Cup Spy - Day 15: A win apiece in Final of Louis Vuitton Cup
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 26 Sep 2024 19:21 BST
27 September 2024
Luna Rossa and INEOS Britannia - Race 1 - Finals Louis Vuitton Cup - Day 15 - September 26, 2024 - Barcelona © Ian Roman / America's Cup
Luna Rossa took the first race of the Final of the Louis Vuitton Cup, sailed in fresh winds of 20kts and a pumping 1.5metre seaway. However, INEOS Britannia was able to turn the tables in Race 2 with an end-to-end win, levelling the Day 1 leaderboard.
After the race, British skipper Ben Ainslie conceded that the Italians "had the legs on us." INEOS Britannia put in an impressive performance in 20kts and a 1.5-metre seaway to win the second race in a style very similar to the Italian's win in the first.
Both teams looked to be very in control in the top-end conditions, which resulted in several delays to the start of the second race while the race committee waited for the breeze to settle below the maximum set for racing.
All mark roundings were executed in quite extreme conditions, which Luna Rossa skipper Jimmy Spithill compared to "racing a Ferrari on ice."
The second race was almost a mirror image of the first, except the positions were reversed. INEOS Britannia established a small lead as the two AC75s bounced off the port boundary in the first tack out of the start and hung on throughout the race.
On Leg 3, there was an arm wrestle in the traditional America's Cup style when the Italians set up behind the British and went into a "high mode", pointing at a closer angle to the wind to avoid their turbulence and at least reduce the Brit's margin. But their ploy yielded minimal gains, and impressively, the Brits continued to enjoy their lead. Even more impressively, INEOS Britannia didn't falter under the Italian pressure in the next mark rounding, where the AC75s hit close to 50kts. Surprisingly, there wasn't a hint of a race-costing foil washout, as seen on several occasions in the Round Robin racing.
The America's Cup Defender, Emirates Team NZ, had the use of the America's Cup course area between races today - while the broadcast time was used to screen a replay of the Youth America's Cup Final.
The Brits used the 65-minute break to go into a coaching huddle on their chase boat, along with input from the performance analysts ashore and others and the Brackley Boffins watching data and video at the team's home base shared with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. The chase boat discourse also included the always incisive input from match racing super-coach Ian Williams, perched in his eyrie in a high tower ashore.
No doubt Williams had a few ideas to contribute on Ainslie and friends' loose prestart. The length of the break was sufficient to go through the 27m 25sec race in its entirety, without shoreside distractions.
It was a more focused INEOS team that returned to the racecourse, having clearly learned from their Race 1 review. Maybe if people were looking to put their fingers on the reasons for the Brit's ascendancy in this regatta, then the diversity and depth of these half-time and post-race review sessions are part of it.
Tomorrow, Friday is a no-race day when as always on such occasions, a beautiful 15kts westerly breeze is forecast. The action will resume on Saturday when Barcelona will be Barcelona, and very light winds are forecast for the following few days. Sunday is a second scheduled race day; currently, no racing is scheduled for Monday.
Between the fickle weather and the evenness of these two teams that was on display today, the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals look set to be a very long series.
Race Summaries:
Louis Vuitton Finals Match 1: ITA vs GBR Start: 14:15hrs CET (12:15hrs UTC) Entry: Port: ITA Starboard: GBR
Race management cleared the race to start - without any delays. The wind was within the prescribed limits - just under 20kts
Luna Rossa got deep in the start box with Brits to leeward and behind, both boats were a few seconds late for the start. Brits tacked for the Beach - starboard boundary and trailed by 135metres initially. They took opposite boundaries with Luna Rossa maintaining only a loose cover.
Around Mark 1, Luna Rossa hit 52.3kts in the bearaway - going for the port boundary, and leading by 240metres on the water. Both boats sailing upwind at 39-40kts, on what appeared to be their #5 jibs. This is probably the most extreme conditions that AC75s have raced in aside from Race 3 of the Prada Cup in Auckland, when Patriot capsized and semi-submerged. The race committee announced they were moving the windward mark to 208° - which is a good indication of wind direction. Luna Rossa had a near miss on Leg 4 when the Italians had a high speed wobble/control issue. However the slip only reduced the Italian lead from 450metres to 300metres on the water.
On Leg 5 ITA stretched out to 443metres, keeping a very loose cover on the British. The Italians continued to build their lead and went out to 770metres at the finish.
