A new wind direction and a larger sea state on the fourth and final day of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Final Preliminary Regatta in Barcelona came with the expectation of different outcomes, but after all was said and done, the predictable pattern of the racing remained unchanged: win the start, control the cover, maintain flight and everything will be alright.
And that’s how the first match of the day played out when the New York YC’s American Magic squared off with the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand. Whatever was the rudder breakage that sent Patriot limping home the previous day had been remedied by the shore team and the American squad were straight into an aggressive pre-start with the New Zealanders.
The Kiwis allowed the Americans to gain control of the match in the waning seconds of the start and after both boats dipped to restart American Magic had the leeward position, held high and forced Taihoro to tack away. One wind shift did the New Zealanders in, and for the first time the entire regatta, they were chasing. But American Magic’s breakaway on that first leg was too much for even the defender to overcome and the American’s put a point on the board and a positive pin in their campaign.
“Today was a great benchmark for the team,” said CEO and President of Sailing Operations after racing. “It gives optimism and allows the entire team to have confidence in what we’ve been doing for the past 22 months. The races that we did well you can see the strengths, and the races that we did poorly you can see the flaws and weaknesses in our program. We have to continue to learn and get better and improve.”
With the defender finally proven to be at least beatable, the racing then turned to the next match, Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. The Italians had been unbeaten in the races they sailed (the only one they lost early in the series was on account of a systems failure onboard the AC75 that prevented them from racing).
In what was the most exciting match of the regatta, Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s helmsman pair used the opportunity to demonstrate the maneuverability of their AC75, controlling the start a characteristically aggressive Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni. Alinghi nailed the start, forced the Italians over the line to tack and restart. When the two boats met up the course, Alinghi Red Bull Racing was comfortably ahead and appeared to be running away with it until one bad jibe on the downwind leg had them crashing back to Earth. The Italian’s got their free pass and bossed the race from there. The Alinghi Red Bull Racing boathandling slip-up reinforced the winning formula of AC75 racing: Win the start, foil through every turn, and finish the race with every bit of the boat intact. As complex as the boats are, the priorities, however, are easier said than done.
“We lost the rudder out of the jibe,” Arnaud Psarofaghis, skipper of Alinghi Red Bull Racing explained after racing. “We don’t really know what happened because afterwards the boat was working pretty well again. We need to review the data but maybe we pushed a bit too much there. It was a great fight with Luna Rossa. We kept on trying to push them away, but they kept on coming back. It was tough racing and the guys on the bikes did a really good job, because we pushed really hard on the power consumption today.”
INEOS Britannia and Orient Express Racing Team were next on the stage, and while this should have been an easy one for Sir Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher on the helms, they made it far more difficult with a botched start in which they crossed the line early, all alone, dipped to restart, but failed to clear, and then dipped again to restart properly. With a clean start they would have been long gone, but the French chased them hard around the course before the Brits got settled enough to pile on the distance and end the series with a win.
As the top two teams, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli met in the finals, the first time in AC75s since going head-to-head in Auckland at the 36th America’s Cup. With the two highest-performing squads and four of the regatta’s best helmsmen going at each other, the pre-start had its share of fireworks, with both teams putting in rapid-fire maneuvers. Luna Rossa picked up a marginal penalty when the boats soared past each other on port and starboard, but they quickly scrubbed it with a tack off the line.
Up the first leg, Luna Rossa was in control and facing the Emirates Team New Zealand every chance they could, and once ahead, the Kiwis returned the favor. In the high-paced skirmish, the Italians picked up another penalty and once the New Zealanders were out front, race command was all theirs.
As winners of the Final Preliminary Regatta, Emirates Team New Zealand, put a definitive stamp on their dominance of the regatta and the America’s Cup, proving to be fast and nimble with their AC75. They will soon exit the challenger games and watch from the sidelines as they fine-tune their own platform and playbook, eager to get back into the ring on October 12.
