Winds gusting to 45 knots pushed the final five races of Round Robin 1 up against Monday’s deadline for the end of the first group of races. The goal is to run all five races on this final day of Round Robin 1. In the event that some, or all, of these make-up races are not completed Monday, they will be sailed on the first day of Round Robin 2. This decision is intended to give the teams a full week to make any changes or repairs to their boats before the second round robin. The day before, in the final scheduled flight of the first go around, GBR Challenge scored an impressive upset of Oracle BMW Racing and lifted itself into a four-way tie for that coveted fourth spot. GBR Challenge, along with Victory Challenge, which lost to Alinghi by 36 seconds on Saturday, Prada, which lost to OneWorld by just over a minute, and Team Dennis Conner all have identical 3-4 records. The revamped format for the Louis Vuitton Cup means that the fourth-place team coming out of the round robin portion of the competition will be seeded into the top group and could enjoy a much easier path to the Cup finals than one of the teams that finished fifth through eight in the two round robins. In other action from flight nine, Mascalzone finally recorded its first win in Louis Vuitton Cup competition with a 5-minute, 19-second trouncing of Le Défi Areva, which remains the only winless team in the draw.
No racing on Sunday, Oct. 13 due to high winds
Flight 9 Results (Saturday, Oct. 12)
GBR Challenge def. Oracle BMW Racing by 36s
Alinghi def. Victory Challenge by 25s
OneWorld def. Luna Rossa by 1m:11s
Mascalzone Latino def. Le Défi Areva by 5m:19s
Team Dennis Conner had the day off
Standings as of Oct. 13
Alinghi (7-1) 7 points
OneWorld (7-0) 6 points
Oracle BMW Racing (4-2) 4 points
Victory Challenge (3-4) 3 points
Prada Challenge (3-4) 3 points
Team Dennis Conner (3-4) 3 points
GBR Challenge (3-4) 3 points
Mascalzone Latino (1-5) 1 points
Le Défi Areva (0-7) 0 points
Racing schedule for Oct. 14
Le Défi Areva vs. Team Dennis Conner
Oracle BMW Racing vs. OneWorld
Wight Lightning vs. Malscazone Latino
Oracle BMW Racing vs. Victory Challenge
Prada vs. Mascalzone Latino
Whether or not all the races are completed, this will be the final day of racing for Round Robin 1. Any remaining matches will be completed on the first day of Round Robin 2.
