Cup Spy - Day 8: French make rapid repair; US skipper injured; Racing abandoned
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 9 Sep 2024 04:04 AEST
8 September 2024
AC75 fleet awaits the instruction to leave Port Vell - Day 8 - Round Robin 2 - Louis Vuitton Cup - September 8, 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
Despite there being no racing on Day 8 of the Louis Vuitton Cup, there was no shortage of drama on and off the water at Barcelona on Sunday.
The rain bucketed down, the thunder rumbled, the seaway was high and confused, and the wind was contrary. Welcome to another day at the Barcelona weather circus.
Orient Express Racing did get sailing in the light winds and very challenging seaway. But not for long. They managed to stuff (nosedive) the boat causing some damage and necessitating the fitting the fitting of a new foredeck - all of which was bookended by two high speed tows behind their chaseboat - from the race area to the base and back out again.
The French and British crews waited through several postponements of their Match, the first of the day, before the racing was cancelled for the day at around 1620hrs CET
Despite the prospect of thunderstorms and some nasty weather, the decision was made, early in the day, to try and get racing underway on what was to have been the final day of the Round Robin phase of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Despite near ideal sailing conditions yesterday, the forecast from Predictwind warned that weather instability has returned to Barcelona. "Heavy rain and thunderstorm. Winds will not be settled, with possible strong gusts under active rain cells. Sea state will be just below 1 meter."
"Monday has more moderate conditions for racing and a lesser seastate, and the first phase of racing in the 2024 America's Cup regattas should come to a conclusion," Predictwind's specialist America's Cup forecaster Arnaud Monges continued.
The absence of skipper Paul Goodison's name on the American Magic crew list confirmed that all was not well with the 2008 Olympic Gold medalist. AC media briefly confirmed what had been widely rumoured - that Goodison had suffered a fall on the boat after sailing had finished on Saturday. He is said to have fallen backwards into an open hatchway, probably about the worst type of fall on a boat, and suffered sufficient injuries to preclude him sailing today. There has been no statement from the team, and the duration of his sailing absence is unknown.
Paul Goodison has been replaced as a co-helmsman by Lucas Calabrese (37yrs) who won a Bronze Medal for Argentinian the Mens 470 at the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth (UK). Calabrese has been a backup and testing helmsman for the team on the AC75 program. In the absence of any statement from the team it is assumed that 2012 Olympic Gold medalist and champion SailGP skipper Tom Slingsby over the racing skipper's role.
American Magic's standings on the leaderboard are not affected by the outcome of the racing on Day 8, when ever it is sailed, and they will remain in third place overall.
As has been stated ad infinitum, Day 8 will decide who will be the first of the Challenger teams to be knocked out of the Louis Vuitton Cup and America's Cup after just two weeks of racing.
The French team came close to being the first to depart Barcelona, without sailing their farewell race.
A nosedive while practicing in the confused seaway damaged the AC75, necessitated a tow at high speed back to the team base, and there it was all hands literally on deck to effect a rapid repair.
The French team did not specify what was damaged. However in similar incidents in the past it has been deck fairings that get damaged during the sudden and violent submarining.
Photographs taken during the session show the team fitting a new foredeck, and removing the old. The support and sailing crew were still screwing the new foredeck cowl into position while the AC75 was being towed at slow speed off the berth. With that task complete, and other high speed tow ensued, back to the race area, where the rest of the AC75 fleet were playing yet another game of Hurry up and Wait, while the breeze refused to settle at the minimum speed for racing.
Orient Express Racing's support crew were no doubt glad of the opportunity afforded by the racing cancellation to give the newest AC75 in the fleet a complete checkover.
On Monday, assuming the French are back in action, nothing has changed in the permutations necessary in play determine the outcome of the Round Robin phase of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
They are complex, but in the America's Cup nothing seems to be simple - with two potential ties needing to be resolved by a sail-off.
The French team Orient Express Racing team need to win their race against INEOS Britannia, in the first Match of the day, to avoid elimination, as the bottom placed team. If Orient Express Racing win their match against the British who lie in second place on the leaderboard, and Alinghi Red Bull racing lose theirs against Luna Rossa, then there is a sail off for bottom place between Orient Express and Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
At the top of the table there is a further permutation at the top of the table that would also need to be decided by a Sail-off. That race is triggered by INEOS Britannia winning their match against Orient Express, and if top of the table Luna Rossa lose their match to Alinghi Red Bull Racing, then the Swiss are saved from a sail-off and elimination.
If Luna Rossa lost to Alinghi, and INEOS Britannia won against Orient Express, then there would be a tie at the top of the points table which needs to be resolved, as the winner of the Round Robin phase gets the choice of their opponent in the Semi-Final phase.
Communications from the Race Committee
The Race Committee were run ragged by the changeable Barcelona weather, in their endeavours to bring the Round Robin to a conclusion - allowing five days before the start of the Semi-Finals on Saturday.
The Committee's communication stream tells the story of their frustrating day. (All times in CET which is two hours difference from UTC)
- 1131hrs UTC: The Race Committee have asked all boats to return to the Harbour due to weather conditions.
- 1146hrs UTC: Race Committee update: It’s our intention to monitor the storms that we think will pass in the next hour. If we don’t have confidence that we can race starting by 1515hrs and complete the program we will abandon for the day.
- 1220hrs UTC: Update from Race Committee: We expect this storm to pass at 14:45hrs and will attempt to start racing as early as 15:35hrs. If a race has not started by 16:15hrs, we will abandon for the day.
- 1240hrs UTC: Update from Race Committee: All yachts welcome to head back to the race course. Match 28: FRA vs GBR Intended start time: 15:35hrs
- 1403hrs UTC: Update from Race Committee: Start time now 16:20hrs. We will abandon for the day if this race doesn't start at that time.
- 1412hrs UTC: Racing abandoned for today. Tomorrow's reserve day will be activated.
Sunday's Live race coverage:
Weather Prognosis:
America's Cup Weather Partner PredictWind has provided a dedicated Race Weather Center offering fans access to detailed daily weather breakdowns, live webcams and historical weather data to daily weather breakdowns written by meteorologists.
Update Forecast Race Day 8: Updated.
Sunday 8th Sept
The instability is returning to Barcelona and rough weather is expected. There is a risk of heavy rain and thunderstorm. Winds will not be settled, with possible strong gusts under active rain cells. Sea state will be just below 1 meter.
Monday 9th Sept
The instability will be gone and the weather will be back to normal. The winds will be offshore in the morning from the North-West. In the afternoon we expect a weak southerly breeze to develop. It will be sunny and temperatures will be few degrees colder from the previous week. Sea state will drop to half a meter.
Race Program and Crew Lists
Programme for Sunday 8/09. The AC Media Centre has confirmed that racing will proceed on schedule.
Schedule:
Match 28: FRA (Port) vs GBR (S'bd); Start 14:10hrs CET
Match 29: ITA (Port) vs SUI (S'bd); Start to be advised
Match 30: NZL (Port) vs USA (S'bd); Start to be advised
Match 31 (Sail off if required); Start time and entry sides to be announced
Louis Vuitton Cup Points and Leaderboard after Day 7
Series format
There are two phases of Round Robin racing, four races are scheduled to be sailed, with six teams competing and two of those will be sailing twice. The day's pairings can reread from the graphic below.
Virtual Eye
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After the racing you can replay the key points, or the whole race using Virtual Eye from ARL
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Additional Images: