Louis Vuitton Cup Final Day 2
by Mark Jardine 28 Sep 2024 08:11 PDT
28 September 2024
A lighter wind day in Barcelona for the second day of racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final after the racing right at the top of the wind limit on Thursday.
Could this play into Luna Rossa's favour and once again expose INEOS Britannia's Achilles' heel, or have the British managed to improve their performance tacking and gybing in the 5-8 knot wind range?
As British coach Rob Wilson said prestart, "You've got to stick every manoeuvre otherwise you'll get punished."
Italian coach Philippe Presti added about the pre-start and finding clear air, "These boats generate heaps of bad airflow behind their sailplan. The main goal is to visualise this airflow and avoid it, because if you try to manoeuvre in this or build speed, it's just going to be a disaster. The play is really a mental game, looking at the trail of the boat and you try to understand where you put your sails and fill them after a manoeuvre."
In the battle to seven points, if one team manages to win both races they will be almost halfway to that target. The question being asked was will we end today with even honours again or with one team gaining a huge advantage.
The other big question was whether we would get racing at all in the light winds.
Broadcast
- The helicopter view in the pre-start is essential as pre-start tactics are evolving. Boat close-up shots are pretty at this point, but mean we miss the tactics in play.
- The wind speed and direction graphics on the course area are extremely useful. It would be great to see these more often.
- When a race is against the time limit, we need to see the Race Time Limit clock the whole time.
INEOS Britannia vs. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
After a two hour delay waiting for the breeze to hit the minimum 6.5 knot wind limit, racing was finally under way with the course reduced from 8 to 6 legs.
Luna Rossa lined up very early, so had time to kill approaching the line, with both boats lining up from above the line in the light winds.
INEOS Britannia came off the favoured right hand side of the line and were able to eek out enough of a lead to tack on top of Luna Rossa when they came across from the left boundary.
The British then made a huge gain on the right when the Italian boat tacked and hit entirely different pressure.
At the first windward gate INEOS Britannia had a 19 second lead, but Luna Rossa chose the opposition buoy and piled downwind in strong pressure to take the lead ahead of their first gybe.
The British team then retook the lead on starboard gybe, soaking down towards the Italian silver bullet. Just as it looked like the Italians were gaining, they lost control of their rudder in a gybe, and only just saved it before the boat fell off the foils. The mistake cost them a hundred metres.
INEOS Britannia rounded the first leeward gate 15 seconds in the lead, but the wind was very patchy, and only around 6 knots in the lulls, so no lead could be regarded as safe.
The British calmly made their way upwind, careful to build speed before each tack to stay foiling as well as keeping a close eye on the Italian boat. The danger area was at the windward gate where the wind was lightest.
Once safely round the second windward gate, Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher discussed when to gybe, staying fast and using the pressure to keep foiling. Luna Rossa rounded 1 minute 28 seconds behind. The lead may have felt big, but one touchdown could change that in an instant.
The evolving communication on INEOS Britannia became evident with Dylan telling Ben that 'There will be a bit of gas on exit' during a tack, with Ben replying 'Copy' as he gave the boat a bit more power out of the tack to ride through the disturbed air which Luna Rossa created downwind.
Staying on the foils became increasingly difficult on the final upwind leg with Ben Ainslie saying, "Really focus in here, this is everything" as they flirted right on the edge of foiling. They kept it up, but Luna Rossa weren't so lucky with the hull dropping into the water.
The wind though was decreasing all the time, and INEOS Britannia gave it a touch too much leeward heel going into a tack, rising too high out of the water, losing control of the rudder and crashing down into the water. This was now a lowriding race in just 4 or 5 knots of wind, with 16 minutes to complete the last part of the upwind leg and the final downwind leg to the finish.
If one team could find a gust and get foiling they'd be away and the British boat's 500 metre lead would mean nothing. In the meantime the Race Time Limit clock relentlessly counted down.
Time waits for no one, and the 45 minute race time limit looked like it was going to be the winner as Luna Rossa rounded the final windward gate 5 minutes 59 seconds behind INEOS Britannia.
The British boat tried everything to get foiling, including pointing upwind at times, but there simply wasn't enough wind to do so, and the race was abandoned, soon followed by the Race Committee calling it quits for the day.
While INEOS Britannia will regard this as a lost point, they can take great confidence from how they sailed in the light winds. It looked very much like they were setting up better for the manoeuvres to stay foiling, and setting the rig well for maximum power in the luls.
No points won, but a big question answered for the Brits.