Structural damage to Luna Rossa, 2 wins to the Americans, and INEOS through to the Louis Vuitton Cup Final

Two teams would be vying to stay in the competition for the third day of Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final racing and what a day it was with drama throughout

With only two races completed in very light winds on Monday 16 September, racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals continued today Wednesday after a break in the racing on Tuesday to allow the Youth America’s Cup to get underway.

The wind was running from the east and was predicted to drop throughout the day’s racing from around 12 knots for the opening race. In fact the wind only occasionally touched double digits and was very patchy throughout the day and was shifting around a lot too.

A significant swell of over 1m was present on the course too, making foiling in the low end of the wind range tricky.

Key takeaways from the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Day 3

• A structural breakage for Luna Rossa will see them desperately trying to repair their damage before racing tomorrow
• American Magic are now only 3-4 down against Luna Rossa
• INEOS is the first boat through to the Louis Vuitton Cup final, but it was far from a polished performance

Race 11 INEOS Britannia Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

Having won a very light wind race on Monday, ghosting across the line just a couple of minutes inside the time limit of the race, Alinghi Red Bull Racing had bought themselves a stay of execution. But the Swiss boat still went into today 4-1 down in the first-to-five race wins competition.

The wind was up and down in the start box and clearly shifting left and right pretty significantly. With the wind down to around 7 knots in places, neither team looked keen to engage and Alinghi led back to the startline early to take the pin end of the line. For their part Ainslie and Fletcher were happy to let Psarofaghis and Bachelin win the pin end of the line.

At the gun both boats hit the line at pace, but a decent shift had made the pin end clearly favoured. As such, it was the Swiss flagged boat that looked to be leading as the two teams headed out to the left hand boundary. But as they tacked the Swiss boat dropped off the foils briefly allowing the Brits to lead them back to the right of the course giving the Swiss dirty air.

To make matters worse for Alinghi, a port tack lift meant a tack away would mean a big loss of ground so they had to just sit and take it, before eventually tacking away in the middle of the course.

By the top of the beat, the Brits tacked onto port on what looked like a layline for the windward gate, but they were headed all the way across the course and eventually had to tack just in front of Alinghi to go round the lefthand gate mark (looking upwind) with the Swiss right on their tail.

Alinghi did an excellent job of gybing early as the Brits gybed on the boundary, and the Swiss eased into a bit more pressure, while the Brits had a poor gybe to allow Alinghi through to snatch the lead.

As had been the case on Monday, INEOS Britannia looked pretty tender in the light conditions and throughout the downwind the Swiss team marched away to take a 1 minute 1 second lead by the first gate. The gap did vary a little bit as the Brits looked stronger when the wind was nearer 8 knots, but anything below that they started to cede ground to their competition and ended up crossing the line 1 minute 33 seconds behind.

“For sure it is good to have another point and we will be able to sail another race. We were very quick in these light conditions with the big waves, but it’s also really quite shifty out here today,” said Bachelin

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Race 11?

In Monday’s report, I said INEOS will not be too concerned with their pace deficit in the very light conditions, as the conditions on Monday were well below the 6.5 knot minimum required to start a race. However, today will be a bit more of a concern. In particular the boat looked very difficult to get through the gybes and was generally slow at the bottom end of the wind range downwind.

The relatively small size of the INEOS’ foils will mean that she has less drag and so is faster at higher speeds, but the price paid for that is they are difficult to stay on in the light winds. Whether that is a fatal weakness only time will tell. Interestingly, Giles Scott later referred to changing to their biggest mainsail ahead of the team’s second race of the day, which could have been a factor in this first race loss.

For Alinghi, this is the first race I have watched in which they have been demonstrably quicker than their opponents, with their other wins not coming from boat speed. That being said, this win was as much about the tactical work as it was about boatspeed.

Race 12 American Magic Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
American Magic: Lucas Calabrese & Tom Slingsby
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

The wind remained the same light and shifty conditions for this second race of the day and, like Alinghi Red Bull Racing, American Magic would be looking to keep their regatta alive after a big win on Monday stopped them being knocked out of the competition.

In the pre-start Luna Rossa gybed around at the right hand boundary, looking to lead back but American Magic gybed round in front of them and try to get Luna Rossa hooked up to windward.

But Luna Rossa slowed nicely and were able to bear away around their stern to get to leeward of the American boat. In response Slingsby and Calabrese did an excellent job of accelerating over the top of them to hit the startline right in front of Luna Rossa, forcing the Italians to tack away immediately.

American Magic immediately tacked to follow them, but Luna Rossa managed to hook into a bit more pressure and by the time the Italians tacked they’d grabbed about a 100m lead over the American boat. And that was a lead that the Italians extended to be fully 47 seconds ahead at the windward gate.

