Louis Vuitton Trophy, Nice, Côte d'Azur explained

Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur
Date	7–22 November 2009
Winner	Azzurra
Location	Nice

The Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur was the first in a series of regattas that compete for the Louis Vuitton Trophy. The regatta was held in Nice between 7 and 22 November 2009. The Louis Vuitton Trophy format uses existing International America's Cup Class yachts loaned to the regatta by various America's Cup racing syndicates, keeping costs relatively low for the competing teams.

The Louis Vuitton Trophy was organised after the success of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and the continued legal battle surrounding the America's Cup yachting competition at the time. Because of the long delays from the legal action, and the fact that the 2010 America's Cup became a Deed of Gift match without a defender or challenger selection series, the Louis Vuitton Trophy series was established as a competition for other America's Cup racing syndicates.

The Nice event was hosted by ALL4ONE Challenge and Club Nautique de Nice.

The Yachts

See also: List of IACC yachts.

For the event Mascalzone Latino provided ITA-90 and ITA-99 while All4One and Team Origin loaned FRA-93 and GBR-75 respectively.^{[1] [2]}

Teams

Eight teams participated in the Nice event. Despite loaning two boats to the event, Mascalzone Latino did not participate.

Ranking	Country	Team	Club	Skipper	Notes
1		Azzurra	Yacht Club Costa Smeralda	Francesco Bruni, Tommaso Chieffi
2		Team New Zealand	Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron	Dean Barker
3		Synergy Russian Sailing Team		Karol Jabłoński
4		Team Origin	Royal Thames Yacht Club	Ben Ainslie
5	/	ALL4ONE Challenge	Cercle de la Voile de Paris/Kieler Yacht-Club	Sébastien Col, Jochen Schümann	Host
6		BMW Oracle Racing	Golden Gate Yacht Club	Gavin Brady, Hamish Pepper
7		Team Artemis	Royal Swedish Yacht Club	Paul Cayard
8		TFS - Pages Jaunes		Bertrand Pacé

The Races

Round Robin One

7 November - 14 November
Up to four flights per day were scheduled through the conclusion of the round robin and lasted no longer than one hour in duration. The first three days were characterised by light winds and only two races were completed each day. However, on day four the race organisers completed four full flights (eight races) to get the regatta back on schedule.

width=175 Team Name width=20 abbr="Raced" Races width=20 abbr="Won" W width=20 abbr="Lost" L Team New Zealand 7 6 1 Azzurra 7 6 1 Team Origin 7 5 1 Team Artemis 7 3 4 Synergy Russian Sailing 7 3 4 BMW Oracle Racing 7 3 4 ALL4ONE Challenge 7 2 5 TFS - Pages Jaunes 7 0 7

width=40 width=50 TNZ width=50 BOR width=50 ART width=50 A4O width=50 TFS width=50 SYN width=50 AZZ width=50 ORG width=50 Total TNZ 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 6 BOR 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 ART 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 3 A4O R 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 TFS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 SYN 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 3 AZZ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 ORG 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 5

A = Abandoned, P = Postponed, R = Retired

Round Robin Two

14 November-18 November
Stage 2 was a half round robin where the top four teams raced the bottom four teams. As the half round robin was not completed, teams received half points for matches sailed twice.

width=195 Team Name width=20 abbr="Raced" Races width=20 abbr="Won" W width=20 abbr="Lost" L width=20 abbr="Raced" RR1 width=20 abbr="Raced" Total width=20 abbr="Raced" Points Team New Zealand 3 3 0 6 9 6 Synergy Russian Sailing 3 3 0 3 6 4.5 Azzurra 4 1 3 6 7 4.5 Team Origin 4 3 1 5 8 4.5 BMW Oracle Racing 4 1 3 3 4 3 Team Artemis 4 2 2 3 5 3 ALL4ONE Challenge 4 1 3 2 3 2 TFS - Pages Jaunes 4 1 3 0 1 0.5

width=40 width=50 SYN width=50 BOR width=50 A4O width=50 TFS width=50 Total TNZ 1 1 1 A 3 AZZ 0 1 0 0 1 ORG 0 1 1 1 3 ART 0 0 1 1 2 width=40 width=50 TNZ width=50 AZZ width=50 ORG width=50 ART width=50 Total SYN A 1 1 1 3 BOR 0 0 0 1 1 A4O 0 1 0 0 1 TFS 0 1 0 0 1

A = Abandoned, P = Postponed, R = Retired

Knock-Out Series

19 November-22 November
Stage 3 is the knockout semifinals and final.

Ranking Phase

Teams in the bottom half of the Round Robin will sail off for places 5-8.

Finals

As Team New Zealand won the Round Robin, they got to choose their Semi Final opponents from the top four. The first to score two wins will win each series. *Team New Zealand were penalised a point and Synergy was penalised half a point for failing to avoid a collision. Synergy were then further penalised half a point for not doing everything to keep clear in the same incident.^[3]

Junior Series

During the regatta forty junior French sailors competed in Open Bic boats. The winner received an Open Bic boat and a chance to be 18th man during the Trophy finals.^[4]

External links

• cupinfo.com
• www.louisvuittontrophy.com/home/ - Official Website

Notes and References

1. http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/media/files/m29_091021_LVT%20Press%20release%20EN.pdf Preparations gather pace for Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice
2. http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/news/arrival_mascalzone_latino_acc_boats_in_nice After the arrival of the two Mascalzone Latino ACC boats the four boats to be raced in Nice are now all present
3. http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/news/news.php?nws=PRNov20_SFDay2_jury_finds_against_synergy International jury finds against Synergy in protest hearing
4. http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/news/news.php?nws=open_bic_trophy Future champions of the Louis Vuitton Trophy