America's Cup: Score 1-1 after Italians write another page in Cup history
by Ben Gladwell - Sail-World NZL 9 Mar 2021 19:54 PST
Luna Rossa - Race 2 - 36th America's Cup - Auckland March 10, 2021 © Carlo Borlenghi
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli became only the second Italian yacht to win an America's Cup race with an end to end win, in Race 2 of the opening day of the 36th America's Cup. Emirates Team NZ had an end to end win in Race 1.
Here's how the two races unfolded.
Race 1
Shortly before the start there was a big wind shift which caused the racecourse to be moved, but the breeze is stable at around 11 knots and flat water.
In the prestart ETNZ looked much more lively than their counterparts. There wasn't a lot of engagement between the two teams, with the prestart largely determined by a time on distance. Luna Rossa lead the charge back to the line and were slightly early so had to kill a little time. Luna Rossa started ahead and to leeward of the Kiwi boat, trying to squeeze up to them and force a tack. ETNZ proved too quick and were able to push ahead and climb off to windward so that when Luna Rossa swung their bow up and score a penalty, New Zealand was well clear and no penalty was awarded.
For Luna Rossa it proved a costly manoeuvre and the aggressive turn caused them to drop 100 metres behind. The boats stayed close together on the first upwind with ETNZ holding them off by 100m ahead. Luna Rossa looked to have a slight edge in VMG but the Kiwis had a clear advantage through the tacks. Team NZ lead all the way to the top mark and rounded the left hand mark, their speed ramping up to 46 knots. Luna Rossa rounded the same mark, maxing out at 44.5 knots.
Team NZ's lead extended out to 300 metres, their VMG consistently around a knot faster. By the time the two boats reached the bottom half of the course the defender's lead had stretched out to around 400m, rounding the mark 23 seconds ahead. Luna Rossa went for a gybe, trying to gain a split course for the next leg, right at the mark which cost them a few seconds. Splitting off from the Kiwis paid early for Luna Rossa, gaining back some of the deficit, but once ETNZ tacked over onto the same board, the advantage swung back Burling's way. The lead stretched back to 300m by the time they reached the mid way point in the leg.
Emirates Team New Zealand seemed keen to sail their own race and look for the pressure rather than trying to control Luna Rossa. At the top of the second beat, Luna Rossa was 19 seconds behind, so can take heart in the fact that they are at least competitive if not quicker upwind. On the second downwind, they seemed much more closely matched than on the first lap, chipping another two seconds off ETNZ's lead.
Both boats headed for the right-hand boundary where ETNZ would set up to windward and ahead by about 275 metres. Their tacks are certainly a click better than the Italians, only having to spend around 10 metres of their lead to complete a manoeuvre. This race has largely been a precession with little or no covering by ETNZ. At the top of the last upwind leg, they had picked up another second. Once they rounded the mark the lead stretched very quickly again, out to almost 450m. They have a clear advantage downwind. Continuing their form from the Christmas Cup, the Kiwi crew sailed a good first lap, an average second lap and then hit another gear on the final lap. They would cross the finish line 31 seconds in front to go up 1-0.
Race 2
The breeze had built for race two, with rain clouds threatening. The wind was now 14 to 15 knots and both boats had changed jibs in anticipation. Emirates Team New Zealand clocked north of 50 knots as they reached across to the starboard side of the course before entering the start box. As we saw in the Prada Cup, both boats went to the hard right hand corner of the start box with ETNZ opting to tack and Luna Rossa gybing, so there was a lot of separation between the boats with ETNZ to windward. We were set with a similar start to the first race with Luna Rossa leading but were on line with the Kiwi boat, forcing them into the wing wash and making the Kiwis tack early to get clear. Luna Rossa tacked in time with them and followed the Kiwis to the right hand boundary. This was a great example of some aggressive but accurate sailing from Spithill.
Once the boats had both tacked at the boundary, Luna Rossa settled into a lead of about 65 metres but were losing ground. ETNZ bailed out despite making ground on the Italians. The first beat turned into a contest to see who could sail the highest, boat speed be damned. Luna Rossa reached the top mark ahead as ETNZ had a shocker of a final tack and dropped back to around 200m behind. Luna Rossa showed much better pace downwind in this second race, pulling away from Burling and crew to around 300m by the bottom of the course.
ETNZ nailed a gybe rounding at the bottom mark to gain a split course. They only picked up one second on the first downwind, rounding 11 seconds back. ETNZ looked much more aggressive on the second lap, making Luna Rossa tack a lot more than previously where they had just followed their competitors around the race track.
Luna Rossa looked back to their best as they were against Ineos, staying nicely in phase with the shifts in the breeze and slowly stretching their lead out to around 350 metres and 23 seconds. Down wind, Luna Rossa seemed to have all the answers, stretching their lead even further as Team NZ followed them around the course. ETNZ rounded 24 seconds behind.
Luna Rossa went for a tack rounding at the bottom mark which is a very slow manoeuvre, letting ETNZ do a conventional rounding and gain a split again. The manoeuvre slashed Luna Rossa's lead back down to around 180 metres. A decent tacking duel up this final upwind saw ETNZ creep back into the race a little more, slicing 10-15 metres off Luna Rossa's lead at each tack, rounding the final mark 12 seconds behind. ETNZ found some wheels on the last downwind, making further gains but Luna Rossa were able to get across and shut down the passing lane on the left-hand boundary. ETNZ went for a last-ditch effort to get around Luna Rossa and gybed away with a few hundred metres to go and looked to be making gains but ran out of race track. Luna Rossa crossed the line 8 seconds ahead.