Last chance saloon: What we learned from a windier Louis Vuittion Cup Semi-Final Day 2

The breeze was up for the second day of Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final racing today as Luna Rossa and INEOS Britannia continued their dominance

The second day of Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final racing took place today, Sunday 15 September in Barcelona as the four remaining challengers fight for the right to take on Emirates Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup next month.

Initially the day looked to have a relatively unstable southerly breeze fluctuating between around 9 knots and occasionally hitting the mid-teens. However, by the middle of the first race it had stabilised and built somewhat to provide some glamorous conditions of around 15 knots from the southwest, building to almost 20 knots by the end of the day.

Key takeaways from the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Day 1

• Alinghi and American Magic are both now 1 loss away from being sent home
• Luna Rossa and INEOS are the standout challengers
• American Magic is slightly closer to Luna Rossa in the windier weather

Race 5  Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs American Magic

Skippers
American Magic: Lucas Calabrese & Tom Slingsby
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

American Magic once again had stand-in helm Luca Calabrese taking Paul Goodison’s spot while the Brit continues to recover from broken ribs that will likely see him out of racing for the foreseeable.

Luna Rossa are widely considered to be a bit quicker round the course than the Americans, so it is vital that American Magic have good starts in this series. Yesterday Slingsby and Calabrese got the better of Spuithill and Bruni in both races to lead off the line.

But in their first race today it was the Italians who came out swinging as Spihill and Bruni lead back to the start and managed to hold American Magic off to windward. By the time both boats accelerated towards the line American Magic were very close to Luna Rossa, without much opportunity to create a gap to leeward.

As such the Italians went straight into a high mode and force American Magic to tack early. By the first cross Luna Rossa were clear ahead and tacked right in front of their opposition. Yesterday’s racing has seen Luna Rossa able to break away once they had got a lead and this race was no different as the Italian boat looked easily in control to go 3-0 up in the series.

“It was a really good start by every body and especially Jimmy [Spithill] who did a great job at hitting the line at pace,” said Francesco Bruni after racing.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Race 5?

If American Magic had hopped that their boat might be a touch more competitive in these windier conditions, those hopes will have been dashed by this race. However, Luna Rossa did have a bigger headsail on and American Magic probably suffered a little in comparison due to that selection.

At around the halfway point it did look as though Luna Rossa might disappear into the distance. So it may be of some comfort to American Magic that they did manage to hand onto their coattails and prevent the win becoming a total blow out.

But of concern to the Americans will still be their manoeuvres, which simply do not look as polished as the Italian boat – whether that is a the product of design decisions or Calabrese’s relative inexperience or both is unclear.

Race 6 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs INEOS Britannia

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

Yesterday’s racing had seen the Brits totally dominant finishing the day 2-0 up after two wins, both of which were by significant margins. Much like American Magic, if Alinghi want to make any sort of challenge, then the starts will be key to try to keep the quicker INEOS Britannia at bay.

But as the teams circled in the early stages of the pre-start, Alinghi dropped off their foils making them something of a sitting duck as they tried to get back into their foils on port tack. It was a pretty simple job for the Ainslie and Fletcher to force a port / starboard situation and get Alinghi to desperately try to avoid them as the Brits also gybed away to avoid a massive collision.

That should have been a clear penalty against the Swiss, but inexplicably the umpires called no penalty. There will be a great deal of discussion about that moment as short of simply ramming the other boat, it’s hard to imagine that is was possible to paint a clearer picture for the umpires. Often decisions in sailing about who is in the wrong can be difficult to define with 100% clarity. But this was not such a situation it was clearly, and obviously Alinghi at fault.

Despite that it was a ruthless move by Ainslie and Fletcher and as Alinghi struggled to get back onto their foils the Brits were well gone, leading by over a minute at the first windward gate, despite having picked up some sort of mainsail damage in their last-gasp gybe to avoid a collision. “I thought at one point we might be going aboard the Swiss but we managed to keep the boats apart and the boys did a good job to keep us on the foils,” said Ainslie after the racing. 

“It was quite bad, we didn’t manage the boat handling well and we were turning a bit too fast, probably and that was bad management,” said Bachelin.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Race 6?

