New Zealand became the first nation to successfully win back-to-back titles in the BMW Sailing Cup world final when a young crew led by Phil Robertson swept to victory in Auckland yesterday.
In winning the prestigious amateur regatta, Robertson and his crew successfully defended the title won in Italy lastyear by another New Zealand crew led by Roger Pagani.
Once again, conditions were testing, with an 18 knot south-westerly blowing against a strong incoming tide, causing a challenging chop on the Waitemata. Team Portugal beat Team Italy 2-0 to advance to the final, while Team New Zealand dispatched Team Malta by the same score.
This set up a best-of-five final between Team New Zealand and Team Portugal, while Teams Malta and Italy sailed a best-of-three petite final for 3rd and 4th place, which Italy won in two straight matches.
The final got off to a rocky start for Team Portugal when they collected two penalties in the pre-start for a port-starboard incident and failing to keep clear in the windward position.
"That got the nerves going a bit," admitted Portuguese skipper John Tavares. "
Robertson said his crew came out firing in the first match and tried to stamp their authority early on. The Portuguese team were unable to recover and New Zealand took the first match. They led the second from the start line and extended all the way to go to match point on 2-0. In the third match, Team Portugal made it a much closer battle but New Zealand clinched the title.
Robertson was delighted with the win. "This is a great one to add to our sailing CV," he said. "My crew - Garth Ellingham, Sam Bell, Logan Fraser and Brad Farrand - was really superb. We sail together a lot. We are a tight group of guys.
"This is our first regatta of the year, so we are off to a good start. We have probably done a bit more match racing than the other teams and we were in boats we are used to and on our home waters, so that all helped."
FINAL STANDINGS * Team New Zealand 1
* Team Portugal 2
* Team Italy 3
* Team Malta 4
* Team Spain 5
* Team Hong Kong 6
* Team Germany 7
