Quotes From Francesco De Angelis

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

OCTOBER 30, 2002

Quotes From Francesco De Angelis

At the end of today's race against Mascalzone Latino, Francesco de Angelis, skipper of Luna Rossa, said: "It was a difficult day because the wind has always been very unstable and racing on the shorter course made things even more complicated. Just before the race we believed the conditions were showing a possible wind shift to the left, instead what followed was a big right shift.

“As a consequence Mascalzone, who was on the right took the lead and we had to chase them down the course during the first run. At the beginning of the second beat the race was still wide open and the passage of a huge cloud, associated with another wind shift, allowed us to get closer to Mascalzone, rounding the last mark just behind them. In the last run we kept close to our opponent at first then split.

“Halfway down the leg we were again close and seeing that the wind had gone lighter, we did a gybe peeling which gave us a double advantage because we did not have to gybe the sail from one side to the other and we hoisted a lighter gennaker, more adapted to the conditions of the moment.

“This, together with the problem Mascalzone incurred during their gybe, allowed us to pass them and then the greater maneuverability of the lighter sail allowed us to gain further in the last part of the course and we got to the finish with a good advantage over Mascalzone Latino".

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