2007 Louis Vuitton Cup

Managed by Grant Dalton and skippered by Dean Barker, the crew included Terry Hutchinson; navigator Kevin Hall; strategist Ray Davies; Adam Beashel; Barry Mckay; Tony Rae; Don Cowie; Chris Ward ; Grant Loretz; Robert Salthouse; James Dagg; Rob Waddell; Andrew Hemmings; Jono McBeth; Matt Mason; Richard Meacham and Jeremy Lomas.

[2] Skippered by Chris Dickson, the crew included Gavin Brady, Phil Jameson, Paul Westlake,[3] Scott Crawford,[4] Alberto Barovier,[5] Brad Webb, Brian MacInnes,[6] Joe Spooner, Ross Halcrow, Robbie Naismith,[7] Bertrand Pacé, Craig Monk, Carl Williams,[8] Peter Isler and owner Larry Ellison.

The crew included Peter Gilmour, Francesco Bruni, mid-bowman Max Sirena, Emanuele Marino, Manuel Modena, Marco Montis, Benjamin Durham, Andy Horton,[9] Michele Cannoni, Gilberto Nobili,[6] Joey Newton,[6] Shannon Falcone,[6] Christian Kamp, Romolo Ranieri, Emanuele Marino, Andrew Taylor, Matteo Plazzi,[10] Simone de Mari, Massimo Gherarducci, Paolo Bassani, Alan Smith,[11][12] and Olympians Torben Grael, Philippe Presti, Michele Ivaldi, Magnus Augustson and Charles and Jonathan McKee.

[13][14][15] Skippered by Luis Doreste, the boat was helmed by Karol Jabłoński and John Cutler was the teams tactician and technical director.

[2] The crew also included six members of the former GBR Challenge; traveller/strategist Neal McDonald, Simon Fisher, David Carr, Nik Pearson, Richard Sydenham and Ian Weighell.

Vasco Vascotto was the skipper for Mascalzone Latino, which included helmsman Flavio Favini, Cameron Dunn,[18] Jes Gram-Hansen,[19] Andrea Pavan,[20] Chris Dougall,[21] Pierluigi De Felice, Giuseppe Brizzi,[22] Davide Scarpa,[23] Nacho Postigo, Giulio Giovanella and funder Vincenzo Onorato.

[2] Managed by Dawn Riley, Areva Challenge was led by Thierry Peponnet and included Sebastien Col, Tanguy Cariou, Frederic Guilmin, Jean François Cuzon,[25] Jim Turner,[26] and Wade Morgan.

[2] From Italy, +39 Challenge included non-sailing skipper Luca Devoti, helmsman Iain Percy, and other Olympic competitors such as Rafael Trujillo and Ian Walker.

The rest of the crew was navigator Bruno Zirilli; afterguard Andrew Simpson; traveller Gabriele Bruni; runner Anthony Nossiter; trimmers Stefano Rizzi and Christian Scherrer; grinders Michele Gnutti, Chris Brittle and Pawel Bielecki; mast Alejandro Colla; mast/pitman Massimo Galli; sewerman Piero Romeo; mid-bowman Corrado Rossignoli; Andy Fethers; and bowman Jacek Wisoski.

United Internet Team Germany was skippered by Jesper Bank and included America's Cup veteran David Dellenbaugh.

Teams had accrued bonus points based on their results in the Louis Vuitton Acts which took place in the preceding years.

The 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup started slowly with all races postponed for the first four days of competition due to light and variable winds.

In the fourth flight, Shosholoza, the underdog from South Africa, beat Luna Rossa from Italy, a three time cup veteran.

As winner of the round-robin events Emirates Team New Zealand won the right to choose their opponent in the semi-finals and chose Desafío Español 2007.

Prior to the final, expert commentators were fairly unanimous that Emirates Team New Zealand were in top form but Luna Rossa Challenge had improved since the round robins as evidenced by their comprehensive beating of BMW Oracle Racing, one of the favourites, in their semi-final.

Luna Rossa Challenge won the toss prior to the first race of the final which gave them the advantage of entering the starting area from the "yellow" side.