Cup Spy: Brits win both punch-ups and look for a history making knock-out - Finals Day 6
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 2 Oct 12:47 PDT
3 October 2024
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS Britannia - Louis Vuitton Cup - Final - Race Day 6 - October 2, 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
INEOS Britannia turned in two clinical performances to win back-to-back races, on Day 6 of the Finals Louis Vuitton Cup, the and Day 20 of the Challenger Selection Series for the 37th America's Cup.
The Brits broke the routine of the first five days this final series - where one took the first race of the day, and the other bounced back to take the second, so at the end of the day, both ended up tied on the leaderboard.
This pattern had continued for the five days of racing to date.
The Brits looked relatively comfortable in their AC75, which, as noted previously, is more forgiving than the other challengers and can be driven harder with less risk. On the odd occasion when they did come back into windward, their recovery was quick, with few metres lost.
Luna Rossa seemed to require a much finer touch and the ability to recover from rudder washout in particular. We have seen this all series and hear the calm communications on board when the alert is called on rudder wash, and the instant instruction comes back on the required reactions to correct.
In their online debriefing session, the Brits admitted to having a couple of control issues when they "lost" the rudder - putting pressure on the cyclors to deliver pressure so the AC75 could quickly be sailed out of trouble.
Against today's conditions of a big seaway, with grey skies and a breeze of around 16-18kts, it was interesting to recall the comments of their foil designer Nat Shaver, yesterday - saying that the Brits were sailing with foils that were optimised for a lighter wind - and not breezes closer to the top end of the permitted race starting range.
In both races, the British Challenger nominally won both starts. In Race 9, the two crisscrossed each other with the boat, which was coming off the starboard boundary and was the holder of the right of way, and had to yield when the situations were reversed at the next intersection. Around the first mark, it was near even. However, the British, with a #4 jib instead of the smaller #5 favoured by the Italians, established an advantage they defended right to the finish.
The tradition of this Louis Vuitton Cup Final continued when the lead did not change after rounding the first mark.
Both teams were fractionally early for the start in Race 10. Luna Rossa briefly toyed with trying to set up to leeward of the Brits, gave that away, and both seemed content to hit the line fast and with clear air.
However, as the two AC75s sailed on starboard for the port boundary, the Italians jammed up under the British, who broke off early. The Italians built a 40-metre lead and led by just three seconds at Mark 1 and were never headed, winning by just 8 seconds or 200 metres on the water.
In their public debrief in Inside Tack, the cyclor/sailor Freddie Carr remarked, "To be honest. It was full on out there, not quite the weather we were inspecting. It was windier than we thought, with a very aggressive, confused sea state that we had to deal with."
Talking about the comments made in their just-completed catchup, held immediately after the crew comes ashore, Carr recalled the comment from Leigh McMillan, one of INEOS' trimmer pilots, "who said not to be too critical, saying it wasn't a day for looking at the data and going on tweak this a little bit there, a little bit. It was flying by the seat of your pants all day, reviewing your performance on the fly and trying to get better for the next manoeuvre."
"In the first race, we, as a team, made a little mistake going with a jib that was a little bit too small - so the boat was not well-balanced for that race," Luna Rossa co-helmsman Francesco Bruni told Shirley Robertson of America's Cup Media.
"We had a little problem with the rudder when we were close to INEOS. Also, there were a few tactical mistakes - small ones here and there, but the race was very close until we lost the rudder. We lost many meters, and the race was pretty much over after that."
"In the second race, we didn't have a great start. We could have had a better start, probably with a split. But we didn't do it. We were a little bit on the back foot straight after the start. We stay close in the race for the whole.
"We know that we can do better than what we did today. Obviously, it has not been a good day, but I have the privilege of having Jimmy [Spithill] on my side, and he's well-known for good comebacks. We have done it before together, and I'm sure that we can do it again."
