Big day for Brits in Louis Vuitton Cup

Barcelona, Spain (October 2, 2024) – A day after the Italians felt the pendulum of momentum had swung their way, the British team felt otherwise as they won both races today in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. With one more win in the next three races, the Brits will meet the Kiwi defender in the 37th America’s Cup

For INEOS Britannia, the Challenger of Record, they now sit at 6-4 against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in this first-to-seven-points series.

Under leaden cloud cover that threatened rain, and with the mistral to the north dictating an easterly airflow of 16-19 knots along with a sharp swell, INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli faced-off in the first race of the day, both eager to grab the early advantage.

A near-hook in the pre-start box on the final approaches to the line – that Luna Rossa smartly got away from – forced a split-tack start, with Britannia nailing the port end of the line as they started just eight metres back. Luna Rossa tacked off to the right and held the early positional advantage when the two boats tacked and intersected mid-course, but in the conditions, the Italians eschewed the chance to cover as INEOS Britannia ducked and headed right.

On the next cross, the roles were reversed, with Britannia holding the right-of-way, and at the first windward gate both boats executed tack-bear-away maneuvers with a two second advantage to the Italians.

Down the first run, the bigger jib size on Britannia (J4 as opposed to J5 on Luna Rossa) came into play and an early pressure puff down the right side of the course saw the British take a slender lead – an advantage which was compounded by a poor first gybe on the left boundary by Luna Rossa.

After exiting the first leeward gate, Luna Rossa briefly lost their rudder immersion causing the hull to touch the water and by the time they were back up to speed, their 100 meter deficit had doubleed.

Despite a strong fight-back from the Italians over the remaining five legs, the British stayed ahead as both boats minimized maneuvers in the rapidly building sea state. INEOS Britannia crossed the finish line with a 23-second winning delta to take the Louis Vuitton Cup Final to 5-4.

The second race of the day saw late calls on the headsail selection from both crews. When they lined up, both had the J4 set for an aggressive pre-start sequence.

In the lead back to the start line, INEOS Britannia assumed a leeward position with Luna Rossa up on their hip. Both boats had time to kill, and in the final five seconds to the start, the pair dialed away to the port end of the line with Britannia leading – a crucial difference as the two boats wound up into the wind for the start.

Italy barely hung on the Brit’s hip, hoping to gain advantage as they approached the left boundary, but it wasn’t to be as Luna Rossa who were forced to tack away first. From there it was a race of few mistakes from either crew who handled the building sea state and delivered a match race over eight legs. Luna Rossa were always the aggressor from behind, keeping the British lead to a minimum and waiting for any opportunity to arise.

They were quick to pounce when INEOS Britannia briefly cavitated their rudder and lost control while rounding the second leeward gate. The resultant distance lost opened the door for the Italians to come storming back into the race and an exciting tack-for tack battle up the first half of the fifth leg ensued.

INEOS Britannia eventually broke away to the right boundary, having spotted increased pressure at the top of the course. A favorable wind shift saw the British extend slightly but their advantage was never more than 10 seconds and the rest of the race was all down to maneuver execution – particularly downwind on the gybes.

With an even pressure now across the course, touching 21 knots at times, both crews were carefully picking their spots to maneuver in and as the finish line approached it was all-on to keep these flying AC75s at the very peak of their performance.

INEOS Britannia survived a poor first gybe on the final downwind leg as they fought to protect a lead of just nine seconds before nailing a final gybe on the starboard layline, riding high above some huge waves to keep from touching down, to bring Britannia across the line and go 6-4 up in the series.

“It’s been frustrating with this stalemate each day, and it feels like so many of the races were close to ours,” admitted Dylan Fletcher, port helm on INEOS Britannia. “So to break it today and have a nice solid performance against them feels good. The sea-state picked up quite a lot from the warm-up with the mistral blowing the swell in with metre waves that were really short, and quite breezy again so it was certainly a hard day for the pilots.”

Francesco Bruni, port helm for Luna Rossa came ashore and was upbeat about the situation the team now face. “We know very well the position. It’s not something that we like but sport is sport, and you have to accept when you lose. Today we lost in the field, no breakdowns, nothing, we just didn’t execute well a couple of things and then also didn’t sail very well.

“It was very close racing, really tough conditions but for me we still have a good chance of doing it and we definitely are not feeling the pressure. We know that we can do it and that we have to just sail the best we can now.

“I don’t feel the pressure probably because I have Jimmy (Spithill) on my side and honestly, I’m super relaxed. We haven’t made huge mistakes today, just small things here and there and we lost two points, but that’s not the end of the world. We know that we can win. We know that we can do well, and we just have to perform better the next time. We have no other chances. Jimmy has had bigger comebacks in his life, but we have to all support him, he cannot just do it by himself.”

After a maintenance day for the teams tomorrow, racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final continues October 4 with two races scheduled. If needed, the final race will be held October 5.

Viewing details – Race information – Results – Weather forecast

Following the publication of the AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule on November 17, 2021, the AC75 Class Rule and AC Technical Regulations were finalized on March 17, 2022. The entry period was from December 1, 2021 until July 31, 2022, but late entries for the 37th America’s Cup could be accepted until May 31, 2023. The Defender was to announce the Match Venue on September 17, 2021 but postponed the reveal, finally confirming Barcelona on March 30, 2022. The 37th America’s Cup begins October 12, 2024.

Teams revealed to challenge defender Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
• INEOS Britannia (GBR)
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI)
• Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA)
• NYYC American Magic (USA)
• Orient Express Racing Team (FRA)

2023-24 Preliminary Regattas
September 14-17, 2023 (AC40): Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
November 30-December 2 (AC40): Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
August 22-25, 2024 (AC75): Barcelona, Spain

2024 Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series*
August 29-September 9: Double Round Robin
September 14-19: Semi Finals (Best of 9)
September 26-October 7: Finals (Best of 13)

*Team New Zealand competes in the round robin stage only, but the results of their races were not included in the challenger leaderboard.

2024 America’s Cup
October 12-27: 37th Match (Best of 13)

For competition details, click here.

Additionally, 12 teams will compete in the Youth America’s Cup and Women’s America’s Cup.

Noticeboard: https://ac37noticeboard.acofficials.org/
Event details: www.americascup.com/en/home

Source: ACE, Scuttlebutt