Cup Spy: Louis Vuitton Cup - Day 7 - Was Super Saturday a turning point for the Brits?
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 7 Sep 11:53 PDT
8 September 2024
INEOS Britannia crash down on the final leg vs. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - Race 25, Day 7 - Round Robin 2 - Louis Vuitton Cup - September 7, 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
Instead of Super Saturday providing the definitive list of four Semi-Final participants, it will be remembered as one of the best days, if not the best yet seen in the four year history of the class.
Yes the margins were running up to three and four figures, but there were some best yet performances - notably from the Orient Express Racing Team who put up a strong fight against American Magic, tightening the margin as the race progressed to be only 15 seconds adrift at the finish, putting some real pressure on the highly fancied US team.
The breeze arrived for the first time in seven days of racing in Barcelona, piping in 15kts - gusting 18kts - before dying away slightly towards the end of the day.
There were plenty of late headsail changes, with most opting for a smaller jib as the breeze increased in mid-afternoon.
The overcast skies of earlier in the week gave way to bright sunshine, and with the white caps and one metre left over swell the scene was set for a spectacular day to which the AC75s responded hitting speeds of 45kts for most of the downwind legs.
INEOs Britannia, who have struggled for credibility following their performance in the 2021 America's Cup, and many incidents since, produced an emphatic performance in the final race of the day, with an end to end win against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, widely regarded as the top Challenger in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
The prestart began in spectacular fashion with both AC75s roaring into the start box at 45kts. However neither could establish ascendency in the prestart and British and Italian teams both took a conservative approach to the start opting to stay out of each others way, and going for a start that was equal, with both boats back a boatlength or so from the line and with clear air.
There was the expected arm wrestle in the opening stanzas of the first beat, but surprisingly it was the British that eked out a small lead as they both sailed at the port boundary, which as a continuing obstruction, the British were able to use the racing rules to force the Italians to yield as they both tacked and headed back for the middle of the course.
With textbook tactics the British smothered the Italians to create an 8sec lead which they held until rounding Mark 2, and then stepped out on the second windward leg, sailing their own race in clear air, rounding Mark 3 with a 22 second advantage, which was stretched to 30 seconds at the end of the next windward leg or over 500 metres on the water.
That lead was sufficient from the Brits to be able to survive the most spectacular nosedive of the day conceding only 50 metres to the Italians, with British winning by 25 seconds.
With 150 years of failure in their various America's Cup challenges, it will be interesting to see if Super Saturday's result is the high point of the Brits 2024 America's Cup campaign, or a turning point in their quest to finally win back the Victorian ewer.
We have seen similar performances from British America's Cup teams in the past, but they have proven to be fleeting as the Brits, great competitors that they are, revert to type. However INEOS Britannia rightfully belongs in second place on the Challenger leaderboard, and that is a very encouraging achievement. Further the British team have made it into the Semi-Finals, which have got that monkey off their backs.
On the always excellent "Inside Tack" hosted by Freddie Carr, who also leads a double-life as a cyclor within the INEOS Britannia, it was revealed (a much overused word in America's Cup circles), but this was indeed a revelation, that with two metre seas running in the race area on Friday, the Brits went practice sailing.
While the Brits have always had an "up and at 'em" attitude in sailing, they often put on a brave show but don't always always emerge better for the experience. But they try hard. However having put in that effort on Friday, of course INEOS would have been a lot more confident in the one metre confused seaway, than had they stayed ashore and talked, analysed and simulated.
Inside Tack is one of the very rare no-spin zones - which are as common as unicorns in this America's Cup. There one can see a change in team dynamic, between Carr who sailed on the AC75; Scott who seems to be growing and enjoying his more detached sailing operations management role; and Ian Williams who is the piano-man for the British team. The multiple world match racing champion has that very rare ability to be able to look at a situation off the boat and instantly hit the right keys to come up with the theme music for a debriefing. Of the three, and probably the team and indeed AC75 fleet, he has the most experience of high-pressure close-quarters match racing situations, and recognises those little nuances which can be turned to advantage, and at AC75 speeds a lead of a couple of hundred metres or more.
From here the key for the Brits is not to overthink the situation, keep it simple, and keep their PR team well removed from the sailing team.
While many, Cup Spy included, wondered why Scott was the one to have dropped out of the INEOS helming triumvirate for the Louis Vuitton Cup. However he seems to be doing a better job on the chaseboat, than a frustrated Ainslie would have done. The Brits seem to have realised at long last that clear communication channels are essential in a Cup campaign - which is quite a different approach to their usual one of a wartime skipper shouting instructions down the voice-pipe from the bridge to the engine room. So-far seems to be working.
With Scott on the chaseboat, the Brits now have a former Finn sailor and a 49er sailor on the helm, rather then two Finn sailors. That diversity of experience may prove to be another key to the Brits' future in this America's Cup.
While many have looked askance at the high sided British AC75, it looked very fast and safe in today's seastate, winning two races, and surviving a nosedive in the closing stanzas of the final leg. On Inside Tack the incident was put down to getting weed on the rudder foil, which self-cleared. Remarkably the Brits just lost a boatlength or two, where others would have spun out and lost the race.
