Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals Day 4
by Mark Jardine 18 Sep 10:11 PDT
18 September 2024
Luna Rossa breaks traveller - Day 4 - Semi-Finals - Louis Vuitton Cup - Day 13 - September 18, 2024 - Barcelona © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
At 4-0 in both Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals after Day 2, putting both Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS Britannia on match point, it felt like this stage of the America's Cup was going to lack drama.
Little did we know...
The wind was probably as patchy as we've ever seen it in Barcelona, with holes and shifts aplenty. Perfect for a few games of Snakes and Ladders.
Broadcast
The True Wind Speed was displayed far more often today, which when it's hovering around five or six knots, and sometimes even lower, is vital to know and made the viewing experience far more enjoyable.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing vs. INEOS Britannia
What looked like an early approach from Alinghi ended up being a near-perfect pin end start, powering away to 50 metre lead, but a poor boundary tack handed the advantage over to INEOS Britannia.
The British team held a comfortable lead upwind but, as they approached the first windward gate, Alinghi made gains in a huge right hand windshift, round just 6 seconds behind INEOS Britannia.
A slow gybe by the British team allowed the Swiss boat to roll over them and back into the lead. Alinghi then weaved between the patches of pressure, while INEOS Britannia seemed to find nothing but holes in the wind, and an 800+ metre lead was established by the first leeward gate.
The Swiss kept it clean upwind to round the second windward gate over a minute in the lead. A touchdown by the British on a low wind gybe extended the Swiss lead to over a kilometre, and 1 minute 25 seconds by the second leeward gate.
The final upwind leg saw the Swiss coach boat crew and fans on tenterhooks, as every tack could spell disaster in the light winds, but the Alingh team kept it together to round the final windward gate in the lead.
Just when it looked like INEOS Britannia could be closing the gap, the British boat had to tack just beneath the lay line at the windward gate and fell back down to lowriding mode again.
Alinghi made no mistakes down on the final downwind leg to take the race win, and push the scoreline to 4-2, keeping this Semi Final alive.
New York Yacht Club American Magic vs. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
American Magic did a fantastic job of controlling the pre-start, lining up in front of Luna Rossa and accelerating away towards the boundary, forcing the Italians to tack away very early.
A 100 metre lead quickly turned into a deficit as the wind went right and Luna Rossa tacked ahead of American Magic. The winds were very marginal at times, often as low as 5 knots, so stay foiling was paramount.
On the first downwind leg gybes were critical, with anything other than perfection in timing punished. At times the two teams weren't making any headway downwind as they battled to stay moving in the light air.
The US team took the lead, with the Italians sailing across the course in just 4 knots of wind, but American Magic was the first to get it wrong, dropping into lowriding mode after a gybe, with Luna Rossa then choosing to tack instead of gybe to stay up on the foils, picking up a double penalty in the process for going out of the boundary.
Being up on the foils though was king, and Luna Rossa stayed foiling upwind to clear their penalty, and then went round the bow of the lowriding American Magic and into the lead.
The Race Committee made the course shorter and shorter, just 0.8 nautical miles, while American Magic found enough puff to get back foiling, and managed to round the first leeward gate exactly even with Luna Rossa.
With the boats rounding different marks, American Magic made a nice initial gain on the right, only to see it wiped out by a left shift, as the race was shortened to just four legs. The two boats were neck and neck upwind, trading the lead continuously.
The race-winning moment came when the US team caught the Italians port-starboard at the windward gate, forcing Luna Rossa to continue beyond the buoys to find pressure to tack, but they fell off the foils and rounded the final windward gate 2 minutes 50 seconds behind.
But... American Magic were also lowriding. A lead could be wiped out in seconds if Luna Rossa got foiling again. As it was, it was the American boat which found the pressure first, cruising through the finish as Luna Rossa were disqualified for going more than 85 metres out of the boundary.
Game on in both Semi-Finals.
INEOS Britannia vs. Alinghi Red Bull Racing
After a delay waiting for the wind, the race was on.
INEOS Britannia started on the back foot, picking up a penalty for entering the start box early, and then choosing to start on port to try and brush off the 75 metres early and head to the favoured right hand side of the course.
With the wind shifting wildly, Alinghi were forced to duck the British boat on the first cross, with INEOS Britannia managing to hold their lead on the next cross, leading at the first windward gate by 25 seconds.
There were some scary moments for the British downwind, coming close to dropping off the foils, but they managed to extend their lead to 31 seconds by the leeward gate, keeping a close upwind to push the lead up to 50 seconds.
With massive pressure differences on the course it wasn't over yet, and Alinghi closed the gap to 39 seconds at the second leeward gate, but only had two legs left to overtake INEOS Britannia and stay in the 37th America's Cup.
The Brits though kept close tabs on the Swiss on the upwind leg, trying to negate the risk from the big shifts and gusts, and extended their lead at the final windward gate, where Alinghi fell off the foils on a tack.
INEOS Britannia powered down to the finish to make it into the Louis Vuitton Cup final, while Alinghi Red Bull Racing's valiant comeback was over.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs. New York Yacht Club American Magic
Could Luna Rossa follow INEOS Britannia into the final, or would American Magic's comeback continue?
The American again controlled the Italians nicely, forcing them to tack away, but this time we didn't see the massive right shift which Luna Rossa had in their last encounter and American Magic crossed by 50 metres.
At the windward gate they were neck and neck, with American Magic rounding just 7 seconds ahead after crossing Luna Rossa on starboard.
Luna Rossa made early gains downwind to cross ahead on starboard, only for American Magic to find more breeze to round the first leeward gate ahead by just 4 seconds.
The Italians then found pressure on the right upwind to retake the lead, but once again the lead changed as the Americans then found pressure on the left. It was blink and you miss it stuff between these super-even teams.
At the second windward gate Luna Rossa tacked just ahead of American Magic, who tacked off to the opposite buoy, rounding just 8 seconds behind.
But then there was disaster for Luna Rossa as their mainsheet traveller broke with a massive bang, handing the win to American Magic.
With the traveller torn apart on the back of the boat, showing a massive structural failure, it's now a race against time for the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli shore team to fix their boat in time for tomorrow's racing.
The score is 4-3 and the clock is ticking.