Cup Spy - Day 14: Luna Rossa progresses to Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Final
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 19 Sep 09:25 PDT
Luna Rossa and American Magic congratulate each other - Semi-Finals - Louis Vuitton Cup - Day 14 - September 19, 2024 - Barcelona © Ian Roman / America's Cup
After the drama of Wednesday's racing, when the New York YC's team, American Magic, clawed their way back from being 4-1 down to 4-3, their fate was decided in just 23 minutes of racing in a breeze of 9-11kts with 20° shifts.
By definition, the contest between the second and third qualifiers from the Round Robin phase was always going to be a battle, and it was much tighter than the other Semi-Final between the British and Swiss teams, which was decided Thursday.
Luna Rossa's shore team put in a herculean effort to repair the, now admitted to be serious damage, from yesterday's mainsheet/traveller explosion. They got their reward when Luna Rossa closed off their Finals place in just the first race of Day 5.
Friday's race was over during the opening stanzas.
Just over halfway up the first leg, after having won the start, American Magic narrowly crossed over Luna Rossa's bow and immediately put in a covering tack. That should have dropped the Italians into Patriot's rig turbulence, but the breeze went squirrely for American Magic at a critical time.
Instead of being easily able to cross Luna Rossa, American Magic only just squeaked across their bow. The Italians sailed a little lower for a few seconds, generating sufficient momentum to foil through to leeward and out the other side in clear air, and led for the rest of the race.
American Magic came back to an 8sec margin at Mark 3, but catching was one thing, and passing was another - and that was as close as it got.
Race over. Series over. AC37 Campaign over.
But that is always the brutal end for all but one America's Cup program.
American Magic will die wondering if the outcome could have been very different.
The most obvious factor was skipper and Olympic gold medalist Paul Goodison's step back a few days before the start of the Semi-Final. He fell into an open hatchway and injured five ribs, forcing his removal from the sailing crew.
Backup co-helmsman Lucas Calabrese took his place.
With just five days of sailing experience in the AC75 - the Argentinian Olympic 470 Bronze medalist's learning curve was always going to be near vertical. He did well. Very well - to fill the big shoes left by Paul Goodison. In the end, American Magic was a potent weapon, but coming back from 4-0 after the opening weekend was a big ask.
We've seen Tom Slingsby snatch victory from the jaws of defeat so often in the last gasps of a SailGP regatta, creating the expectation that he could do so in an America's Cup. But it was not to be.
Much of the heavy lifting in the Semis fell to Australian Olympic Gold medalist and three times SailGP World champion Tom Slingsby, who stepped seamlessly into the role in very difficult circumstances. He and Calabrese, with five days together, were up against the Luna Rossa co-helm combination of Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni, who were on their second America's Cup campaign in the Italian afterguard. That experience included taking the current Defender to 3-3 after six races in the 2021 America's Cup
It was impossible to replicate the combination of two Olympic Gold medalists just before the start of a sudden-death five-race knockout series. Both Goodison and Slingsby are foiling Moth World champions with 70 days of sailing AC75s together.
The depth of that Goodison/Slingsby combination might just have been sufficient to stop Luna Rossa from going to a four-win lead in last weekend's racing. It was going to take an effort of Australia II proportions to win five races in succession; American Magic got 60% of the way there.
The sailing proverb, "You can't win a regatta on the first day, but you can lose it", was prophetic for American Magic. The Semi-Final scheduling should not have been such that the Semis could have been over in less than three days—it puts too much bias on a single weather condition and does not allow time for boat repair.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, now on their sixth or seventh challenge - depending on how you view their 2017 effort - looked to be near unbeatable in the Preliminary Regatta racing, came back from that position of dominance to lose three successive races in the Semi-Final. The Italians would have been the top qualifier but for a software glitch with their starboard foil arm mechanism, letting INEOS Britannia leapfrog them on the overall points table.
The scene is now set for a replay of the 2021 Challenger Final in Auckland, with INEOS Britannia once again pitching against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.
If the British prevail, it will be their first America's Cup Match since Sovereign in 1964, skippered by Peter Scott, son of Scott of the Antarctic.
A win in the Challenger Final will be Luna Rossa's entry ticket to a third America's Cup Match.
