Skippers line up for Louis Vuitton on eve of Auckland racing

The skippers from each of the teams contesting the Auckland Louis Vuitton Trophy lined up to answer questions and talk about their crew on the eve of racing at Auckland's Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Bruno Trouble introduced each skipper with a brief reflection of their experience so far and asked about their expectations for the regatta.

A draw was held to allocate each team a letter from A to H, with these allocated letters to be used to determine the order of racing and pairings for each of the Match Races.

The racing will be held close to shore in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, just outside the main harbour area and within easy sight of spectators who can take advantage of the surrounding hills and beaches to witness the racing up close. Unlike the previous Louis Vuitton Pacific Series held in Auckland a year ago, only the two Emirates Team New Zealand boats will be used, with one of the Oracle boats on stanby as a replacement in case of damage in what promises to be close and exciting racing. The races this year will also take place over a shorter course, allowing for more races to be held in a single day.

In all eight teams representing seven different countries are taking part in the regatta;

All4One is a collaboration between France and Germany with former Alinghi helmsman Jochen Schumann as skipper and Sebastien Col as helmsman. The team finished fifth at the Nice Louis Vuitton Trophy Regatta.

The swedish team, Team Artemis  is skippered by Paul Cayard with Terry Hutchinson as Helmsman. With a history of success in both the RC44 and Audi MedCup TP52 series this team will be one to watch as they try their hand at the Louis Vuitton Trophy Regatta.

Karl Jablonski skippers the Synergy Russian Sailing Team and also acts as helmsman. This team surprised many and made the semi finals in Nice.

Team Origin skippered and helmed by Ben Ainslie from Great Britain is familiar with Auckland waters, having spent quite a bit of time training with Team New Zealand. With several top Olympic and experienced ocean sailors this team has plenty of depth to deal with the challenges ahead.

Italy is represented by two teams; Team Azzurra as the winner of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice has the most to lose as the pressure to defend their win may take it's toll. With Francesco Bruni as skipper this team has plenty of experience and a long association with the Louis Vuitton Trophy as Team Azzurra was one of the first teams to participate in the Louis Vuitton Cup racing over 25 years ago.

The other Italian team, Mascalzone Latino Audi Team skippered by Kiwi Gavin Brady has plenty of experience and a long association with yacht racing through both it's Audi Sailing and Mascalzone Latino America's Cup campaigns. With two strong sailing names joining forces there are high expectations on their performance, especially as this team will host the next Louis Vuitton Trophy Regatta in May in La Maddalena, Sardinia.

Bertrand Pace will helm the all french crew of ADELPH Sailing Team which made it's first appearance in Nice. The team has an abundance of experienced sailors from several disciplines and should prove to be a well equipped dueller in the coming match races.

Lastly we have the hosts Emirates Team New Zealand who missed out on the trophy in Nice, but have certainly proved themselves in the international sailing arena with huge wins in the Audi MedCup TP52 series, and more recently a win by Dean Barker and some of his crew at the Omega Match Racing Regatta.

Racing conditions for the first flight of matches is predicted to be light 5 - 10 knots of southerly breeze, a slight sea and fine weather. As anyone who has spent time sailing in Auckland knows, conditions can change dramatically, but with the outlook for the next few days predicting more of the same, we should be able to look forward to a slow and steady start to the Auckland Louis Vuitton Sailing Trophy Regatta.

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Images credit: Cathy Vercoe LuvMyBoat.com