It is early days in this regatta, but with their design being an outlier - if they have achieved a breakthrough design which comes into its own in winds above 12 kts - then there is not much the other teams can do to get across to the same corner of the design rule.
The key takeout from the last race, today, is that in these conditions the Brits look to have a very forgiving boat. As any racer knows who has sailed a forgiving boat in fresh conditions, you have the ability to push much harder and faster than you opponents, and win more races through speed or competitive pressure.
Who dares, often wins.
The French, whose historical record in the America's Cup, while of a lesser duration is on par with the the Brits. But today, Orient Express Racing also arguably had their best day yet in the 2024 Louis Vuitton Cup, chasing hard after the fancied American Magic and keeping the margin under 20seconds for the race. That's big turn around from their Did Not Finish on Thursday.
Their real and possibly final test will come tomorrow, or Monday, when they face the British team on the last day of racing in the Round Robin phase of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
For the Brits it is a test of whether they can maintain the momentum from today's wins. For the French a win will get them into a sail-off for the final berth in the Semi-final.
In the other matches, American Magic and Luna Rossa had their moments over the first three legs, with the US team rounding just 3 secs astern of the Italians, after the first lap in the opening match of the day. But after that the slick Italians eased away to a 22 second win.
INEOS Britannia had a very good win over Alinghi Red Bull Racing, in the second race of the day, never looking to be under threat and easing away to a 53 second win, the biggest margin of the day.
Emirates Team New Zealand despatched Alinghi Red Bull Racing, but not before the Swiss gave a America's Cup Defenders a fright, holding them to a seven second margin at the first mark, after which the Kiwis slid away in familiar fashion to win by 38seconds.
After today's racing, the Event advised that 'the weather forecast looks marginal. The call on racing will be made Sunday morning. if it ends up being a non-racing day then racing moves to Monday, September 9."
Race Summaries:
Match 22: USA vs ITA
Start: Luna Rossa tried to get underneath American Magic, and then moved to windward and tacked for the starboard side of the course initially trailing but won the first cross.
Mark 1: 04m 10sec: ITA led USA by 14secs. ITA took starboard gate and went down the starboard side. USA took the opposite.
Mark 2: 07m 49sec: ITA led USA by 3secs. Boats took opposite gates - ITA took Port. USA opted to dip ITA when they crossed on the beat.
Mark 3: 12m 18sec: ITA led USA by 7secs. Close racing with plenty of lead swaps/dips as the boats crossed tacks upwind.
Mark 4: 15m 42secs ITA led USA by 19secs Luna Rossa got away down the starboard side
Mark 5: 20m 02secs ITA led USA by 26secs
Finish: 23m 24secs ITA led USA by 22secs Bruni says they were getting the waves behind them uphill and down and were surfing.
Brits used their delay card to do a jib change to their J3-2
Match 23: GBR vs SUI
Start: Both equal - SUI to leeward. GBR emerged with small lead. Brits extended out to a 100 metre lead on Leg 1. Wind 14-16kts
Mark 1: 3m 19secs GBR led SUI by 12secs. Brits sailing at over 42kts
Mark 2: 6m 04secs GBR led SUI by 21secs. Lead over 300 metres downwind, 255metres upwind.
Mark 3: 10m 16secs GBR led SUI by 28secs.
Mark 4: 13m 07secs GBR led SUI by 39secs. Brits sailing fast downwind. Lead out to 600metres upwind. Average speed is 1kt faster than SUI
Mark 5: 17m 34secs GBR led SUI by 45secs. Brits lead now 900 metres. Wind 15kts.
Finish: 20m 39secs GBR led SUI by 53secs. Brits lead still 900 metres at the finish, despite the increased time margin.
Match 26: USA vs FRA
Start: France leads in and to leeward on the line. Wind averaging 15kts gusting 19kts. Both tack to the starboard boundary. USA leading by 160 metres on Leg 1
Mark 1: 4m 06secs USA led FRA by 0.08secs. French cut lead down to 56 metres on Leg 2, but USA then extend out to 100metres.
Mark 2: 7m 20secs USA led FRA by 14 secs. Margin out to 125metres on Leg 2.
Mark 3: 11m 35secs USA led FRA by 15secs. Margin out to 180metres upwind and 300metres downwind.
Mark 4: 14m 42secs USA led FRA by 20secs. Margin 290 metres just before the mark, 350metres upwind. Wind eased to 14.4kts gusting 16.6kts at Port Olimpic. Slingsby reporting something on rudder but also had weed on starboard wingfoil
Mark 5: 19m 10sec USA led FRA by 18secs. Wind at 14kts. Lead on finals leg 200metres. French closing but not fast enough.
Finish: 22m 23secs USA led FRA by 15secs. Distance 220metres at finish.
Match 27: NZL vs SUI
Start: Alinghi led off the start line. They sailed alongside each other on starboard, with ETNZ working way out from leeward forcing SUI to tack away.