After crossing the finish line, INEOS Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie admitted that the "Italians had the legs on us", and felt the Italians liked the fresh conditions with a building seaway.. He said the Brits made a mess of the start, "we need to get in front and stay in front". Both AC75s were "red lining" in the top end conditions with the foils obviously cavitating (when they develop neutral pressure and the surrounding water reaches boiling point destroying flow over the foil).
For the statistics fans Luna Rossa recorded the top speed of 52.3kts. The Italians also had the highest average VMG of 24.2kts compared to 23.6kts for the British. The Brits sailed 400metres less distance than Luna Rossa.
For the sailing gamblers, the betting odds in New Zealand for the Final were $2.00 for a win on Britannia and $1.72 on Luna Rossa.
Mark roundings and margins - Final Race 1.
Mark 1: 03m 20sec ITA led margin 11secs
Mark 2: 06m 09sec ITA led margin 11secs
Mark 3: 10m 00sec ITA led margin 25secs
Mark 4: 13m 01sec ITA led margin 18secs
Mark 5: 16m 54sec ITA led margin 36secs
Mark 6: 19m 55sec ITA led margin 28secs
Mark 7: 24m 03sec ITA led margin 42secs
Finish: 27m 03sec ITA led margin 46secs
Key Statistics Finals Race 1:
- Race Winner: Luna Rossa; Time: 27m 3sec; Margin: 23secs; Distance: 811 metres;
- Top Speed: 52.3kt (ITA) 51.0kt (GBR); Average: 40.92kt (ITA) 39.34kts (GBR);
- Upwind Speed: 37.9kt (ITA) 36.21kt (GBR); Downwind speed: 44.8kt (ITA) 43.8kt (GBR)
- Average VMG: 24.2kts (ITA) 23.6kts (GBR)
- Distance sailed: 34,715mtrs (ITA) 33,789mtrs (GBR)
- Tacks: 13 (ITA) 14 (GBR); Gybes 9 (ITA) 8 (GBR); Total Tacks/Gybes 22 (ITA) 22 (GBR)
Louis Vuitton Finals Match 2: GBR vs ITA Start: 15:49hrs (CET) (13:49hrs UTC) Entry: Port: GBR Starboard ITA
Both teams were slightly late for the start, with the British setting up to leeward of the Italians and crossed line first with a lead of just 4metres. Both headed for the port boundary, where INEOS had to tack and LRPP had to give way. For a few minutes, the Italians established a small lead of less than 10 metres, and remarkably - given what had happened in the previous race, the British was able to sail through the Italians to windward and into a 25 metre or one boatlength margin.
Then it was the Italians turn to bounce off the port boundary, and the Brits slapped a tight cover on Spithill/Bruni forcing them back to the port boundary - with Ainslie/Fletcher letting them go. It was a smart tactic which handed the Brits a lead of 125 metres, and allowed them to cross clear ahead of the Italians who made their approach for the opposite gate - both crews took opposite sides of the course on Leg 2.
With both AC75s sailing at 47-49kts downwind, INEOS lead became very comfortable - stretching out to just under 400 metres.
By going into their High Mode on Leg 3, Luna Rosa was able to cut the margin back to about 100 metres approaching Mark 3. Surprisingly the Italians were able to match the Brits achievement of 30kts VMG while they cut the corner, during this phase.
But the British seemed to have an edge downwind - either through picking the shifts or being able to sail deeper. 49er Olympic Gold Medalist Dylan Fletcher seemed to be doing most of the talking. In the opening stanza of Leg 5 the Brits doubled their lead to 200 metres once both crews had settled into their work. Again the Italians were quicker by about 1kt upwind sailing at 40kts to the Brits 39kt. The margin was down to about 80metres as they rounded Mark 5, but once more INEOS seemed to have an edge downwind.
Essentially the race was the Brits to lose. On the final upwind Luna Rossa didn't make much impression, and the Brits skated away hitting the magical 50kt mark and blowing out to a 320 metre lead as they gybed off the starboard boundary. Luna Rossa had run out of tactical options and could only watch as the British built a 350metres lead as they crossed the finish line, to end the day all square.
Mark roundings and margins - Final Race 2.
