Team Origin take their first win in Louis Vuitton Pacific Series

12:29 PM Fri 30 Jan 2009 GMT

'Ian Ainslie helming Team Origin' Ian Roman Click Here to view large photo

TEAMORIGIN vs. LUNA ROSSA was the second race of the day, scheduled to start at 12pm. Near perfect conditions with about 10-12 knots, slightly overcast. The starting sequence got underway at 12.10pm and saw the two teams engage quickly and carry out quite a bit of 'duelling' ahead of the start gun. TEAMORIGIN headed for the line and crossed first but only 10m ahead of Luna Rossa.

They both headed off on starboard and stayed close together pretty much the whole way up the first beat. TEAMORIGIN extended to around 50m ahead but Luna Rossa stayed in close contact. Eventually by the first mark, TEAMORIGIN extended and rounded first with a nice set and a lead of 124m.

The first downwind leg saw TEAMORIGIN keep a close cover with three gybes apiece. Luna Rossa gained a good shift and closed up the gap to 45m by the leeward rounding gate.

The second beat saw the two teams split tacks with TEAMORIGIN taking the left side. About half way up the beat the two teams came together again and TEAMORIGIN managed to bounce Luna Rossa off two times. The gap did close up but then TEAMORIGIN pulled ahead nicely and by the 2nd windward mark they rounded with a lead of 240m.

The final downwind leg was pretty uneventful with TEAMORIGIN stretching out to a comfortable lead and took their first win of the regatta with a lead of 330m - nice work by Ben and the boys for day one.

The engine room on Team Origin - Ian Roman Click Here to view large photo

Iain Percy, tactician, commented on the day's action, 'We are really happy to win our 1st ever match race against Luna Rossa, a team always viewed as one of the top 4 America's Cup teams with a long and impressive history. Ben did a great job gaining an advantage off the start line which we manage to hold onto and extend up to the finish line.'

Mike Sanderson, Team Director and doing runners on the boat, added 'It's great to get the first one in the bag, with a bye tomorrow it would have been a long day on the beach if we were one race down. It's a fantastic result for the team. Luna Rossa is a great team with a good history of racing here in Auckland so it's great for us to score a win in race one.'

Other results from day one:

K Challenge 1 : China Team 0
TEAMORIGIN 1 : Luna Rossa 0
Emirates Team NZ 1 : Damiani Italia 0
Alinghi 1 : Greek Challenge 0

BMWO Racing - bye

Watch the highlights tonight in the UK at 1830 on Sky Sports 2

Tomorrow's schedule for TEAMORIGIN:

No racing as Sat 31st Jan is a 'bye' day for the team

by Leslie Ryan

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