Mark 1: 03m 47secs NZL led SUI by 07secs
Mark 2: 06m 58secs NZL led SUI by 13secs
Mark 3: 11m 10secs NZL led SUI by 20secs
Mark 4: 14m 16secs NZL led SUI by 23secs
Mark 5: 18m 39secs NZL led SUI by 38secs
Finish: 21m 36secs NZL led SUI by 38secs
Match 25: ITA vs GBR
Start: Timed start from both boats - both had a slow approach and started about a boatlength back with GBR leading ITA by 30 metres. Drag race with Brits making gains. Brits tack to cover lead going to 70metres and then 170metres.
Mark 1: 03m 37secs GBR led ITA by 08secs margin 151 metres on Leg 2
Mark 2: 06m 39secs GBR led ITA by 08 secs margin 115metres growing to 170 metres on Leg 3 as Brits put tight cover on ITA - who were forced to tack away dropping back to 200metres. Brits did loose cover and leading ITA back into Mark
Mark 3: 10m 36secs GBR led ITA by 22secs and 500 metres on the water.
Mark 4: 13m 43secs GBR led ITA by 29secs or 400metres on the water. Brits kept loose cover on ITA to keep them moving to the left.
Mark 5: 16m 20secs GBR led ITA by 30secs or 630 metres on water. Brits lost rudder but had large lead to emerge still 450 metres ahead.
Finish: 21m 43secs GBR led ITA by 25secs
Pre Race Commentary:
After a no-race day on Friday, Barcelona was visited by strong winds overnight, which are expected to leave behind a significant residual seaway. The size of the seastate is bigger than would be justified by todays expected windstrength of 8-12kts from a southerly direction. However the direction of the breeze will maintain the swell size rather than work against it. Forecasters are now saying the swell height will be 1.0nm - in our experience from the Recon Program 1metre swell is close to the top end for the AC75 - not forgetting that a wind chop may be on top of the swell, or acting as a cross-sea. They are also saying the swell will not be aligned with the wind, and by our calculations will be off-axis by just over 80°.
If the wind is SSW (202.5°) and there is a ESE Swell then by calculation the waves are off-axis by 82° - so they will punch into them on one tack and run parallel on the other. Downwind will be problematic requiring precise flight control.
Overnight winds of 20kts gusting 25kts were recorded at the Arts Hotel alongside the America's Cup course. The increased winds kicked in around 4.00pm and lasted until midnight. At Olimpic Port, the wind was recorded as being around 15-20kts, from an easterly direction (onshore), from midday Friday until 3.00am. Since that time the breeze is recorded as having dropped to 7.5-10kts through to dawn.
This will be the first time the AC75s will experience this sea condition in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Flight controllers allowing the AC75s too fly high, could pay the penalty of a sudden nosedive, or wash-out particularly if the rudder T-Foil starts trying to operate clear of the water.
It is hard to predict individual boat performance as we haven't seen the AC75s compete against each other in recorded racing. Further the results really hang on crew performance and errors - which have been the determining factor in all races sailed to date, rather than boatspeed.
Today is probably going to determine the first team to exit the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Essentially bottom placed Orient Express Racing team has to win the third Match of the day against American Magic. Alinghi Red Bull Racing has to win one of its Matches against INEOS Britannia or Emirates Team New Zealand to go into Sunday with a place assured in the Semi Finals.
For an updated report on Thursday's racing Louis-Vuitton-Cup-Day-6-The-Agony-and-Ecstasy
Weather Prognosis:
America's Cup Weather Partner PredictWind has provided a dedicated Race Weather Center offering fans access to detailed daily weather breakdowns, live webcams and historical weather data to daily weather breakdowns written by meteorologists.
Provisional Forecast Race Day 7:.
Saturday 7th Sept
The morning will see light winds. By mid-day the wind will establish slowly into a Southerly direction and we expect wind speed to increase during the afternoon up to 8-12 knots while trending right to South-South-West. There will be a residual sea state from the previous day with waves around 1 meter coming from the East-South-East 120° with a 5 second period. The waves will not be aligned with the wind during the racing. The sky will completely clear out during the day and the afternoon will be sunny with temperatures reaching up to 29°C over land and 26° over the water.
Sunday 8th Sept
The instability is scheduled to return to Barcelona on Sunday. A weak North-East wind is expected with rain associated.
Racing Programme for Saturday September 7, 2024
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Louis Vuitton Cup Points and Leaderboard after Day 5
Virtual Eye
Sail-World will be using Virtual Eye from ARL for Americas' Cup coverage. It is a great tool and one that had its debut in the 1992 America's Cup, and has since been used in most top professional sports, transforming their coverage and viewer experience.
After the racing you can replay the key points, or the whole race using Virtual Eye from ARL
You can go directly to the Virtual Eye America's Cup coverage by clicking here and click on "Watch Previous" then select the race you wish to view. This s 3D viewer so you can zoom in, out, around and up and down just like you could in a helicopter.
Saturday's Live race coverage:
Thursday's replay race coverage:
Series format
There are two phases of Round Robin racing, four races are scheduled to be sailed, with six teams competing and two of those will be sailing twice. The day's pairings can reread from the graphic below.
Provisional Course Location:
Crew Lists: