With one day of respite, and a collective chance for the challengers of the Louis Vuitton Cup to regroup, Alinghi Red Bull Racing, the one team still sitting on a winless record returned to the racecourse against the French of Orient Express Racing Team to commence the second phase of the early round robins. The battle for the wooden spoon and an early exit was well and truly on.
An active weather pattern over Barcelona promised changeable conditions for the day’s races, and the Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Orient Express contest got going on time with gusting winds and turbulent skies.
At 15 seconds, Alinghi dropped off the foils, but with the French late back to the line were able to accelerate and slingshot off the line in the leeward controlling position. The Swiss were first to tack off the left-hand boundary with a leading tack and the French responded simultaneously, losing grip of the rudder through the tack and forcing them to bear away to regain control of the AC75.
Through the roughly 27-second speed build that followed, Orient Express Racing Team’s deficit grew from 50 meters to 240 before the bleeding finally stopped. Shortly afterward, the French flubbed a tack after getting too high on the foils through the turn and found themselves parked, watching Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s BoatOne tear away toward its first point of the series.
“We struggled to sail the boat on the upwind,” said Orient’s starboard helmsman Quentin Delapierre, in his post-race interview. “We had some technical issues until the end.”
But there was no pressure following the frustrating loss, he added, as the French and Swiss are now on equal points with only five days of racing before one team feels the sting of elimination.
The second match of the day, between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, was set up to be another ringer between these two America’s Cup 36 rivals. With storm cells brewing over the nearby mountains, this one had a foreboding aura to it as Luna Rossa entered on starboard entry at 46 knots. Co-helms Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni promptly gave chase to the Kiwis and split high through the first circle in the right side of the start box. From a high position in the box, the Italians pushed the New Zealanders toward the line and rolled over the top for a clean start, ahead and to leeward.
“All credit to the boys on the bikes,” Spithill said after racing. “That start required all the oil we had and will probably ever use. To be able to do that is a real sign of strength.”
The New Zealanders knew they were toast and rushed their tack, dropping off the foils and watching the Italians soar away into the lead at 40 knots to the Kiwi’s 10.
“A bit of a mistake on my behalf, just letting them sit a little bit too far forward,” ETNZ starboard helmsman Peter Burling said afterward. “I didn’t think they’d be able to accelerate quite as well as they did, and then we ended up in a really tricky situation once they did get over the top of us. Once you blow off a foil and it’s not got flow attached to it, everything gets really weird and you end up with strange angles.”
Burling and his opposite-side helmsman, Nathan Outteridge, gave chase as best they could, but the Italians were again on form, controlling the race from the front and picking their way though what was the most unpredictable conditions of the series thus far.
The Italians were through the final windward gate with a 700-plus meter lead and well on their way down the final leg, looking to pocket another win, when a lightning bolt touched down near the racecourse and rattled the Kiwis, who promptly sailed off the course and away from the storm cell for a disqualification.
The race committee terminated the race before the Italians could finish, but they too were happy foil away from any chance of another strike and—unofficially—a win against the defenders.
The race committee then abandoned racing for the afternoon, pushing the remaining matches to the following day, which kicks off with an important meeting between American Magic and INEOS Britannia, both keen to match the consistency and performance of the Italians who remain the Louis Vuitton Cup’s top performer and the gatekeeper to the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match in October.
