helm, struck back in race two.

They dominated the pre-start by pushing Mascalzone over the line early, with Brady later putting the blame on himself for the error.

By the time Mascalzone had to turn backed and re-started, Artemis had grabbed a good cushion and stayed in front through the rest of the journey.

The roles were reversed in the pre-start to race three, with Brady forcing Hutchinson out to beyond the committee boat during which Artemis were penalised.

Artemis gave chase and were in close attendance by the bottom gate, where they elected to do their penalty turn, but the ground they lost proved too much.

Asked whom he would prefer to meet in the final, Brady said: "I don't think there's anything better than racing the hosts.

"Dean and I know each other really well. We've had a lot of battles."

However, Team NZ still had to get past Azzurra, who Brady said sailed slightly differently to other teams and their style often caught out opponents.

"Because it's a full Italian team, I think they just have a good feel of being patient and knowing when to match-race and when not to," he said.

"They're good in shifty conditions and they seem to step their way up the race course really smoothly."

- NZPA