INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli took to the waters of Barcelona for another two races in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final


To date, the racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final (the America’s Cup Challenger Selection Series) has largely taken place in pretty windy conditions. Today, Wednesday 2 October saw the wind conditions moderate slightly into the mid-teens.

However, where the last few days of racing has seen the South Westerly Garbí wind the predominant factor, racing today saw the wind coming from the east. As such, while the forecast was for 15-18 knot winds again, the direction would make both the wind speed and the shifts much more unstable, possibly meaning more passing lanes in today’s racing.

The change in weather conditions also meant that an increased and more confused seastate was present – particularly compared to the flat water over the last few days. And it was these lumpy sea conditions that would really challenge the teams today in their foiling AC75s.

So far this has been an incredibly tight regatta with both teams heading into today’s racing with four wins apiece in the best of 13 (first to seven) series.

Key takeaways from the Louis Vuitton Cup Final Day 6

  • INEOS are now 1 win from the America’s Cup
  • Luna Rossa need to win all three races on Friday and Saturday
  • Luna Rossa looked weaker in today’s wavy conditions
  • INEOS minimised mistakes and sailed a controlled couple of races

Race 9 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher
At the start Luna Rossa were first into the startbox and INEOS Britannia immediately gybed round to follow the Italians out to the right hand boundary.

The Italians gybed at the boundary and the Brits gybed in front of them, allowing Luna Rossa to use their overspeed to try to get over the top of the Brits. But Ainslie and Fletcher were alive to the situation and carried enough speed to be overlapped to leeward and luffed to try to get a windward / leeward penalty against the Italians. But it was called no penalty.

However, the Brits were in the control position with both teams a little early for the line and the Italians elected to tack onto port instead of being pinned and forced over the startline early.

Luna Rossa tack onto port out of the start. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

When the Brits got to the left hand boundary they looked to be fractionally ahead of the Italians, who were on the opposite boundary, but a poor tack from INEOS gave up some ground and, at the cross, INEOS had to duck the starboard tack Luna Rossa.

By the time the two teams bounced off the next boundary it was Luna Rossa needing to duck INEOS and the boats remained dead level as they rounded the windward gate with the starboard tack Luna Rossa tacking onto port and rounding the right hand buoy (looking upwind) and the Brits tacking onto starboard to round the opposite gate mark.

Luna Rossa looked a little shaky round the windward mark with the seaway causing foiling difficulty for both teams and it was INEOS Britannia who were ahead on the first cross downwind.

The British AC75 has looked quick downwind all series and they managed to step away a bit on the first downwind to lead at the leeward gate by 12 seconds. But at least some of the gains from the Brits came from them sailing in better pressure on the downwind and that tiny mistake by the Italians at the top gate.

With manoeuvres potentially costly INEOS did not keep a close cover on Luna Rossa on the upwind, occasionally allowing them to split away in order to reduce manoeuvres and it was the Brits who continued to lead at the top mark by 9 seconds.

On the next downwind it was the turn of Luna Rossa to get the best of the pressure and the Italians rounded the leeward gate mark only 7 seconds behind.

But the Italians rounded directly into a big wave and they lost grip on the rudder to skid sideways and drop off the foils. It was only a brief wobble and they were foiling again quickly, but it was enough to let the Brits extend their lead to 250m.

"It’s so difficult out here it’s right on edge, so the teams are really just nursing [the boats] round," explained British coach, Rob Wilson of the wavy conditions. "The waves put the rudder right on edge so if you go too traveller up or you haven’t got the loading just right you lose the rudder,"

Philipe Presti, Luna Rossa’s coach later admitted that his team had started the race with a smaller than ideal jib as they expected a little more wind. So it seems likely this was the cause of Luna Rossa’s slight imbalance.

It was that mistake which spelt the end of the race for Luna Rossa. Although they were able to make gains here and there it was a comfortable lead for the British team, who were able to cover loosely upwind too lead around the final windward gate with a 13 second lead, which they converted to a race win.

"We ate on a knife-edge today with the waves rather than yesterday with the wind speed. But to be honest it’s pretty much as difficult on both conditions," said Ainslie after the finish.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Final Race 9?

This was certainly the least controlled that Luna Rossa have looked this series and a number of their manoeuvres they appeared to be on the very edge of control. It’s certainly unusual to see from a team who are normally so controlled and smooth. Of course the question will be how much that came down to sail selection. "We were just struggling a little bit with the jib… we were not set up well," said Franceso Bruni.

INEOS looked pretty impressive in these conditions and, more encouraging the team did not get too lost in worrying about being denied a penalty in the start that looked marginal, but on first glance certainly looked like it could have gone the way of the British team.

INEOS have the advantage at the start of race 10. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 10 INEOS Britannia vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher
In the break between racing Luna Rossa had elected to sail with a larger jib for this second race of the day today, so this race should prove whether it was that decision alone that accounted for the Italian’s instability in the last race.

INEOS Britannia were first into the startbox on port tack and Luna Rossa gybed strait away to follow the Brits. But once again the Brits clearly wanted to be the chasing boat and tacked around the follow the Italians out to the right hand boundary.

Again the Italians gybed on the boundary and INEOS gybed dead in front of them. And it looked like the Spithill and Bruni might be able to get underneath the Brits and hook them, but Luna Rossa slipped to leeward on her foils and the Brits were able to sail across their bow and get into position to leeward.

The Italians did a very good job of building height to give themselves a decent gap. However, both boats were early for the start, so the Italians had to foot into that space so they were not over at the start.

At the gun INEOS Britannia were sightly ahead of Luna Rossa and very close to leeward. Luna Rossa could not live there too long and tacked a little before the boundary immediately followed by Ainslie and Fletcher.

The Italians tacked in the middle of the course and INEOS tacked straight on their face forcing Spithill and Bruni to tack away immediately.

Tough conditions in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Instead of going back with them INEOS decided to not to keep a tight cover on they competition to minimise risky manoeuvres. At the windward gate it was INEOS with a 3 second lead heading around the right hand buoy and Luna Rossa splitting to the left buoy.

Once again INEOS looked to have a tiny advantage downwind and manoeuvring today and managed to step away from their competition on the first downwind to lead a the leeward gate by 11 seconds.

Once again on the upwind it was a question of choosing manoeuvres and Ainslie and Fletcher looked happy to sail the shifts and puffs over and above just keeping a tight cover on their competition to lead around the windward gate by 12 seconds.

But at the bottom third of the next downwind the Brits had a big wobble, losing the rudder and having to drop a windward board into the water to settle the boat down. That wobble allowed the Italians to close right up and they followed the British team around the right hand leeward gate only a couple of boatlenghts behind.

Luna Rossa managed to initiate a tacking duel up the beat and looked strong, but the Brits then elected to settle for sailing the puffs and shifts over and above engaging with their competition and still led at the windward gate by 8 seconds. But that did not translate into much of a gap as the Italians followed them around the right hand mark.

Once again the Brit’s pace allowed them to extend a little on the downwind to lead around the leeward gate in by 12 seconds, but there was very little in it for the final upwind and the gap had reduced to 9 seconds by the final windward gate rounding.

The Italians were really on the charge on the final downwind, managing to make some gains on the Brits, but it was never going to be enough this late without a mistake from the Brits and INEOS crossed the finish line to take the win 8 seconds ahead to go 6-4 up in the first to 7 series.

"It was a good effort from the team. It’s bloody hard to sail these boats in these waves. The team did a good job and it’s great to get two ahead but there’s a way to go and we still need to get to 7," said Ainslie after racing.

"It was really challenging conditions. Full credit to INEOS for getting the wins. We’ll come out the next day swinging," said Spithill. "They obviously had an edge in the first race but in the second one I though [the performance was] similar."

INEOS are 1 win away from the America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Final Race 10?

This was a huge day, no matter how you cut it and INEOS looked the stronger of the two boats today. By some distance in the first race but still by a little in the second. And now the Brits are sitting 1 win away from the America’s Cup you have to say they are far and away the more likely team to go through.

I’ve been critical of the Brits for a number of unforced errors previously, but today saw the team looking very strong in very tough conditions and they fully deserved to win both races today.

However, Luna Rossa are perfectly capable of taking three race wins in a row and are a long way from being out of this. And Jimmy Spithill has previous in coming

Tomorrow, Thursday 4 October is a reserve day in the competition and the forecast of for much lighter wind on Friday when racing resumes.