Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals Day 5
by Mark Jardine 19 Sep 13:45 BST
19 September 2024
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs. New York Yacht Club American Magic on Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals Day 5 - 19th September 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
Deciding day in Barcelona! If the wind was in, then we would discover the second Louis Vuitton Cup finalist. Luna Rossa needed to win one race; American Magic needed to win both. It was as simple as that.
The Luna Rossa shore team successfully worked through the night to fix their mainsheet traveller after the catastrophic breakage on Wednesday, and the Italian team were back out on the water.
New York Yacht Club American Magic vs. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
In a very familiar arrangement, American Magic lined up nearer the pin end, with Luna Rossa tacking away to the right early, and crucially the US team managed to tack on top of the Italian boat on the first engagement, forcing them into a down-speed tack.
On the next engagement American Magic only just managed to tack on top of Luna Rossa, who protested the US team, but this was dismissed and the Americans were forced to tack away by the charging Italians to leeward.
At the first windward gate American Magic trailed by 20 seconds, which became 21 seconds at the first leeward gate during a relatively uneventful downwind leg.
If there were any worries on board Luna Rossa about the repaired mainsheet system, they certainly didn't show, with comms between Jimmy Spithill and Checco Bruni calm and collected, but American Magic had a superb second upwind leg to close the gap to just 8 seconds. With these two teams seemingly connected by a bungee, we shouldn't be surprised this was being another close one.
Luna Rossa found good pressure initially on the right downwind to extend their lead, but then American Magic found the same patch of breeze to close the gap until they made an error, dropping off the foils briefly, and losing 150 metres in the process.
The gap at the second leeward gate was 22 seconds, and the Americans had one lap to save their 37th America's Cup campaign.
Luna Rossa though weren't feeling generous, and extended their lead on the final upwind leg to 51 seconds at the final windward gate. Tom Slingsby sounded lined up for their final tack.
As the Italians completed their final gybe into the finish line there was elation on board, with loud cheers as they crossed. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have booked their place in the Louis Vuitton Cup final, and New York Yacht Club American Magic's 37th America's Cup campaign is over.
Checco Bruni was as cool as a cucumber during the race, but visibly emotional after the finish, "It wasn't an easy night in the shed, but we are super proud."
Jimmy Spithill added, "I'd like to mention American Magic as they put up one hell of a fight. This one's for the shore team."
American Magic's Tom Slingsby said, "Huge congratulations to Luna Rossa; the better team won. After what happened yesterday we thought we had the momentum. We have to hold our heads high."