All four semi-finalists improved significantly over the series, shoring up their weaknesses rather than building their strengths. A focus for all has been communication and being able to puddle jump the pockets of wind pressure and hunt out the lifts and knocks so vital to achieving their target VMGs.
The work-on area for all would seem to be foiling in a breeze of 5kts or less, perfecting tacks and gybes, and maybe building tacking or grannying around in the ultra-light.
While most talk of how a rugged Challenger Series is a good buildup into the America's Cup, that was not the case when Luna Rossa was the Challenger in the 2000 America's Cup in Auckland. Remember the battle to the death between Prada Challenge and America One, when the Italians won 5-4, and the US team kept shredding its lime green spinnakers and scored DNFs in Races 3&4?
Then plain old Team New Zealand came to the business end of that regatta—having only had in-house racing and won five straight races to defend the Cup. The consensus was that the Italians had done their best racing in the Finals and were battle-weary rather than battle-hardened.
From that perspective, the Challenger Final of the Louis Vuitton Cup will be interesting not only because of who will prevail but also because of the intensity of the fight — remembering what is to come.
The racing in the UniCredit Youth America's Cup was postponed until tomorrow Friday.
Commentary:
You can see Thursday's racing Live here:
Race Summary:
Semi Final 1 - Match 8 : American Magic (USA) vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA)
The two AC75s wound up in the starboard corner of the pre-start area and then broke away 30 secs before the start. They were both early for the line with USA leading down the line. ITA goes first into shore - as instructed by their coaches. USA got ITA on their first cross and the two split tacks again. Finally USA on port crossed ITA on starboard and tacked to put a close cover on ITA. ITA has the speed to be able to sail through USA's turbulence and out the other side into clear air.
Mark 1: 04min 03secs ITA led USA margin 20sec. On the water 275metres on Leg 2. USA goes for starboard boundary and comes back at 40.5kts at Gate 2.
Mark 2: 07min 25secs ITA led USA margin 21sec. Distance on the water 300metres on Leg 3. Both trying to stay in phase rather than LRPP covering. USA hacking into LRPP lead by pointing pointing higher. Lead down to 87metres. Take opposite gates - LRPP on port gate.
Mark 3: 12m 03secs ITA lead USA margin 8secs. ITA go into the port to corner and extend to a 300 metre lead after USA went into the starboard corner and boundary. Wind claimed to be 11.4kts. USA do a small touch down in a gybe.
Mark 4: 15m 27secs ITA lead USA margin 22secs. Distance 370metres on Leg 4. ITA extends to 500metres on Leg 4. USA has to do an extra tack to get to the mark
Mark 5: 19m 36secs ITA lead USA margin 51secs. Distance 700metres on the water.
Finish: 22m 56secs ITA lead USA margin 61secs. ITA progresses to the LVC Challenger Final.
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.
Provisional Forecast Race Day 14:
Thursday 19th Sept
From Arnaud Monges - former America’s Cup Team Meteorologist
In the morning, winds will be light and variable. By mid-day a Southerly flow will start to fill in and build from 6 to 11 knots during the afternoon racing. Waves will be at 0.8 meter from the East with a 6-second period. The wind and waves direction are at a 90° angle and make foiling more difficult.
The sky will be partly sunny and cloudy, little chance of showers, and temperatures up to 23°C over land.
Friday 20th Sept
The weather will deteriorate and rain and showers are expected throughout the day. In the afternoon winds from the East around 5 to 10 knots are forecasted but those winds are likely to be unstable because of the rain. Look for our next update before race time on Friday morning with the latest model runs.
While you're waiting for the coverage to start you can update with the following:
Virtual Eye
After the racing you can replay the key points, or the whole race using Virtual Eye from ARL
You can go directly to the Virtual Eye America's Cup coverage by clicking here and click on "Watch Previous" then select the race you wish to view. Virtual Eye is a 3D viewer so you can zoom in, out, around and up and down just like you could in a helicopter.
Inside Tack:
INEOS Britannia's Freddie Carr talks with Giles Scott and Dylan Fletcher as they review the previous day's sailing. Always a very honest and informative show.
Proposed Match Schedule:
- Semi Final 1 - Match 8 : American Magic (USA) vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA)
- Semi Final 1 - Match 9 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) vs American Magic (USA)
Course Location:
Crew Lists
Additional Images: