AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Mascalzone Latino of Italy beat Sweden's Artemis 2-1 in a best-of-three race series Friday to qualify for the final of the Louis Vuitton Trophy sailing regatta for America's Cup teams.
Team New Zealand and Italy's Azzurra were 1-1 in their three-race semifinal when a fading wind and approaching darkness halted racing, leaving the series and the second finalist to be decided Saturday.
Mascalzone Latino and Artemis split the first two races of their semifinal and Mascalzone won the deciding third race by 27 seconds when Artemis incurred a penalty on the first beat.
Artemis, skippered by American Paul Cayard and sailing with John Bertrand — skipper of 1983 America's Cup-winner Australia II — as an extra man, discharged the penalty before the final mark. The Swedish yacht closed on Mascalzone on the last downwind run but couldn't overtake.
"We're assembling a new team here. We've got a lot of America's Cup experience on board and we need to get that all glued together," Cayard said.
"We made a huge step forward here in Auckland and we're really happy with how we sailed."
Azzurra, skippered by Francesco Bruni, overcame a penalty and the need to complete a penalty turn to beat Team New Zealand by 18 seconds in the first race of their semifinal. The Italian boat came from behind by picking up a wind shift on the third of four legs to snatch the race from the New Zealanders.
Team New Zealand then turned the tables on Azzurra when they discharged a penalty turn near the finish line to win the second race by two seconds.
The New Zealanders were penalized during the pre-start and carried the penalty throughout the race, leading around all marks, before brilliantly completing the penalty turn as the Italian yacht bore down on them.
Team New Zealand's margins seemed too small to allow them to make a 360-degree turn and hold their lead, but they showed strong crew work to pull off the maneuver.
"That was the absolute limit," tactician Ray Davies said. "We couldn't have done it with any less."
The Louis Vuitton regatta provides racing for America's Cup teams locked out of the latest Cup regatta between the American syndicate Oracle and Switzerland's Alinghi. Oracle beat Alinghi 2-0 in a best-of-three series off Valencia, Spain in February and will defend the America's Cup, probably off San Francisco, in 2013.
