Prada Cup Final: Day 1 - Italians seize the right and take two wins
by Ben Gladwell - Sail-World NZL 12 Feb 2021 19:18 PST
13 February 2021
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli warms up for racing in the Prada Cup Final © COR36 / Studio Borlenghi
The weather gods once again doing their bit to help Auckland Tourism but less so the sailors and spectators of Day 1 of the Prada Cup Final.
A stunningly sunny day had seen what was a good sailing breeze of 12 to 14 knots drop down to around 8 knots at the bottom of the course, reducing towards the top section of the race track. It was fighting a seabreeze from the west coast that was blowing a healthy 15kts before the 4.15pm scheduled start which was delayed everal times waiting for the wind to settle.
With the breeze struggling to overcome its rival on the west coast, the question was whether INEOS Team UK had overcome their Achilles Heel of struggling to foil in the light - a flaw that was so evident in the America's Cup World Series in December.
The alarm bells started ringing when the team chase boat threw Britannia a towline and the Brits had to be towed onto the foils, and then started sailing in the minimum windstrength seabreeze which began to build into something more solid about 15 minutes into the race.
Here how the racing unfolded:
Race 1:
Most sailing fans were expecting a serious showdown in the first pre-start as two of the most aggressive skippers lock horns in race one, however, they were to be disappointed as the light winds perhaps made the helmsmen a little tentative side when it came to engaging in the pre-start. There had been some speculation about whether it would have been more advantageous to have gained direct entry to the final or to go through the semi-final/repechage. Ineos, victors of the round-robin stage, gained direct entry and an extra week in the boat shed to make some modifications and polish the boat.
Luna Rossa spent that week racing and polishing their boat handling as was the lot of Luna Rossa. At the time, Ineos seemed happy to take the week in the shed, however, they made a pretty rusty start to the final series. Ben Ainslie and crew entered the start box early and earned a penalty before Luna Rossa could even take a look at them and then fell off the foils. The result was that they handed Spithill, Bruni, and crew a 700m lead before they could get underway.
Luna Rossa sailed a clean if uneventful first beat, doing the bare minimum of manoeuvres and rounding the mark 1:20 in front. The breeze looked to be building as the afternoon got warmer and the north nor-easterly sea breeze gained supremacy over the sou-wester. With the boats 800m apart on the course, Luna Rossa were allowed to resume their usual formula of sailing the shifts and only putting a loose cover on their opponent. Ineos looked under pressure, picking up a boundary penalty and seemingly struggling to foil through the manoeuvres. By the bottom gate, the had dropped another 16 seconds to be 1:36 behind.
The boat speed edge went to Luna Rossa by a knot or so upwind, but the VMG difference was a much more significant 3 knots, showing that Luna Rossa was a bit faster but able to sail a lot higher. Looking at the tracks of the boats, Luna Rossa were also able to sail a lot higher out of the tacks than Ineos who appeared to require a big speed build before and after each manoeuvre in order to maintain their ride height on the foils. By the top mark, the delta had ballooned out to 1:56. On the subsequent downwind, Luna Rossa was now far enough in front that they could completely ignore their opponent and concentrate on staying in phase with the oscillations of the breeze. By now the breeze had stabilized to average 14 knots and rotated around to 15 degrees to the right. This spelt bad news for the trailing Ineos as it made it a one-way racetrack, shutting down most potential passing lanes.
As the wind speed increased, the speed difference between the boats started to erode, with Ineos dropping just 10 seconds in the last two laps. For race two, it is likely that we will see a much closer fought battle.
Race 2:
With the breeze up, the jibs changed and a fresh set of grinders onboard Ineos, we were in for a differentt race. The breeze had increased to an average of 17 knots, peaking at 20 knots according to the live weather station on Bean Rock lighthouse in Auckland Harbour.
Immediately obvious was the difference in the size of the jibs, with Luna Rossa choosing a much smaller headsail than the British boat. It seemed to be a good call with no shortage of power as they entered the start box at over 48 knots.
Still, spectators were left waiting for a punchy pre-start. Limited engagement from either helmsman saw the boats start side by side with Ineos ahead and to leeward getting the better of the start. Luna Rossa decided they couldn't live on Ineos' hip and elected to bail out what seemed to be a little early and head for the hight hand boundary. When they came back together, the power of the right, Luna Rossa crossed just a couple of boat lengths in front. At the second cross their lead had grown to a little over 100m. If Luna Rossa still had a speed advantage, it was nothing compared to what they had enjoyed in race one.
As they rounded the mark, the delta was just 11 seconds. Ineos opted for an early gybe, seeking a split, but Luna Rossa kept a tight cover at went with them. There was little to speak of in terms of boat speed between the boats but it seemed that Luna Rossa had found the better breeze and pulled out around 5 seconds. At the bottom mark, Ineos were allowed their first real split. Keeping both boards down around the mark for a long time, they turned very tightly as they rounded up. Luna Rossa, who initially had gone for the right-hand side of the course, chose to come back across to the left and as they crossed Ineos they were around 180m in front.
Ineos didn't have a brilliant top half of this beat, after having got back into Luna Rossa in the first half of the leg they handed back all they had gained and more, now rounding 19 seconds back. Luna Rossa appeared to have picked the better of the marks to round and set off downwind in a decent puff of wind. Luna Rossa surged out to a lead of more than 450m, but Ineos found their own zephyr that propelled them down towards the bottom gate at pace, holding the deficit at the bottom mark at 16 seconds.
As they began the final lap of the second race, Ineos was facing a defecit of 250 metres. Luna Rossa slotted back into the traditional match racing tactics of close covering their opponent, always tacking to position themselves directly upwind of Ineos. Ainslie appeared now to realize that he wasn't going to beat the Italians with boat speed so put in a few extra tacks to tempt them into making an unforced error, but Spithill and Bruni's boat handling was as slick as ever, rounding the top mark and heading for home with an advantage of 26 seconds.
A smooth downwind saw Luna Rossa go up 2-0 in the race to 7 victories. Ineos clearly stepped their game up between the ACWS and Prada Cup Round-robin, but after dropping a race in light winds and then another in stronger winds, the question has to be asked, have they spent their chips?
Check in on Sail-World.com tomorrow for more live coverage as races 3 and 4 get underway.