[The very first match against NZL 60 - Örn won. Örn won again today]

(2002-05-22, Auckland) Victory Challenge just lost the start - but Örn's renowned speed upwind, in combination with manoeuvres and tactics, was enough to compensate.
The Swedish America's Cup challenge was then able to take the lead in the tightest match so far against Team New Zealand. Despite repeated attempts, the winning boat from America's Cup 2000, NZL 60, never succeeded in overtaking.

The first match of the training regatta between Team New Zealand and Victory Challenge could get under way today after being cancelled yesterday due to high winds. At 10.40 this morning the wind speed had become a more moderate 6-7 metres per second prior to start, increasing during the match to 8-9 m/s and dropping again to 6-7 m/s by the finish.

Dean Barker was helm for Team New Zealand and Hamish Pepper tactician. Corresponding positions for Victory Challenge took Magnus Holmberg and Stefan Rahm. Johan Barne was navigator and Mats Johansson strategist and skipper.

Dean Barker and NZL 60 started the best and were leading for the first 24 minutes of the upwind leg. But Magnus Holmberg and Örn gradually reduced the gap. Each boat had chosen their own side of the course and when they met after going about for the first time, Team New Zealand was still in the lead.
"They chose to maintain their lead and didn't go about again, so we split up once more. We were in the lead the next time we met", says Mats Johansson.

A very marginal lead, so small that for a while it looked as if it would finish in a collision. But it was a lead they never surrendered. Not during the rest of the upwind leg or the run; not in the tacking duels on the last upwind leg or the final straight run without a single gybe.

The lead at each buoy was 9, 12, 21 and 18 seconds. Not that the match lacked drama - Team New Zealand had many chances. Above all, there were two incidents that could have caused Victory Challenge big problems. Losing the start had previously resulted in solid losses for the Swedish America's Cup challenge when matching Örn against the holders of the world's most prestigious trophy and their NZL 60. And each of the problems during the events of the first run would probably have resulted in unorganised chaos just a few months ago with a definite effect on speed and eventual loss.

[Örn against NZL 60 in the America's Cup regatta last February. Photo: Bob Wharton/Victory Challenge]

Different sails were chosen for the run after rounding the top mark for the first time. Örn hoisted a spinnaker, NZL 60 an asymmetric spinnaker, or gennaker, for a lighter wind. And that's what happened, the breeze dropped. Team New Zealand still chose to follow Victory Challenge's lower course and not the most optimum for sailing with an asymmetric spinnaker. Örn then prepared a change of sail, which was completed efficiently after five minutes, practically without losing any ground.

· Later during a gybe, Örn's gennaker was damaged. A large piece of the lower part was torn off. They prepared for a change of gennaker in case the damage got worse but it wasn't needed.
"There was organised chaos on board", as Skip Lissiman, coach of Victory Challenge, expressed it.

Magnus Holmberg compared it to previous matches against Team New Zealand:
"We're better at manoeuvring, tactics and running today." In a majority of previous meetings, Örn has been the faster boat upwind but slower than NZL 60 downwind.
"We've needed a five length advantage upwind to stay ahead downwind", says Mats Johansson. Now, the two boats are almost equal downwind.

The wind had picked up again and was too strong for the second match of the day. It was blowing over 12 m/s in Hauraki Gulf and the rest of the day's sailing was postponed until tomorrow.

For Magnus Holmberg, Stefan Rahm and Johan Barne, this was the fifth win in a row within the framework of Victory Challenge's concluding sailing schedule before going home to Sweden. The run started with a 4-0 win for the Greens against the Reds in the Victory Challenge Regatta. For the first two named, this was also the last sailing session in Auckland for a while. They will be returning to Sweden earlier than the rest of the crew and are leaving for Croatia tomorrow where they will be sailing the penultimate leg of this season's Swedish Match Tour, the ACI HT Cronet Cup in Split.

But the regatta against Team New Zealand will continue tomorrow with Jesper Bank as helm, Mats Johansson tactician, Johan Barne navigator and Henrik Blakskjaer strategist.

The rest of Victory Challenge will be returning to Sweden on June 2. After some time off, promotion commitments and the final phase of the building of their new boat in Gothenburg, they will all be returning to Auckland in the beginning of July for the final preparations ahead of the America's Cup, starting with the Louis Vuitton Cup on October 1.

Bert Willborg/Victory Challenge