However, the top right of the course (looking upwind) suddenly looked very light and the Italians were sailing in only around 5 knots, at a very tight angle to stay on the foils. Slingsby and Calabrese picked the opposite side of the gate and after they gybed at the boundary they had sailed past the Italians.

In marginal foiling conditions it was a real battle to stay on the foils through the gybes and, with the wind fluctuating significantly, the angle differences were massive allowing for losses and gains aplenty.

Midway down the first run American Magic had a poor gybe and dropped off the foils. Luna Rossa were bearing down on them but they would also need to gybe at the same left hand boundary. In an attempt to try to keep on the foils, Luna Rossa actually elected to tack around to stop themselves sailing through their own dirty air.

Spithill and Bruni picked up a boundary penalty in the tack, but keeping the boat on the foils was the aim of the game. Luna Rossa switched to sailing upwind for a while until their penalty was cleared and then set off downwind again to overtake American Magic.

As they wind remained light we were treated to Luna Rossa tacking around on the downwind on a couple of occasions. But on one such tack on the left boundary, they lost a lot of ground relative to American Magic, who just managed to get foiling again.

As they both came into the leeward gate, both boats rounded opposite gate marks at exactly the same time, with American Magic rounding the right hand mark looking upwind and the Italians on the left.

At the first cross it was initially the starboard tacked American Magic with a decent advantage over the Italian team, but they were headed all the way into the middle of the course and by the time the boats met, the Americans crossed the Italians’ bow by a handful of metres.

A little way into the beat, the committee shortened the course to four legs (two laps) meaning the race would finish at the next downwind.

Making their way upwind they traded the lead with the starboard advantage and coming into the top gate Slingsby and Calabrese had the starboard advantage and were able to force Luna Rossa to duck them. In so doing Spithill and Bruni were unable to make the gate and trying to tack back the Italians dropped off the foils.

In echoes of Monday’s race between Alinghi and INEOS, American Magic also fell off the foils on their first gybe and Slingsby and Calarese elected to set off downwind in low-riding mode instead of chasing the wind to try and get foiling again, which looked like a great decision with the wind dying away.

But there was a little puff still left in the day and it was the Americans who got that puff, to set off on their foils. For their part, Luna Rossa just chose to sail off the course and automatically award the win the the Americans, who were just a handful of metres from the finish line and foiling at pace.

“We’re not going anywhere yet we want to keep this thing alive,” said Slingsby after racing. “It was really tense. We did our warm up and there was nice breeze. We had a nice start but then all of a sudden we were struggling to stay on the foil and they were just ripping. It’s at that moment I though ‘this was a completely different race.'”

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Race 12?

There was a not insignificant amount of luck involved in this race, in what amounted to a game of ‘stay on the foils’.  If you did not need to gybe or tack in a wind hole, you would sai laway from your oppostion. But then, as the saying goes, you make your own luck and Slingsby and Calabrese won the start, and then won the race at the final top mark, getting their course geometry right to come into the windward gate on starboard and force Luna Rossa to duck them, missing the gate.

These two boats have been surprisingly even in pure pace terms so far this Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final, but this race was all about sniffing out the best wind. It should be noted that Slingsby suggested the had smaller sails up than Luna Rossa, though I’ve not been able to confirm this. If that is the case that could indicate some impressive pace from what should have been an underpowered American boat.

Race 13 INEOS Britannia Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

Given how light the conditions had got in the second race of the day it was hardly surprising that there was a delay to this third race of the day in the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final. In fact, given just how light the race between Luna Rossa and American Magic had got, it was more surprising that this race got underway at all, with just a short delay in the end.

But the wind only needs to be above 6.5 knots for a sustained period of time at top and bottom of the course for the race to be started, so start it did. And, in fact, for the most part the breeze remained reasonably close to double digits throughout. It was still very variable, but was mostly closer to 10 knots than 5.

I recently wrote a piece on how the Brits turned their performance woes around and noted in that, that some software issues which had seen multiple boundary and start penalties appears to have been sorted. However, coming into the pre-start the Brits were clearly early entering the start-box and picked up a penalty, much to the surprise of Fletcher, who could be heard saying ‘Oh What!?’ Perhaps those issues linger?

With a penalty against them out of the start, the Brits elected to try to start on port tack, cross behind the starboard tacked Alinghi and so quickly scrub their penalty off. This was a good call from Ainslie and Fletcher as they quickly got rid of the penalty and were heading out to the right of the course with more pressure.

At the first cross, Alinghi were forced to duck behind the starboard tacked INEOS, a lead they held at the next cross when they sailed across the bow of Alinghi on port.