There is no racing on Wednesday. Two races will be sailed on Thursday. The Final will either be decided the next day or go down to a sudden-death match on Friday.
But the Brits are up against the King of Comeback, and either way history will be made.
The America's Cup Match starts just over a week later, on Saturday, October 12, with the intention that the winner will be decided by the end of the following weekend.
Final - Match 9: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) (Port Startbox Entry) vs INEOS Britannia (GBR) (Starboard Startbox entry) Start: 1210hrs UTC
Start: Split tack start with Luna Rossa tacking for the starboard end and headed for the beach. The course is orientated for a NE breeze, so the usual shore advantage does not come into play, and in the past both sides of the course are usually even, however there are often big shifts of up to 20°.
Mark 1: 03m 49secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 02secs
Mark 2: 06m 50secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 12secs
Mark 3: 10m 57secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 09secs
Mark 4: 14m 02secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 07secs
Mark 5: 18m 09secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 15secs
Mark 6: 21m 02secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 18secs
Mark 7: 24m 56secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 13secs
Finish: 27m 35secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 23secs
Key Statistics Finals Match 9:
- Race Winner: INEOS Britannia; Time: 27m 23sec; Margin: 12secs; Distance: 356metres;
- Top Speed: 51.2kt (GBR) 50.7kt (ITA); Average: 39.2ktS (GBR) 39.3kts (ITA);
- Upwind Speed: 36.1kt (GBR) 36.3kt (ITA); Downwind speed: 43.5kt (GBR) 43.4KTSkt (ITA)
- Average VMG: 23.6kts (GBR) 23.5kts (ITA)
- Distance sailed: 33,346mtrs (ITA) 33,946mtrs (GBR)
- Tacks: 15 (ITA) 15 (GBR); Gybes 9 (ITA) 9 (GBR); Total Tacks/Gybes 24 (ITA) 24 (GBR)
Final - Match 10 : INEOS Britannia (GBR) (Port Startbox entry) vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) (Starboard Startbox Entry) Start: 1315hrs UTC
Start: The wind was 16.5kts at the bottom of the course and 18kts at the top. Between races, Luna Rossa changed up their jibs as they had expected more wind in the first race, and were feeling a bit under done at times.
Luna Rossa tried to get under INEOS Britannia as the reached down to the start line, probably going to early. Unfortunately for the Italians, their rudder let go briefly, and they bailed out with reasonable control across the Brits stern. They both crossed the start line in an equal start. However the Brits start proved to be more equal than the Italians, and they were able to work up under them as both sailed for the port boundary in a big seaway with plenty of whitecaps, forcing ITA away to tack off and head for the starboard boundary.
Mark 1: 03m 32secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 03secs
Mark 2: 06m 27secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 11secs
Mark 3: 10m 39secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 12secs
Mark 4: 13m 37secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 10secs
Mark 5: 17m 44secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 08secs
Mark 6: 20m 33secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 13secs
Mark 7: 24m 26secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 09secs
Finish: 27m 09secs GBR led ITA by a margin of 08secs
Key Statistics Finals Match 10:
- Race Winner: INEOS Britannia; Time: 27m 09sec; Margin: 08secs; Distance: 198metres;
- Top Speed: 51.0kt (ITA) 51.3kt (GBR); Average: 39.1kt (ITA) 39.4kts (GBR);
- Upwind Speed: 38.1kts (ITA) 38.9kt (GBR); Downwind speed: 46.0kt (ITA) 47.1kt (GBR)
- Average VMG: 26.1 (ITA) 26.3kts (GBR)
- Distance sailed: 33,943mtrs (ITA) 35,007mtrs (GBR)
- Tacks: 16(ITA) 17 (GBR); Gybes 8 (ITA) 8 (GBR); Total Tacks/Gybes 24 (ITA) 25 (GBR)
Virtual Eye
After the racing you can replay the key points, or the whole race using Virtual Eye from ARL 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.
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