Louis Vuitton Cup Final Day 6 - A big swell makes life 'interesting' for the sailors
by Mark Jardine 3 Oct 2024 00:24 AEST
2 October 2024
Another superb sailing day in Barcelona, with around 17 knots powering the AC75s at 40+ knots at all points of sail.
Would Luna Rossa carry the momentum and impetus they gained from winning after yesterday's repair, or would INEOS Britannia regroup and gain the advantage in this tussle where neither has been able to win two races in a day.
With the score on 4-4, if a team did win both races, it would put them just one point away from reaching the 37th America’s Cup Match itself.
There was a heavy sea state off the beach which would put boat handling at an absolute premium.
Broadcast
I would have loved to see the VMG figures today, but sadly they were absent from the livestream.
Race 9: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs. INEOS Britannia
In the pre-start INEOS Britannia hooked Luna Rossa, forcing them to tack away before the start, eventually crossing the line on port at the committee boat end while INEOS Britannia went at full speed to the left hand side boundary.
The British threw away this early advantage with a poor tack, having to duck the Italians on the first engagement, but were close enough to ensure that Luna Rossa didn’t tack directly on them.
INEOS Britannia clawed their way back into it, pulling off a lee bow tack, forcing Luna Rossa to tack away, which led to the British boat leading at the first windward gate.
As has become usual, there was very little to separate the two over the next lap, with the British boat choosing their own course both upwind and down rather than directly covering the Italians. The courage they had in their convictions paid off, and when they did tack directly on Luna Rossa, the Italians just instantly tacked away.
By the second windward gate the Brits extended their lead to 9 seconds, with the boats splitting on which buoy to round.
At the second leeward gate INEOS Britannia had a downspeed rounding on both foils, losing valuable metres, but Luna Rossa made a rare mistake of their own to hand back any advantage gained, and possibly more.
By the end of the third upwind leg INEOS Britannia had extended their lead to over 300 metres, which translated to 16 seconds at the third windward gate.
Luna Rossa shaved a second off their deficit at the third leeward gate, but they now had one lap left to pull off something special to win, or hope that INEOS Britannia made a mistake.
Again, INEOS Britannia took their own course and, despite Jimmy Spithill confidently saying “Nice little gain to us,” the British held a decent lead over the Italians, passing the final windward gate 13 seconds ahead.
Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher sounded calm and confident on the final downwind leg, and went on to win by 23 seconds and take a 5-4 lead in the series.
This was the first race of the final with an overtaking manoeuvre where both boats finished the course. The question was, could the British string two wins in a day together?
Race 10: INEOS Britannia vs. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
Ahead of the second race Luna Rossa moved up a jib size, from their J5 to their J4, as they felt underpowered through the lulls. Would this be the move to help them even up the score once again or could INEOS Britannia move on to match point?
INEOS Britannia again decided to take a loop after entering the start box from the left hand side, while Luna Rossa were happy to take their tour of the boundary.
The British boat gybed directly in front of the Italians, with Luna Rossa trying to hook them, but losing control of the rudder and briefly dropping speed.
Luna Rossa took a high mode to gain separation from INEOS Britannia, and ended up having to bear away for the start, while the British powered off the line at 37 knots and gained the initial advantage, forcing the Italians to tack away.
On the next engagement INEOS Britannia tacked directly on Luna Rossa, forcing them to tack away again, so the British only had one manoeuvre to come into the first windward gate, rounding seven seconds ahead. By the first leeward gate they had extended their lead to 11 seconds.
On the second upwind leg INEOS Britannia hooked into more pressure and a shift on the right, but the lead was only increased by a second. With this kind of sea state it’s very easy to make an error, and just one mistake could turn this race on its head.
The error happened on the final gybe into the mark, with INEOS Britannia losing the rudder, but they got it back under control quickly enough to only lose a couple of seconds at the second leeward gate. There were nerves in Ben Ainslie’s voice, but he and the team calmly stuck to their processes.
The feeling in their gut must have been anything but calm on the second half of the upwind leg, when the Italians closed to within 80 metres of them, and with the teams choosing different sides anything could happen.
INEOS Britannia rounded the third windward gate eight seconds ahead of Luna Rossa, but had a big touchdown after rounding, which allowed the Italians to once again close the gap. The boats were riding on the very edge downwind in the big swell, making the gybes particularly precarious.
At the third leeward gate the lead was back up to 13 seconds. INEOS Britannia were just a lap away from reaching match point, but that must have felt like a million miles away in these conditions.
Luna Rossa closed the gap to nine seconds at the final windward gate, splitting choice of buoys, so it was going to come down to the downwind leg to the finish.
The Italians started to claw into the British boat’s lead, but the distance to the line was closing fast. INEOS Britannia held on to take a 6-4 lead in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.
Ben Ainslie sounded determined when he said, “There was nothing lucky about that boys.”
Post race Ben tried to explain just how hard it is to race these yachts in waves like that, as did all the other helms after him. Today it did look really tough.
Match Point, but there will almost inevitably be a twist in the tail of this story.