By the top of the course, the Brits had worked themselves into a very nice position, reduced their number of manoeuvres and rounded the right hand gate mark (looking upwind) 25 seconds ahead of Alinghi, who rounded the left mark.

INEOS once again had some poor gybes on the downwind but managed to lead around the bottom gate. “It’s getting a little nervy here on [the chase boat] but the boys are doing a good job. As you can see it’s really easy to lose the rudder in these conditions,” said Giles Scott from the coach boat during the race.

Upwind both boats looked pretty evenly matched and it was the Brits who extended on the second upwind to round the windward gate 50 seconds ahead. As with both the previous races today, downwind was all about picking the breeze and the slight puff meant a massive difference in angles and pace, to make a gap between the boats that fluctuated significantly.

But it was the final windward gate where the race was finally closed off as the Brits rounded ahead of the Swiss and, as Alinghi went to tack and go through the gate, Alinghi dropped off the foils, to see their hopes of remaining in this competition disappear.

“Happy with that,” said Ainslie after racing. “It was a tough day out here. For people watching it probably looked like we were doing a bad job, but it’s so hard out here with the waves and the wind all over the place. But credit to Alinghi who did a really good job in that first race and pushed us hard in the second.”

“It’s over. I think we started to sail pretty well yesterday and today, that was slightly too late, but it was a privilege to be here,” said Psarofaghis.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Race 12?

Coming into this competition many, myself included, predicted this Louis Vuitton Semi-Final was likely to be a 5-0 whitewash as INEOS seemed to have left their pace issues behind. But the Brits once again showed a bit of weakness even in these slightly stronger conditions, losing grip on the rudder through a couple of gybes on the first downwind – the issue that caused the speed loss in the early gybe in the first race that lost them that race.

There was clearly some sort of software issue as well, which led to them being well inside the start box early but clearly being surprised by that, so plenty to work on. Ultimately, though the Brits will be happy to be the first team through to the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.

Race 14 American Magic Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers

American Magic: Lucas Calabrese & Tom Slingsby
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

This second start of the day for these two teams was very similar to the first one, as Luna Rossa turned first back to the line and American Magic gybed around in front of the Italian team.

Slinsby and Calabrese managed to keep Spithill and Bruni held up high of the line and by they time they bore away down the starline Luna Rossa had few options but to follow the Americans into the start and tack immediately at the gun.

By the first cross port tacked American Magic were able to sneak across the bows of the Italian team, which also allowed American Magic to tack on the layline to windward boundary on the favoured top right of the course – which had been slightly windier all day.

At the windward gate, with American Magic on starboard, the boats were close enough that Luna Rossa felt able to (a little cheekily) call for a penalty as the ‘inside’ boat closest to the gate mark – but not close enough to actually get a penalty.

However, with the Italians rounding the right hand mark (looking upwind) they got to the favoured side of the course and so at the first downwind cross the starboard tacked Luna Rossa had taken the lead.

A lead that had gone back to the American’s by the time they met again at the gate. There was very little in it and the Italians were heading out to the right, with the stronger breeze and were well ahead at the first cross and had built enough of a gap to be able to tack in front of the American’s to protect the favoured right.

Once again the patchy conditions made the difference and, against the pattern of the day, the left of the course came good for American Magic, who managed to cross Luna Rossa on port to tack.

By the time they both met at the windward gate, they were neck-and-neck as they both tacked through the gate to take opposite sides of the course.

With the teams still trading blows on the downwind, it looked as though Luna Rossa were just starting to get the lead, but as they crossed in front of the Americans it was a sudden disaster for the Italian team, whose traveller suddenly ripped itself apart, crippling the boat and handing the win to American Magic.

“It looks like we’ve broken the traveller track unfortunately,” said Spithill. “But we’ve got a lot of faith in our shore team, they are one of the best in the business so I’m sure they’ll pull out all the stops to get us back out on the water tomorrow.”

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Race 14?

Once again there was nothing to pick between these two boats. But a significant structural failure on Luna Rossa is a huge concern. On super high-performance boats it’s not quite as simple as saying in lighter weather there is less load on the boat, but there’s clearly something wrong to be picking up this sort of damage in ‘normal’ racing conditions.  And the team will be hoping that the shock-loading that will have gone through the rig and rigging will not have caused further issues.

Of course this all means American Magic is now on a three-win streak with their opponent needing to fix damage overnight. What looked like a lost cause after Sunday’s racing when the Americans were 4-0 down, they are now 4-3 down and within two wins of Louis Vuitton Cup Finals. Could the America’s Cup have another American comeback story?

Racing is due to continues tomorrow afternoon, with two races planned for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic.

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