As racing waned to anticlimactic close on the second day of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Final Preliminary Regatta in Barcelona, the mighty defenders of Emirates Team New Zealand were enjoying their second victory lap. But this time, they were all alone as their match mates with Orient Express Racing Team were being towed back to their base, unable to race due to a technical issue with the boat’s Foil Cant System. And with the uncontested win, the New Zealanders remain the one and only team with a perfect score line. Happy days in the Kiwi camp, but not so for the Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia.
The highlight pairing of the day was that of American Magic and Alinghi Red Bull Racing, and that’s where the action started in 10 to 12 knots of wind and flat water—easy conditions for pushing the AC75s through a lot of maneuvers. Both teams had good performances on the opening day and the push-pull start skirmish began promptly.
When it was go-time, both boats had clean starts, but it was American Magic with the better slingshot. Alinghi was just a beat late and that was late enough. The Americans on Patriot promptly flicked their rivals on BoatOne, owned the first cross and that was that. Once out front and well in control, the American Magic sailors sailed the course as they wished and with ease, and piled on the distance leg by leg, striking the finish line with a 900-plus-meter lead.
The Defender foiled into the start box in the next match of the day, this one a highly anticipated test against INEOS Britannia. Co-helmsmen Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge wasted no time engaging the Brits and getting into Sir Ben Ainslie’s head. Demonstrating the sharp maneuverability of their AC75 Taihoro, they masterfully forced the Brits into a down-speed tack in the waning seconds of the pre-start, and once Britannia was off its foils and pushing water, the race was done and dusted.
As Cup history has proven, once you give the Kiwis an open course, there’s no getting it back.
“We tried something a little bit different and it didn’t work out for us,” Ainslie said after racing. “But it’s better that we tried it now and learned from it rather than doing it next week when the event starts.”
When conditions are as settled as they were for the second day of racing, the start is everything, and even with a quick platform in Patriot, the American Magic squad were also unable to recover from a botched start, this one against the ever-aggressive Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. On the final approach to the line, the silver AC75 of the Italians had locked out the Americans, who found themselves well above the layline to the starboard end. The Italians simply bore away and started clean while Slingsby and Co. were forced to restart and follow the leader.
The Italians were flawless and fast, as were the Americans as they played chase, but the damage was done and there would be no recovery.
“Like every team, we have to learn how to dominate the start box,” Goodison said after racing. “I think anybody who is out there and dominating the starts is going to be really tough to beat. We did a great job of that in the first race, got off clean, and managed to get our nose just in front. We had a similar plan for the second start but it didn’t go our way.
“The Italians did a good job of holding us outside the line, which was tough for us. But the reaction on board was really good, the way we kept communicating, and we didn’t let it turn into an easy runaway. So, all-in-all, quite a positive day.”
The New Zealanders closed the day with their solo lap, scoring an easy point to put them atop the standings with two days of races remaining.
