Flight 10 will be remembered as the moment that Desafío Español secured its place in the Semi Finals, although it didn't look that way in the early stages of this flight. On Tuesday afternoon, Desafío Español 2007 joined the elite group. The Spanish are the fourth team to qualify for the Semi Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup. When Emirates Team New Zealand beat Victory Challenge, the Swedes chances of advancing were erased. Although the Spanish lost their match today to BMW ORACLE Racing, there was jubilation on board when the boat returned to Port America's Cup. A wild celebration at the dock ensued, with crew members being tossed into the water, and champagne sprayed over the team and the boat. There is still one flight of racing left to complete Round Robin Two, and it will determine the top team at the conclusion of this stage of the event. BMW ORACLE Racing meets Emirates Team New Zealand on Wednesday, and the winner will lead the table and have the right to choose its Semi Final opponent.
Right after the start, the Kiwis tacked to the right and were almost 25 seconds late. However, the wind was shifting right and ETNZ boat was soon causing Victory some problems. The Swedes preffered the middle of the run, but the Kiwis held out to the right and picked up better breeze. From there, Victory Challenge could never get back.
There was an aggressive and thrilling pre-start between Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team and Luna Rossa Challenge. Finally, Mascalzone gybed around the Race Committee boat to a perfect start, while Luna Rossa started one boatlength back. However, ITA 94 showed superior pace upwind to take the lead by half way up the beat, and never looked threatened crossing the line 7 seconds ahead.
BMW ORACLE was the far more manoeuvrable and active boat in the pre-start against Desafío Español, and Chris Dickson won the right side of the start, using the favoured breeze to exert an early advantage from which it would extend to a 55 second delta by the finish.
In the +39 Challenge vs China Team match, the Italian boat extended untroubled throughout the race to win by 1 minute 57 seconds. Areva Challenge started off the right, and although United Internet Team Germany was faster, the French claimed an early advantage which they extended down the run, to a 35 second victory.
