INEOS Britannia win the Louis Vuitton Cup
by Mark Jardine 5 Oct 2024 01:59 NZDT
4 October 2024
This could be the final day of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, or we could be left with one more race to sail.
With INEOS Britannia on Match Point, only one race win is needed by the British team, but if Luna Rossa win both races today, we'll be left with a winner-takes-all final race.
It's the Challenger of Record against last year's Louis Vuitton Cup winner with the score standing at 6-4 going into today.
The forecast was for 6 to 9 knots of wind, but the teams found 12 to 14 knots on the race course, with some big shifts and lulls. It's difficult to know which team these conditions would favour, if any, with their boatspeed being so similar now.
Race 11: INEOS Britannia vs. Luna Rossa
With no delay we were straight into the racing. INEOS Britannia entered the start area bang on time with Luna Rossa coming on starboard and gybing on their tail, only for the British to go for their familiar tack and gybe to become the chasing team, and gybing in front of Luna Rossa, who immediately went high.
It was interesting that the British team were on a smaller jib than the Italians, using a J3 as opposed to the J2 on Luna Rossa.
The British came off the line with more pace towards the pin, at nearly 40 knots compared to 36 knots on Luna Rossa, which propelled them to a 40 metre lead, forcing the Italians to tack away.
When Luna Rossa tacked, INEOS Britannia performed a perfect tack to leeward, leading to the Italians trying to duck through the dirty air, but instead they had to tack again, losing a lot of distance. At the next engagement the British team had pulled out a 90 metre lead, forcing Luna Rossa to tack away again.
The lead INEOS Britannia had at the first windward gate was ten seconds, with the boats choosing different buoys to round.
The British pairing of Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher sounded calm and assured downwind, while the Italian pair of Jimmy Spithill and Checco Bruni sounded slightly more subdued than usual as the lead extended to over 200 metres. Despite this, Luna Rossa had reduced the deficit at the first leeward gate to nine seconds.
On the second upwind leg INEOS Britannia kept a loose cover on Luna Rossa, trying to minimise any damage from the shifts and lulls, and managed to cover them on the final tack into the second windward gate, leading by 11 seconds, as they again chose different marks to round.
As soon as they reengaged the British team chose to cover the Italians again, minimising the risks. Luna Rossa managed to cut the deficit to 7 seconds at the second leeward gate.
The Italians were closing the gap fast, down to just 60 metres, and the tension started to show in Ben Ainslie's voice, asking his crew to regain their smoothness, but the lead was now down to 35 metres as INEOS Britannia crossed Luna Rossa on port.
The British though caught a small windshift on the right and managed to tack right on top of the Italians, leading round the third windward gate by just four seconds. The battle was well and truly on.
The calmness returned to the voices of INEOS Britannia on the downwind leg, and they slightly extended on Luna Rossa at the third leeward gate. The British then proceeded to push Luna Rossa right by repeatedly tacking on top of them. There was still no margin for error as the lead was under a hundred metres.
Going into the final windward gate the British team went for a tack bear away, while the Italians carried on to round nine seconds behind. The decisions looked good for INEOS Britannia as they picked up more pressure on the left and gybed on Luna Rossa's line 150 metres ahead.
INEOS Britannia nailed their final gybe into the line, and crossed the line to take the race win, and with it the Louis Vuitton Cup Final was won 7-4.
They are the first British team to reach the America's Cup Match since 1964, and the emotion on board was palpable with cheers and relief in equal measure.
The Louis Vuitton Cup itself was transported out by RIB to be presented to the team on the water.
INEOS Britannia now go on to face Emirates Team New Zealand in the 37th America's Cup Match.