Puig Women's America's Cup - Day 2 - Funky breeze for Day 2 of the Puig WAC

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 6 Oct 2024 22:51 AEDT 6 October 2024

Race start - Group B - Puig Women's America's Cup - October 6, 2024 © Ian Roman / America's Cup

The six "invited" Womens AC40 teams, or Group B, sailed four races in the Puig Women's America's Cup. As occurred on Day 1 with the Group A teams the Barcelona breeze was variable in strength between near zero and around 15kts

In contrast to the Group A teams, affiliated with an America's Cup teams, the Invited crews have not had a lot of sailing in the AC40, and it was interesting to see how top crews with Olympic medalists on board adapted to racing the 40ft foiling monohulls.

The Dutch team, with 2024 Olympic 49erFX Gold medalists Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz, won back to back races when the breeze came in and settled down. They lead Group B leaderboard, with the local Spanish crew, who placed second in the first three races lying second overall. The Australian crew who had mixed fortunes finishing at both ends of the fleet, lie in third overall 1pt behind the local Barcelona crew.

Andoo Team Australia Women's Team, JAJO Team Dutchsail - Group B - Puig Women's America's Cup - October 6, 2024 - photo © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup

Initially racing went on on hold waiting for the wind to build. The first race started with all AC40s foiling. Germany and Canada were recalled for OCS. In Race 2. AUS and ESP were called OCS and had to restart. GER was DSQ'd after sailing too far out of bounds after coming off the foils. SWE was Instructed Not to Race (INR), meaning there was a technical issue aboard. After two races Australia led with 15pts, Sweden and Spain were tied on 14pts for second with NED (7pts), CAN 6pts and GER 1pt.

Several teams did not finish the course, for the first two races, within the time limit due to having fallen off their foils and there being insufficient wind to self-launch onto their foils. Only two AC40s finished Race 1, and three managed to finish Race 2.

The breeze filled in at 10-12kts from 200° shutting down the Foiling Graveyard. There were still foil-crashes for reasons other than wind - usually as a result of crewing errors - mostly triggered by oversteering causing the rudder to ventilate and wash out. Canada was given a boundary penalty which sent them to the back of the class for the first windward leeward, they did well to recover and finish third.

In Race 4, the Canadians blotted their copy book with a rudder washout just after rounding the first mark and dropping back from second to fourth.

Racing - Group B - Puig Women's America's Cup - October 6, 2024 - photo © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup

Race Summaries:
Race 1:
Mark 1: AUS (04m 30sec); NED (+0m 05sec); ESP (+0m 06sec); SWE (+0m 23sec); CAN (+0m 24sec); GER
Mark 2: ESP (08m 01sec); AUS (+0m 04sec); SWE (+0m 12sec); CAN (+0m 22sec); NED (+0m 38sec); GER
Mark 3: AUS (13m 31sec); ESP (+0m 03sec); SWE (+0m 08sec); CAN; NED; GER (no times)
Finish: SWE (19m 51sec); ESP (+0m 45sec); AUS 5pts; CAN 3pts; NED (Gate 2); GER (Gate 2)
Race 2:
Mark 1: AUS (04m 07sec); NED (+0m 10sec); ESP (+0m 21sec); GER (+0m 46sec); CAN (+01m 57sec); GER
Mark 2: AUS (08m 06sec); ESP (+1m 54sec);
Mark 3: AUS (12m 59sec); ESP (+01m 54sec); NED (+2m 20sec); CAN; NED; GER (no times)
Finish: AUS (16m 29sec); ESP (+1m 47sec); NED (+2m 21sec); 5pts; CAN (>2m 39sec ) Times for other teams not provided
Race 3:
Mark 1: NED (03m 42sec); ESP (+0m 03sec); SWE (+0m 11sec); AUS (+0m 14sec); GER (+0m 24sec); CAN (+0m 39sec)
Mark 2: ESP (06m 48sec); NED (+0m 05sec); SWE (+0m 12sec); AUS (+0m 13sec); GER (+0m 29sec); CAN (+0m 54sec)
Mark 3: NED (11m 23sec); ESP (+0m 08sec); GER (+0m 38sec); CAN (+0m 47sec); SWE (+0m 52sec); AUS (+1m 18secs)
Finish: NED (14m 15sec); ESP (+0m 15sec); CAN (+0m 52sec); GER (+0m 52sec); SWE (+1m 00sec); AUS (+1m 33secs)
Race 4:
Mark 1: NED (04m 37sec); CAN (+0m 12sec); AUS (+0m 20sec); ESP (+0m 24sec); SWE (+0m 42sec); GER (+0m 56secs)
Mark 2: NED (08m 04sec); AUS (+0m 05sec); ESP (+0m 06sec); CAN (+0m 19sec); SWE (+0m 22sec); GER
Mark 3: NED (12m 37sec); AUS (+0m 21sec); SWE (+0m 31sec); ESP (no times)
Finish: NED (15m 03sec); AUS (+0m 06sec); SWE (+0m 20sec); ESP (1m 13sec); GER (+1m 28secs; CAN (+2m 11sec)
Points and Placings