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| Sport | Sailing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Country | NZL,USA,FRA,RSA,ITA,GBR,CHN,GRE,SUI |
| Related competitions | America's Cup,Louis Vuitton Cup |
TheLouis Vuitton Pacific Series was a match race regatta in America's Cup Class yachts inAuckland, New Zealand, during January and February 2009. Racing started on 30 January. The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was organised in association with theNew Zealand Government,EmiratesTeam New Zealand, theRoyal New Zealand Yacht Squadron,Auckland City andSkycity Entertainment Group. Bruno Troublé was Louis Vuitton's organizer and spokesperson for the Series.
The creation of the event was in response to thelegal battle surrounding theAmerica's Cup yachting competition at the time. Because of the long delays from the legal action, and the fact that the 33rd America's Cup became a Deed of Gift match without a defender or challenger selection series, the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series was established as a competition for other America's Cup racing syndicates.
Ten syndicates took part in the regatta, which used fourInternational America's Cup Class boats loaned to the regatta by Team New Zealand andBMW Oracle Racing. This made participation more affordable for the teams.[1]
Described by its creators as a "fun and friendly event"[citation needed], the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series relied on the concept of loaned boats and quick and short races with an abbreviated schedule to pack 53 match races into a three-week period. Racing was held every day except on one scheduled lay day.
Team New Zealand won the Louis Vuitton Pacific Trophy, beating the SwissAlinghi team 3–1 in the Cup Final.
In September 2009, this initial event was expanded into the fourLouis Vuitton Trophy regattas, held between November 2009 and November 2010. These events continued to be relatively low cost, using a small number of loaned boats to keep syndicates active while waiting for the8th Louis Vuitton Cup to determine the challenger for the34th America's Cup.
Up to six match races were held each day on a shortwindward-leeward course laid at the entrance to Auckland'sWaitematā Harbour, betweenRangitoto Island and thecity foreshore. Four different courses were used depending on weather patterns.
Emirates Team New Zealand, as hosts, earned direct entry into the Louis Vuitton final. However, the team was also allocated to a pool and raced in the preliminary qualifying rounds. Points won by Team New Zealand in pool play were disregarded when the rankings were determined after the qualifying rounds.
The 10 teams were divided into two qualifying groups of five, with the top three teams in each pool proceeding to the Gold Fleet and the remaining two teams proceeding to the Silver Fleet. The winner of the Gold Fleet earned direct entry into the Challenger's Final, with the remaining teams in the Gold Fleet, and the two winners of the Silver Fleet, proceeding to the Third Round. The winner of the Third Round then met the winner of the Gold Fleet in the Challenger's Final; the winner of which proceeded to the final to race againstEmirates Team New Zealand.
The winner of final was presented with the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series trophy.
Team New Zealand providedNZL-92 andNZL-84 for the event and BMW Oracle Racing shippedUSA-87 andUSA-98 from Valencia for the event. The boats arrived in Auckland in mid-December. All four boats were extensively redesigned and worked on by onshore crew before the event. The boats were simplified and as a result did not completely meet IACC standards. The changes were made to make the boats easier to operate and make the races as even as possible.
30 January – 3 February
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Number in brackets is winning delta.
30 January – 3 February
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Number in brackets is the winning delta.
*deducted a point for damaging the boats[2]
5 – 9 February
The top three teams from each pool competed in the Gold Fleet. The winner advanced directly to the Challenger final. As host, Team New Zealand advanced directly to Cup Final. A team that wins a race against Team New Zealand does not gain a point. The seeding position determines where a team appears in the third round.
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*Both boats were deducted points for contact in the BMW Oracle vs Team Origin race: BMW Oracle −1, Team Origin −0.5[3]
** Team Origin retired after failing to raise a headsail at second mark. The headsail foil was damaged from the earlier collision.
*** Team New Zealand completed the prestart without Alinghi after the Swiss boat forfeited the race. The race was then abandoned. Alinghi conceded because they saw no point in sailing the race when there were no points to be gained for them, while they risked losing points in the event of contact between the boats.[4]
5 – 9 February
The remaining four teams competed in the Silver Fleet.
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10–11 February
The challengers ranked 2–7 sailed off with the winner advancing to the Challenger final. Seeds 8 and 9 also sailed off for a final ranking.
| Sail Off | Quarter Finals | Semi Final | ||||||||||||
| 3 |  Damiani Italia | W(0:29) | ||||||||||||
 Team Origin | L | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Team Origin | W(1:52) | ||||||||||||
| 7 |  K-Challenge | L | ||||||||||||
| Damiani Italia | L | |||||||||||||
 BMW Oracle | W(0:35) | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Luna Rossa | W(0:01) | ||||||||||||
| 6 |  China Team | L | ||||||||||||
| Luna Rossa | L | |||||||||||||
| 2 | BMW Oracle | W(0:09) | ||||||||||||
| Seed | Team Name | 1 |
|---|---|---|
| 8 |  Greek Challenge | W (0:31) |
| 9 |  Team Shosholoza | L |
11–12 February
The winner of the Gold Fleet competed against the winner of the Third Round.
| Seed | Team Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alinghi | W (0:01) | W (1:07) | - | X | X | 2 |
| BMW Oracle Racing | L | L | - | X | X | 0 |
Due to poor weather the Challenger series was reduced to a best of three series.
13 – 14 February
As host, Team New Zealand qualified automatically for the Cup Final. They met the winner of the Challenger final in the Cup Final.
| Team Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Team New Zealand | L | W(0:28) | W(0:34) | W(0:19) | - | X | X | 3 |
| Alinghi | W (0:12) | L | L | L | - | X | X | 1 |
Due to poor weather the Final series was reduced to a best of five series.
| 2009 Louis Vuitton Pacific Series |
|---|
 Team New Zealand First Title |
Twelve teams were originally confirmed – however after two withdrawals the field contracted to ten teams.[5] The teams arrived in Auckland on 23 January.[6]
The following teams were scheduled to participate or were on the waiting list but did not take part in the event.
| Country | Team | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | Italia Francesco De Angelis | Originally on Waiting List – Were contacted to see if they could make the event. |
| Italy | Mascalzone Latino | Withdrew due to financial concerns, due to theGreat Recession.[7] |
 Germany | Team Germany | Withdrew due to financial concerns after losing main sponsorAudi. |
| France | Team French SpiritMarc Pajot | Originally on Waiting List – Was unable to find the funds to participate.[8] |
TVNZ carried live coverage onTVNZ Sport Extra on theFreeview platform. The coverage consisted of in-studio presenters and commentators, with the race coverage provided using Virtual Eye and a single live camera. The broadcast was also streamed live on. The broadcast was promoted as a world first, due to the event being broadcast predominantly with Virtual Eye animation.[9]
AONE Sport highlights package was also broadcast each night onTV ONE. A modified version of this highlights programme, as well as selected footage for news stories, was distributed nightly via satellite to international broadcasters byDominique Curchod Communication.
The event was also broadcast in New Zealand on a special radio station,BSport Sailing 103.0 FM.[10]
A Junior series for under-16's was run at the same time as the senior series. Competitors were selected by Auckland yacht clubs and competed in a series of races using O'pen Bic yachts around a short course in Auckland'sViaduct Harbour.[11] Twenty O'pen Bic boats were bought over for the event by Series organiser Bruno Trouble. The event was won by Chris Steele, who received an O'pen Bic yacht and the opportunity to be 18th man on the Alinghi boat during the Cup Final races.[12]
| Preceded by Inaugural | First Louis Vuitton Auckland Regatta 30 January – 14 February 2009 | Succeeded by |