Mark 1: 03m 34sec GBR led margin 07secs
Mark 2: 06m 26sec GBR led margin 17secs
Mark 3: 10m 19sec GBR led margin 07secs
Mark 4: 13m 13sec GBR led margin 13secs
Mark 5: 17m 11sec GBR led margin 10secs
Mark 6: 20m 07sec GBR led margin 15secs
Mark 7: 24m 19sec GBR led margin 17secs
Finish: 27m 25sec GBR led margin 18secs
Key Statistics Finals Race 2:
- Race Winner: INEOS Britannia; Time: 27m 25sec; Margin: 18secs; Distance: 374 metres;
- Top Speed: 50.3kt (GBR) 50.5kt (ITA); Average: 40.4kt (GBR) 40.3kts (ITA);
- Upwind Speed: 37.2kt (GBR) 37.1kt (ITA); Downwind speed: 44.8kt (GBR) 44.5kt (ITA)
- Average VMG: 24.3kts (GBR) 23.9kts (ITA)
- Distance sailed: 34,202mtrs (GBR) 34,513mtrs (ITA)
- Tacks: 13 (GBR) 12 (ITA); Gybes 8 (GBR); Total 21 (GBR) 22 (ITA)
Additional Images:
Additional Videos:
Louis Vuitton Cup Finals Day 1 Preview:
The two winners from the Semi-Finals, the Royal Yacht Squadron's INEOS Britannia and Circolo della Vela Sicilia's Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, will face off in two races scheduled for Finals Day 1, Thursday September 26, 2024.
The forecast is for winds to increase to 18kts with gust to 25kts and 1.3metre seas. The "racing conditions more than challenging" according to the official forecast.
Weather Prognosis:
America's Cup Weather Partner PredictWind has provided a dedicated Race Weather Center offering fans access to detailed daily weather breakdowns, live webcams and historical weather data to daily weather breakdowns written by meteorologists.
Provisional Forecast Race Day 15, Thursday September 26, 2024:
From Arnaud Monges, former America’s Cup Team Meteorologist:
A South-West wind gradient will affect Barcelona on Thursday, linked to a deep low pressure system centred over Northern Europe. In the morning the winds from the South-West are expected around 10 knots. During the afternoon, winds will increase to 14 to 18 knots from the 220° direction. Winds could be gusty with gusts up to 25 knots.
Those winds will bring waves up to 1.3 meter from the South-West at a 5-second period making racing conditions more than challenging.
It will be a sunny day with temperatures on the rise up to 29°C due to warmer air coming from the south.
UniCredit Youth America's Cup Final and Louis Vuitton Cup Race Schedule:
- UniCredit Youth America's Cup Match Race Final Start: 12:20hrs CET (10:20hrs UTC) Entry: Port: USA Starboard: ITA
- Louis Vuitton Finals Match 1: ITA vs GBR Start: 14:15hrs CET (12:15hrs UTC) Entry: Port: ITA Starboard: GBR
- Louis Vuitton Finals Match 2: GBR vs ITA Start: 15:49hrs (CET) (13:49hrs UTC) Entry: Port: GBR Starboard ITA
Thursday's Live race coverage:
Pre-race commentary:
Accurate helmsmanship, along with precise flight control will be at a premium today to avoid foil washout at critical moments.
The Finals are modelled on the America's Cup - 13 races are scheduled, and the winner will be the first to score 7pts. Generally that will be the first to win seven races, however the International Jury may impose points penalties for infringements, on and off the water, that are not covered by the Racing Rules which are adjudicated by the Umpiring team.
Two races are planned each day. The same wind limits will apply as for the earlier rounds of the Louis Vuitton Cup - a lower limit of 6.5kts and an upper limit of 21kts, measured at the top and bottom of the course (start line) using recording devices on each gate. There are a total of four devices, with the readings averaged over 30 second intervals over a five minute period between the 9th down to the 4th minute before the start. If the wind is within the allowed limits the Course Director will make a radio call (heard on the TV commentary) telling the crews that the racing is going to proceed.
If the go-ahead is given then the race proceeds regardless of what the breeze does regardless of the wind limits. Once the go-ahead is given, the only constraint on the race is that teams must make a first leg time limit of 12 minutes, and then a race time limit of 45 minutes. The length of legs, compass direction of the next leg and number of legs can all be altered by the race committee during the race.
To date no race has gone over 25 minutes duration.
The race director has the power to not start racing (even if the breeze is within the prescribed limits) if he considers the sea state is unsafe. He also has the ability to call off a race for safety reasons - a power which he came close to using during the lightning strikes on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton Cup. However Emirates Team NZ's decision to drop out of their race and sail beyond the 100metre boundary line, triggering their disqualification, and the immediate awarding of the race to Luna Rossa, meant that the Chief Umpire's actions forestalled any action on safety grounds by the Race Director.
Our coverage includes Weather, Live video, Updated images live from the race course, mark rounding statistics, rounding times, margins, and other commentary.
Course Location:
Weather Information - Louis Vuitton Cup - Finals - Day 1
Crew Lists
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