Louis Vuitton Trophy, Nice, Côte d'Azur
# Louis Vuitton Trophy, Nice, Côte d'Azur

The Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Côte d’Azur was the first in a series of regattas that compete for the Louis Vuitton Trophy. The regatta was held in Nice between 7 and 22 November 2009. The Louis Vuitton Trophy format uses existing International America's Cup Class yachts loaned to the regatta by various America's Cup racing syndicates, keeping costs relatively low for the competing teams.

The Louis Vuitton Trophy was organised after the success of the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and the continued legal battle surrounding the America's Cup yachting competition at the time. Because of the long delays from the legal action, and the fact that the 2010 America's Cup became a Deed of Gift match without a defender or challenger selection series, the Louis Vuitton Trophy series was established as a competition for other America's Cup racing syndicates.

The Nice event was hosted by ALL4ONE Challenge and Club Nautique de Nice.

## The Yachts

For the event Mascalzone Latino provided ITA-90 and ITA-99 while All4One and Team Origin loaned FRA-93 and GBR-75 respectively.

## Teams

Eight teams participated in the Nice event. Despite loaning two boats to the event, Mascalzone Latino did not participate.

| Ranking | Country | Team | Club | Skipper | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Italy | Azzurra | Yacht Club Costa Smeralda | Francesco Bruni, Tommaso Chieffi | |
| 2 | New Zealand | Team New Zealand | Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron | Dean Barker | |
| 3 | Russia | Synergy Russian Sailing Team | | Karol Jabłoński | |
| 4 | United Kingdom | Team Origin | Royal Thames Yacht Club | Ben Ainslie | |
| 5 | France/ Germany | ALL4ONE Challenge | Cercle de la Voile de Paris/Kieler Yacht-Club | Sébastien Col, Jochen Schümann | Host |
| 6 | United States | BMW Oracle Racing | Golden Gate Yacht Club | Gavin Brady, Hamish Pepper | |
| 7 | Sweden | Team Artemis | Royal Swedish Yacht Club | Paul Cayard | |
| 8 | France | TFS - Pages Jaunes | | Bertrand Pacé | |

## The Races

### Round Robin One

7 November - 14 November Up to four flights per day were scheduled through the conclusion of the round robin and lasted no longer than one hour in duration. The first three days were characterised by light winds and only two races were completed each day. However, on day four the race organisers completed four full flights (eight races) to get the regatta back on schedule.

| Team Name | Races | W | L |
| - | - | - | - |
| Team New Zealand | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Azzurra | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Team Origin | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| Team Artemis | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| Synergy Russian Sailing | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| BMW Oracle Racing | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| ALL4ONE Challenge | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| TFS - Pages Jaunes | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| | TNZ | BOR | ART | A4O | TFS | SYN | AZZ | ORG | Total |
| TNZ | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| BOR | 0 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| ART | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| A4O | R | 0 | 1 | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TFS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SYN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| AZZ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 6 |
| ORG | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | 5 |

A = Abandoned, P = Postponed, R = Retired

### Round Robin Two

14 November-18 November Stage 2 was a half round robin where the top four teams raced the bottom four teams. As the half round robin was not completed, teams received half points for matches sailed twice.

| Team Name | Races | W | L | RR1 | Total | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Team New Zealand | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 6 |
| Synergy Russian Sailing | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 4.5 |
| Azzurra | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 4.5 |
| Team Origin | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 4.5 |
| BMW Oracle Racing | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Team Artemis | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| ALL4ONE Challenge | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| TFS - Pages Jaunes | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 |
| | SYN | BOR | A4O | TFS | Total |
| TNZ | 1 | 1 | 1 | A | 3 |
| AZZ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| ORG | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| ART | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| | TNZ | AZZ | ORG | ART | Total |
| SYN | A | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| BOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| A4O | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| TFS | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |

A = Abandoned, P = Postponed, R = Retired

### Knock-Out Series

19 November-22 November Stage 3 is the knockout semifinals and final.

**Ranking Phase**

Teams in the bottom half of the Round Robin will sail off for places 5-8.

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | BMW Oracle Racing | 1 | | | |
| 4 | TFS - Pages Jaunes | 0 | | | |
| 4 | TFS - Pages Jaunes | 0 | BMW Oracle Racing | BMW Oracle Racing | 0 |
| | | | ALL4ONE Challenge | ALL4ONE Challenge | 1 |
| 3 | Team Artemis | 0 | ALL4ONE Challenge | ALL4ONE Challenge | 1 |
| 2 | ALL4ONE Challenge | 1 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | TFS - Pages Jaunes | TFS - Pages Jaunes | 0 |
| | | | Team Artemis | Team Artemis | 1 |

**Finals**

As Team New Zealand won the Round Robin, they got to choose their Semi Final opponents from the top four. The first to score two wins will win each series.

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Team New Zealand | 1* | | | |
| 4 | Synergy | 0* | | | |
| 4 | Synergy | 0* | Team New Zealand | Team New Zealand | 0 |
| | | | Azzurra | Azzurra | 2 |
| 3 | Azzurra | 2 | Azzurra | Azzurra | 2 |
| 2 | Team Origin | 1 | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| | | | Synergy | Synergy | 1 |
| | | | Team Origin | Team Origin | 0 |

*Team New Zealand were penalised a point and Synergy was penalised half a point for failing to avoid a collision. Synergy were then further penalised half a point for not doing everything to keep clear in the same incident.

* 2009 Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice
* Azzurra First Title

## Junior Series

During the regatta forty junior French sailors competed in Open Bic boats. The winner received an Open Bic boat and a chance to be 18th man during the Trophy finals.

