Ainslie and INEOS step up to the plate: What we learned from the Louis Vuitton Cup Day 7

The penultimate day of Round Robin Racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup saw INEOS Britannia take two wins, one against the all-conquering Luna Rossa

Having seen most of the Louis Vuitton Cup racing (the America’s Cup Challenger Selection Series) taking place in light winds, the penultimate day of Round Robin racing saw decent winds of around 11 knots and up to 18 knots making for some glamorous racing conditions in Barcelona.

With some storm systems having rolled across Barcelona in recent days, the sea state was significant and it was clear to see some significant waves, making it difficult conditions for the America’s Cup boats. There was also a bit of debris in the water, adding an extra dimension to the racing.

Debris is far from ideal and Ainslie reported hitting something in the water ahead of their first race of the day and Slingsby also referred to something wrapped around their rudder during their match against Orient Express Racing Team.

Key takeaways from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race Day 7

• INEOS find their pace with two big wins
• Luna Rossa are beatable in breeze
• It’s last chance saloon for the French tomorrow
• Headsail selection remains key, especially in these conditions

Race 23 American Magic Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

Last time out American Magic had a miserable final race of the day as they lost their race against Alinghi Red Bull Racing but they came out fighting in this race against the form Challenger of this series, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. In the Pre-start, Goodison and Slingsby did an excellent job of keeping Spithill and Bruni at bay.

The American’s led back to the line and the Italians tried to get underneath to get a hook on a number of occasions and, though it was close on a number of occasions, the US team did a great job of accelerating just when needed to keep Luna Rossa at bay and win the start in the middle of the line with Luna Rossa just off their hip.

As such it was Luna Rossa forced to tack off at the start gun, but with the starboard tack advantage at the first cross, it was the Italian team that were just ahead.

At the next cross, with Luna Rossa on starboard, Spithill and Bruni started to foot as it looked like they would need to duck the US-flagged boat. But Slingsy and Goodison elected to tack in front of them. We’ve seen on a number of occasions this regatta that a boat footing  is able to head into a high mode and carry speed for a long way, and Luna Rossa did just this to step over the top of American Magic.

From there, the race remained pretty tight for the next upwind and downwind before Luna Rossa managed to step away to a reasonable win. “It was a great start by Tommy, but it just came out the one tack and we didn’t quite get the surf out the back of it and that’s the race there,” Paul Goodison explained of they key moment.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 23?

After their disappointing race against Alinghi there has been a lot of talk about American’s Magic’s potential weakness in terms of power for manoeuvres and a great deal of discussion about whether their recumbent cyclors produce enough power. There was no confirmation of that today, with fewer manoeuvres in these slightly winder conditions.

The US-flagged boat looked quick enough for much of this race, keeping in touch with the very quick Luna Rossa, and it was nip and tuck before the final lap of the race when Luna Rossa was really able to step away. However, this is probably more down to being in second closing in on the finish – and thus taking more high risk decisions – than it is about boat speed. They’ll be pleased with their pace.

And for Luna Rossa, another win for the might Italian team, who are still yet to lose a single race against another challenger.

Race 24 INEOS Britannia Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
INEOS Britannia:Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

There was a short delay to the second race of the day as INEOS Britannia requested a 15 minute delay so they could change their headsail as the wind built up to close to 15 knots – each team may request a 15 minute delay on only 1 occasion throughout the course of the regatta.

When the racing did get underway, it was Alinghi Red Bull Racing who led back to the start with the British team looking to push them back early. Although the Brits didn’t manage to get underneath the Swiss-flagged boat they were able to gap off slightly as both boats headed back towards the start in a time on distance race.

At the gun, both boats hit the middle of the line at pace, but the Brits had managed to build enough of a gap to windward that they were able to put the bow down and roll a bit of the way over the top of Alinghi. By the time both boats got to the left hand boundary, they tacked at the same time and INEOS was able to again foot over the top of the Swiss and give them dirty air for a long way on port tack.

By the first windward mark rounding it was a 12 second lead for the Brits, which blew out to a 19 second lead by the leeward gate. From there on it was a case of the British boat extending throughout to take a convincing win.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 24?

INEOS has shown decent donwind pace before and today she looked very fast indeed downwind. She also had a decent turn of pace upwind compared to Alinghi. Ainslie will be very happy with the result and, though it’s foolish to take too much from a win against a team that has not performed all that well to date, INEOS looked impressive in these breezier conditions. “I think we’ve got plenty of potential, as we keep saying, it’s just about getting the best out of the boat,” Ainslie said after racing.

Alinghi will have come into this race on something of a high from their recent win against American Magic, but finishing just shy of a minute behind in this race will be worrying.

Race 25 Orient Express Racing Team Vs American Magic

Skippers
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

As was the case with the previous race, the third race of today’s racing was delayed as the French Orient Express Racing Team called for a 15 minute delay. However, although the wind had increased to 18 knots, the French were not delaying to change their sail plan, instead it looked as though they may have had some technical issues with the traveller. Certainly plenty of the support team could be seen desperately trying to fix something in that area as the start time closed in.

Whatever the issue was the French were able to fix it ahead of the start and get out onto the course seemingly without any issues.

