Why weren't Luna Rossa penalised in the Race 4 pre-start incident?
by Mark Jardine 29 Sep 17:50 BST
29 September 2024
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs. INEOS Britannia on Louis Vuitton Cup Final Race Day 3 - September 29, 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
Race 4 between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS Britannia in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final was full of drama, but one moment had had sailors asking questions on social media groups more than any other, and clearly riled Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher on the British boat.
To British fans it looked like a clear windward-leeward situation. To Italian fans it looked like Luna Rossa was clear ahead. The reality lies elsewhere, and the key is in the Racing Rules of Sailing, and a particular Appendix C (Match Racing) rule that doesn't apply in the America's Cup.
Rule 13.2 'After the foot of the mainsail of a boat sailing downwind crosses the centreline she shall keep clear of other boats until her mainsail has filled or she is no longer sailing downwind.' has been removed for the America's Cup, and instead a boat just needs to be beyond the angle of the wind direction to have gybed, which meant that Luna Rossa had actually gybed far earlier than appears on screen, as we were all looking at the sails, not the angle of the boats to the wind, which isn't at all obvious on TV.
So, if the diamonds which surround the boats had intersected when INEOS Britannia protested, it may have been the British team penalised, or Italy, depending on whether Luna Rossa were judged to have given the Brits enough room to keep clear.
We, as everyday sailors, were looking at things from our own experience, and the rules we use. The America's Cup rules though are slightly different, which they need to be to accommodate racing these extraordinary machines.
When these kinds of situation arise, we'll try and make things clearer.
Rewatch the whole race in full: (the incident in question starts at 2 minutes in)
Mozzy's analysis of the call here: