The French/German team All4One moved up to second equal place at the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena, Sardinia (ITA) yesterday and will race top-placed Artemis today to decide the winner of the round robin.

The other match between Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy’s Mascalzone Latino, both currently second equal, will be key to resolving the other top places. All four boats are at the top of the points table with only one point separating them.

Strong gusty northwest winds curtailed racing for much of the day and only two races were sailed in 20-knot winds, close to the top limit for competition, before race officials abandoned racing until today.

A bad gennaker takedown that led to a crew injury knocked TEAMORIGIN out of the running for a top place. The British boat, skippered by Ben Ainslie, had made a strong start, only to be overtaken by Mascalzone Latino on the first leg of their race together. Ainslie closed down on the Italian boat and led by three seconds at the end of the first run.

Things went wrong on the gennaker drop and as it went overboard, a sheet wrapped around the leg of trimmer Mike Mottl and started to drag him over the side.

“We had to slow the boat down to cut the rope off his foot and then got going again,” said mainsheet hand Chris Salthouse. “We were obviously all very concerned about his injury, Mike was very brave to continue to race hard thoughout the rest of the race and we hope he will be back on the boat as soon as possible.”

Hospital authorities last night reported that Mottl had no broken bones.

Racing ended prematurely at 19:00, when there was a steering linkage problem with ITA 90, one of the Mascalzone Latino boats. Fortunately, the organisers now have the option of using one of the BMW Oracle Racing boats, USA87, which was damaged earlier in the regatta. The BOR shore crew has been working around the clock to affect repairs and the boat could be available for racing, if necessary, today.

Flight Twelve, Race Two: Mascalzone Latino def. TEAMORIGIN, 00:35 – Ben Ainslie’s TEAMORIGIN dominated the prestart and led off the line on starboard with the Italian boat Mascalzone Latino 33 metres astern on their starboard hip. Gavin Brady steering the Italian boat benefited from a right shift and led around the top mark by 10 seconds. Ainslie closed inexorably on the run to lead by three seconds, only lose any chance of winning when the gennaker drop went bad.

Flight Twentytwo, Race Two: All4One def. ALEPH Sailing Team, 00:15 – Bertrand Pacé and ALEPH led at the gun, on starboard, with a 14 metre advantage. Sébastien Col steering All4One on the French boat’s hip made steady gains to protect the right. At the first cross Col was able force Pacé back to the left and the French/German boat continued to extend from there, rounding the top mark 80 metres and 14 seconds in front.

Round Robin Provisional Results after Racing, Wednesday 2 June 2010

=1. Artemis, 6-2, 6 points
=2. All4One, 5-3, 5 points?
=2. Emirates Team New Zealand, 5-3, 5 points?
=2. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 6-2, 5 points *?
=2. Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 5-4, 5 points
6. Azzurra, 4-5, 4 points?
7. TEAMORIGIN, 4-5, 4 points
8. Luna Rossa, 3-6, 3 points
9. BMW Oracle Racing Team, 3-6, 3 point
10. ALEPH Sailing Team, 2-7, -2 points *

* Penalties deducted by Jury/Umpires