With the breeze up into the high teens, neither team was all that willing to engage in the start and Delapierre and Pepponet elected to lead back to the startline. American Magic elected not to follow them down the startline, setting up something of a time on distance race to the line. 

At the gun the French were around two thirds of the way down the line with the American-flagged team hitting the windward end of the line. But it was far from a perfect start from the French, who were not fully on the wind at the gun and thus handed an early advantage to American Magic. A combination of this and the gap they had built to windward of the French allowed Goodison and Slingsby to easily hold all the way to the left hand boundary. 

when both boats tacked onto port at the boundary, American Magic were able to tack right on the French and from there they kept a tight cover on their competition and protect the right hand side of the course. 

Although the French never quite went away, they slowly slipped back with the win eventually going to American Magic – also guarenteeing the US a spot in the semi-final alongside INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. 

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 25?

This was a more polished performance from the French than we have seen previously and there was no real sign of the wobbly moments we have seen in previous races in breeze. But it increasingly looks as though these improvements are just too late to save the French from being eliminated from the competition in the Round Robin stage of the event.

The French boat once again looked pretty quick and this was a race that was once again lost due to inexperience. For American Magic they’ll  be happy with the win, but they did not look significantly quicker than the French in this race in pure boatspeed terms. That will certainly be food for through should they end up racing the Kiwis (who have the same design boat, with some improvements and a more experienced team) in the America’s Cup itself.

Race 26 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

The conditions remained breezy for the fourth race of the day, but had backed off to around 14-15 knots during the start sequence but once again we saw the boats not looking to engage too much in the pre-start. Once again it was something of a boat sped race back to the startline with Alinghi hitting the windward end at the gun at pace.

Unusually for the Kiwi team, they had a pretty poor start, about a third of the way down the line, getting their timing a bit wrong. At the gun the kiwis were around a boatlength back from the line. “We were just a little late on our trigger pull at the start so we’ll have to work on that,” commented Outteridge at the end of the race.

Both boats got to the left hand boundary at around the same time and as Team New Zealand tacked, Alinghi tacked to keep a tight cover on them. But the kiwis had a smaller headsail up in this wind, and they looked to have a decent turn of pace.

Both boats tacked back onto starboard, but with Alinghi to windward, Team New Zealand were able to go into a high mode and squeeze the Swiss boat, who were forced to tack away. By the next cross the Kiwis had the lead and rounded the windward gate with a 5 second lead.

Although the smaller jib did look to give the Kiwis something of a pace advantage upwind, the reverse was true downwind where horsepower it more important than reduced drag. It was’t enough of a pace differential for Alinghi to overhaul the America’s Cup Defender on this downwind, it was clear they had a click of pace.

However, the upwind advantage for the Kiwis far outweighed the downwind disadvantage and they stepped away as the race progressed to finish with a significant advantage.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 26?

It was a sloppy start by the Kiwis, who will want to be making the most of any races they can get with only tomorrow’s racing to go before they are excluded from the remainder of the challenger selection series. It was interesting to see the two teams with significantly different sized headsails up. And that difference did clearly translate to a pace differential upwind in favour of the Kiwis and vice versa.

Ultimately, we know the Kiwis have an impressive boat and that they will be hard to beat and they once again looked strong here.

Race 27 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs INEOS Britannia

The final race of the day would see the undefeated Luna Rossa take on INEOS Britannia, who sit in second in the Challenger series, so it promised to be a show-down between the leading two challengers (at least on paper).

Immediately this race was a fascinating affair as the Brits looked to come out with a slightly smaller headsail than the Italians. And once again with the breeze in the mid-teens, neither team looked to engage that much in the pre-start, with the Italians initially holding the leeward position, but the Brits choosing to roll over the top of them.

For their part, Spithill and Bruni were happy to let Ainslie and Fletcher take the pin end while they looked to start around the middle of the line. But it was not perfect from either team with both a boatlength behind the line at the gun. The gap between the boats was too big for the Brits to squeeze up to the Italians but it was also not big enough for Luna Rossa to really put the bow down and get over the top of the Brits.

When the Brits tacked on the boundary Luna Rossa were forced to tack, which allowed INEOS to shepherd the Italians to the right of the course and then tack hard on them when they both tacked back onto starboard.

From there the Brits were able to step away and provide Luna Rossa’s first defeat of the series – despite a slightly worrying moment on the final downwind that saw the Brits get too high and splash down dramatically off the foils. “It was verry good today,” said Ainslie. “We came out yesterday [during a lay day] in some rough conditions to get some extra time in and that paid off today.

“It’s a massive win for the team. We’ve talked a lot about Luna Rossa being one of the form teams, so to get a scalp like that is massive for the team.”

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 27?

INEOS has been quick all day in this windier weather and has shown decent pace downwind all series. Of particular not in this race was the British decision to take a smaller headsail. As such they did not look quite as strong downwind, but had traded that for some upwind speed, which seemed to work very well.

Luna Rossa will not be too concerned ,they managed to keep things pretty tight for the most part. The Brits picked up a favourable shift on the second upwind which accounted for much of the gap, but otherwise they were fairly evenly matched in pure pace terms.

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