Psarofaghis and Bachelin were poor in the pre-start and allowed themselves to get into a terrible situation. It was good to see both teams going for each other somewhat but Alinghi wil have to be better than that if they want to take any wins this series. 

There was not a great deal of leaning in terms of boat performance here. INEOS Britannia has looked quicker than Alinghi throughout this series and with a massive gap on the first leg, they were never going to be overhauled. And in fact they kept their foot to the floor and finished the race with over a 2km lead on their opponents.

Race 7 American Magic Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
American Magic: Lucas Calabrese & Tom Slingsby
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

With the wind up a little more for this third race of the day both teams set up in a similar fashion to their first race of the day, with the Italians leading back to the line and the Americans looking to follow them and start to windward.

Unlike the first race, however, Slingsby did a good job of holding enough of a gap to leeward of American Magic to keep them out of trouble as both boats headed out to the lefthand boundary.

However, Luna Rossa were looking high and fast and, though American Magic were able to live off the Italians windward hip, when they both tacked at the lefthand boundary Luna Rossa had a slight advantage sitting directly to windward of Slingsby and Calabrese. The Italians managed to get a little bow-forward of the Americans heading to the right of the course and, but the time American Magic tacked at the next boundary, Luna Rossa were able to tack dead in front of their competition.

But in this winder weather, American Magic was looking faster than she has done in the lighter weather and as a much better match for the Italian boat.

What followed was a great race to watch with both teams making some tine errors but Luna Rossa just managing to hang onto a lead that was never greater than 11 seconds. And by the final windward gate Slingsby and Calabrese rounded the left hand mark just 3 seconds behind the Italians who took the left mark.

By the first cross on the final downwind American Magic had caught up even more and were so close Luna Rossa were unable to put in any defensive manoeuvre, so both boats continued on to opposite boundaries.

When both teams gybed back Luna Rossa had a poor gybe and it looked as though American Magic, with starboard advantage were going to snatch the lead, but the Italian boat just squeaked across the bow of the American boat to take the win by just 2 seconds. “We had a little issue on that last gybe but the boys just kept their cool and got the boat back on track,” said Spithill.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Race 7?

Whatever the outcome of this Semi-Final American Magic will look back at a number of missed opportunities in this series. Today they looked much more evenly matched in boatspeed terms in this windier weather. They had the pace to get this race today and were unlucky to miss out on the win. They will be hoping for similar conditions tomorrow in what has now become a must win race.

Although they didn’t have much of a speed advantage over American Magic today, Luna Rossa continue to look like a very polished, unflappable outfit. Upwind they still had a bit more pace than the Americans and were particularly impressive off the start line in this third race of the day, sailing higher and faster than their opponents.

Race 6 INEOS Britannia Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

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

The wind was up to around 16-19 knots by the final race of the day having built throughout the course of the day’s racing. And after the fireworks in the pre-start of the last race between these two teams, both looked happy to give the other some space this time around.

It was Alinghi who led back to the startline with the British happy to hold up to windward and build a bit of a gap to their opponents. At the start the Swiss-flagged boat hit the pin end of the line with INEOS around mid-line.

The Brits were looking strong and fast and were able to hold all the way out to the lefthand boundary and, when Alinghi tacked over, INEOS was able to tack right on Alinghi, forcing them to tack away to the boundary again. The Brits followed and tack right on them again each time the Swiss came back from the boundary. And with every tack the Brits build their lead,  looking faster in a straight line and in the manoeuvres.

From this point the Brits never looked back and, although Alinghi did enough to avoid this becoming another massive margin the Swiss team never looked like a realistic threat.

“It was a tough day. But it was really good conditions. We got back on our feet in the second race and really tried to give a good fight to INEOS on the second one. It’s not over, we’ll come back tomorrow with the same will to win,” said Arnaud Psarofaghis at the end of the racing. 

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Race 8?

Not a great deal new to pick up from this one. While American Magic are very unlikely to win the other Semi-Final, you can imagine that they could take a race win or possibly two tomorrow. But for this Semi-Final it is hard to imagine any confluence of events that will prevent the Brits winning the next race tomorrow morning and so send Alinghi home.

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