Louis Vuitton Cup Final Day 3
by Mark Jardine 29 Sep 15:59 BST
29 September 2024
What a difference a day makes. The gentle zephyrs of Saturday were swept away by 20+ knot winds, with gusts significantly higher. The big breeze was back in Barcelona.
Both boats set up with their smaller mainsails and J5 jibs for the strong wind conditions, which were significantly higher than forecast.
INEOS Britannia vs. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
As Emirates Team New Zealand happily blasted around in the background in their AC75, the British and Italian boats sat motionless beside their support RIBs as the wind test was repeatedly failed at the top end of the range (21 knots).
Alinghi Red Bull Racing was also out testing and capsized, with their port foil arm staying up, meaning they had to cut their mainsail away, eventually righting the boats and bringing it back to their base.
When both teams thought they might get racing, they let the sides of their support boats and got up foiling, but Luna Rossa broke some battens in their mainsail, meaning they had to drop the sail and either repair the problem or put up another sail.
The clock was ticking, and it was just a case of whether the wind limit would be failed again as to whether INEOS Britannia would sail around on their own.
At 14:47 local time the Race Committee signalled that the wind limit had been passed, so the British team lined up to enter the start area. Since the Italian AC75 was still alongside their support boat (outside assistance) they were instantly disqualified, handing the win to INEOS Britannia.
Luna Rossa now had 35 minutes until the next race to change their mainsail. Time waits for no one... again.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs. INEOS Britannia
The Italians successfully changed mainsails out at sea, which is no mean feat with the size of these sails, and were back out sailing, ready for the next race, but, once again, the race itself was delayed as the wind speed limit was breached at the top end.
At 16:10 local time the conditions finally moderated enough for the fourth race of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final to take place.
In an aggressive pre-start, INEOS Britannia held Luna Rossa high, with the Italian boat then bearing away in front of the British AC75, avoiding a penalty as they gybed in front of them near the boundary.
The teams lined up side by side, with Luna Rossa to the left, forcing INEOS Britannia to tack away. Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher were clearly riled by the decision and went for another luff upwind, but again no penalty was called when they protested.
At the first windward gate Luna Rossa led by four seconds, and powered round the bear-away at an astounding 55.2 knots. There remained nothing in it downwind, with the Italians extending their lead by just two seconds.
The fight continued upwind with Luna Ross tacking on top of INEOS Britannia and the British luffing and protesting again, with no penalty called and Dylan Fletcher exclaiming, "This is a joke umpires".
At the second windward gate the British had closed the gap to just five seconds. Adrenaline was clearly high as the boats were in full send-it mode, hitting 50 knots straight line speed and 43 knots VNG downwind - AC75 sailing right on the edge of control.
INEOS Britannia had a very wide rounding at the second leeward gate, which increased the deficit to 11 seconds, and allowed Luna Rossa a bit of breathing space for the first time, extending their lead to 19 seconds at the third windward gate, which extended by a second at the third leeward gate.
The British team closed the gap significantly on the final upwind leg, using a right hand shift to their advantage, rounding the final winward gate just six seconds behind. This race was going to go the distance.
INEOS Britannia gybed early to split from Luna Rossa. Both teams were calling for a big push from the cyclors to make it down to the finish with maximum power.
The Italian team gybed in front of the Brits to try and maintain contro, with the gap down to just 90 metres. In a drag race to the line, Luna Rossa crossed ahead to take the win by just four seconds.
Without doubt, the best race of the Louis Vuitton Cup so far with close calls, controversy, drama and passion all coming to the fore.
Overall we're locked at 2-2 with two evenly-matched teams. A fantastic situation for America's Cup fans around the world.