Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup Day 5

by Mark Jardine 18 Oct 2024 07:01 PDT 18 October 2024

It was all going so smoothly for Emirates Team New Zealand, gliding through the tacks to romp to a 4-0 lead in the America's Cup Match, but then on Wednesday they came literally crashing back down on to the water with INEOS Britannia winning both races.

With the score at 4-2 Friday was a pivotal day. The scoreline favoured the Kiwis, while the momentum was with the Brits.

Race 7: INEOS Britannia vs. Emirates Team New Zealand

In a shifty 11 knot breeze we were under way straight away with INEOS Britannia first to enter the start area showing perfect time on distance on port, while Emirates Team New Zealand gybed in behind them having entered on starboard.

After a couple of circles the British team came on to the tail of the Kiwi boat, choosing to tack into the line before them, leading to a 20 metre lead for INEOS Britannia off the line, but Emirates Team New Zealand found a superb mode to take the lead.

When the British boat tacked, the Kiwis put one right on them, forcing the to tack away, while continuing on to the right boundary themselves where Emirates Team New Zealand picked up a huge right hand windshift to pull out a 200 metre lead.

INEOS Britannia made gains into the first windward gate to only trail by 12 seconds, with the teams choosing different buoys. Even with the course axis being reset by the Race Committee, there was still significant bias as the wind continued to clock right.

Downwind the teams navigated the shifts with the Kiwis extending their lead by a second at the first leeward gate, with the boats again choosing different buoys to round.

The right hand side had massively more wind than the left, with a difference of up to eight knots between the two boundaries, and Emirates Team New Zealand made massive gains early on in this.

The comms between the sailors was extremely interesting, especially with Nathan Outteridge calling the wind on the Kiwi yacht. His ability to see the wind is legendary, and those skills were coming to the fore in the shifty and gusty conditions. Emirates Team New Zealand extended their lead at the second windward gate to 24 seconds and then 29 seconds as the second leeward gate.

As the lead relentlessly built on the third upwind leg, the discussion on board Emirates Team New Zealand was continuous between Burling, Outteridge, Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney. All had their input and the decisions were made on the whole picture. The strategy clearly worked as they extended to 53 seconds at the final windward gate.

The Kiwis made no mistake on the final downwind leg to win by 1 minute 13 seconds and extend their lead to 5-2 in the match.

An interesting comment on the final leg was Nathan Outteridge saying "Sorry about the tone on the first upwind", with Peter Burling instantly replying "That's all good". They both knew the pressure was on, but they delivered emphatically, averaging a massive 1.3 knot faster VMG.

Ben Ainslie said after the finish, "We looked like we were potentially going to be in reasonable shape off the start line, but then the breeze kicked in hard on the right, and they did a nice job defending that, got a lead, and just defended the pressure and shifts. That was kind of it really. Tough race for us, but we'll keep plugging away and try and get one back in this next one."

Race 8: Emirates Team New Zealand vs. INEOS Britannia

Emirates Team New Zealand went deep after entering the start area on port, with INEOS Britannia gybing in around 100 metres behind. As the Kiwis gybed to starboard, the Brits carried on past them to tack for their final approach, with both zig zagging to slow down towards the line.

INEOS Britannia were nearer the committee boat end and tacked away early to the right, while the Emirates Team New Zealand continued on to the left boundary.

At the first engagement the Kiwis were ahead by 140 metres, choosing to continue to the right boundary rather than cover the Brits, trusting their own wind calls rather than match racing their opponent as the wind continued to shift. This proved a good call as the Emirates Team New Zealand rounded the first windward gate 15 seconds ahead, and a big splashdown by INEOS Britannia meant the gap increased early on downwind. By the first leeward gate the gap was 25 seconds.

The lead at the second windward gate extended to 41 seconds, but the Brits slowly ground into this, reducing it to 36 seconds at the second leeward gate and 23 seconds at the third windward gate, but it always felt like the Kiwis were comfortable. For the commentary team it was hard, leading to talk about the wattage numbers the cyclors were generating and a lot of listening to the on board comms on Emirates Team New Zealand, which in itself is no bad thing.

With one lap to go the lead was 27 seconds and there seemed very little chance of a passing lane appearing.

British coach Rob Wilson said on the race, "The issue is the shifts, once you get ahead, are pretty clear on the water and they got the first one on that first beat. The Kiwis have done a real good job since then."

He added that they possibly hit something with the rudder earlier on in the race, which could have caused damage to the leading edge, but didn't use this as an excuse as the lead on the final windward gate extended again to 50 seconds.

The Kiwis went on to win by 55 seconds, with Ben Ainslie saying, "It's not over yet" as the Brits crossed the line, but sounding pretty deflated.

Peter Burling said after finishing, "Nice to get it done today, I see the forecast is looking pretty light for the weekend. I'm really proud of the way the team executed today. Obviously when you get a couple of losses it really puts you under pressure, and the way we've responded to that is awesome."

Nathan Outteridge summed it up beautifully, "The wind was super dynamic, so we needed to do everything we could to get those shifts right. You've got to get off the line. If you get off the line well you get your first choice of the first bit of pressure and life gets very easy. I think we did a pretty good job of getting two really nice starts today - something we didn't do very well on Wednesday - and that was the result of it. Really stoked to be in this position and really looking forward to the weekend."

INEOS Britannia are in exactly the same position, in that they still need to win five races to lift the America's Cup. The difference now is that they can't lose any - a very tall order against an Emirates Team New Zealand who look fully dialled in again after their 'blip' on Wednesday.