Luna Rossa vs. Orm

Let there be no illusion. Even De Angelis referred to the fact that the team would have 4-5 days of testing after their encounter with Alinghi. Luna Rossa has already conceeded this match-up and will meet Orm in the repêchage (Le Défi has never bothered the Swedes to date)

The racing conditions can be tight. Luna Rossa still has a leeward advantage. Both teams make mistakes: Alinghi dropped a gennaker in the water after rounding a marker, Luna Rossa made one bad gybe and had a sheet problem impeding good timing on their last gybe - both on the last leg thereby mortgaging LR's victory.

Today provided a glimmer of good news going upwind: they barely lost time during the last two windward legs. What is baffling is how Luna Rossa won the start and were on their preferred side of the course; normally their wind conditions should have been favourable, but certainly some shift played havoc with those plans.

The last race(s) will serve to gather better data for competing against Alinghi (hopefully) in the finals. Meanwhile, engineering teams and the test team of ITA-80 should be furiously working on windward speed improvements.

Times at Markers
Start	Luna Rossa 00:02
Windward 1	Alinghi 00:27
Leeward 1	Alinghi 00:12
Windward 2	Alinghi 00:25
Leeward 2	Alinghi 00:11
Windward 3	Alinghi 00:12
Finish	Alinghi 00:08