Momentum in sport can be an infuriatingly sparse commodity, but once it begins it can become an unstoppable force. Today in Barcelona as the tense duel continued between INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli it was the British who sailed supremely to break the deadlock with two race wins that leave them 6-4 up in this first-to-seven-points series.
The British team now stand just one victory away from lifting the Louis Vuitton Cup and earning the right, as the top Challenger, to progress through to the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match against the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand.
Sailing to their full potential throughout the day the British fought for every inch against a dogged Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli crew who battled through every tack and every gybe to exert maximum pressure on their rivals.
It was a classic battle between two great teams and one very much worthy of this great sporting contest. The non-stop action had the crowds shoreside in Barcelona cheering, waving flags, and willing their countrymen on – whilst audiences around the world tuned in to witness this gripping battle.
Under leaden cloud cover that threatened rain and with the mistral to the north dictating an easterly airflow of 16-19 knots along with a sharp swell, INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli faced-off in the first race of the day, both eager to grab the early advantage.
A near-hook in the pre-start box on the final approaches to the line – that Luna Rossa smartly got away from – forced a split-tack start, with Britannia nailing the port end of the line as they started just eight metres back. Luna Rossa tacked off to the right and held the early positional advantage when the two boats tacked and intersected mid-course, but in the conditions, the Italians eschewed the chance to cover as INEOS Britannia ducked and headed right.
On the next cross, the roles were reversed, with Britannia holding the right-of-way, and at the first windward gate both boats executed fine tack-bear-away manoeuvres (one of the hardest roundings to pull off in these foiling AC75 yachts) with a two second advantage to the Italians.
Down the first run the bigger jib size on Britannia (J4 as opposed to J5 on Luna Rossa) came into play and an early pressure puff down the right side of the course saw the British take a slender lead – an advantage which was compounded by a poor first gybe on the left boundary by Luna Rossa.
After exiting the first leeward gate Luna Rossa briefly lost their rudder immersion causing the hull to touch the water and by the time they were back up to speed Britannia had gained another 100 metres. Despite a strong fight-back from the Italians over the remaining five legs, the British stayed ahead as both boats minimised manoeuvres in the rapidly building sea state. INEOS Britannia crossed the finish line with a 23-second winning delta to take the Louis Vuitton Cup Final to 5-4.
The second race of the day saw late calls on the headsail selection from both crews. When they lined up both had the J4 set and from the very outset it was a gladiatorial battle where the slightest mistake would be punished harshly.
In the lead back to the start line, INEOS Britannia assumed a leeward position with Luna Rossa up on their hip. Both boats had time to kill and in the final five seconds to the start, the pair dialled away to the port end of the line with Britannia leading – a crucial difference as the two boats wound up into the wind for the start.
As these two giants of world sailing headed towards the first boundary, INEOS Britannia to leeward was able eke ahead metre by metre and it was Luna Rossa who were forced to tack away first. From there it was a race of few mistakes from either crew who handled the building sea state with consummate ease and delivered a match race over eight legs that was of the highest order. Luna Rossa were always the aggressor from behind, keeping the British lead to a minimum and waiting for any opportunity to arise.
They were quick to pounce when INEOS Britannia briefly cavitated their rudder and lost control while rounding the second leeward gate. The resultant distance lost opened the door for the Italians to come storming back into the race and an exciting tack-for tack battle up the first half of the fifth leg ensued, with INEOS Britannia eventually breaking away to the right boundary, having spotted increased pressure at the top of the course. A favourable wind shift saw the British extend slightly but their advantage was never more than 10 seconds and the rest of the race was all down to manoeuvre execution – particularly downwind on the gybes.
With an even pressure now across the course, touching 21 knots at times, both crews were carefully picking their spots to manoeuvre in and as the finish line approached it was all-on to keep these flying AC75s at the very peak of their performance.
INEOS Britannia survived a poor first gybe on the final downwind leg as they fought to protect a lead of just nine seconds (nothing in reality at 50 knots) before nailing a final gybe on the starboard layline, riding high above some huge waves to keep from touching down, to bring Britannia across the line and go 6-4 up in the series.
Dylan Fletcher, port helm on INEOS Britannia, “It was a fantastic performance by the team today. It’s been frustrating with this stalemate each day, and it feels like so many of the races were close to ours, so to break it today and have a nice solid performance against them feels good. The sea-state picked up quite a lot from the warm-up with the mistral blowing the swell in with metre waves that were really short, and quite breezy again so it was certainly a hard day for the pilots.”
Asked how the team will approach the upcoming racing, Fletcher added: “We will debrief like always and for us it’s just one race at a time. We know we’ve got to win every race in reality until the first to seven so we’re happy and looking forward to Friday.”
Francesco Bruni, port helm for Luna Rossa came ashore and was upbeat about the situation the team now face, saying: “We know very well the position. It’s not something that we like but sport is sport, and you have to accept when you lose. Today we lost in the field, no breakdowns, nothing, we just didn’t execute well a couple of things and then also didn’t sail very well. It was very close racing, really tough conditions but for me we still have a good chance of doing it and we definitely are not feeling the pressure. We know that we can do it and that we have to just sail the best we can now.”
Talking more about pressure, something that his co-helm, Jimmy Spithill, has previously described as being a “privilege,” Bruni added: “There’s going to be some pressure there yes, but I don’t feel the pressure probably because I have Jimmy on my side and honestly, I’m super relaxed. We haven’t made huge mistakes today, just small things here and there and we lost two points, but that’s not the end of the world. We know that we can win. We know that we can do well, and we just have to perform better the next time. We have no other chances. Jimmy has had bigger comebacks in his life, but we have to all support him, he cannot just do it by himself.”
There were few celebrations shoreside from the British team who were keen to keep expectations in check but there’s a growing sense of destiny building up around the Port Vell that this could be the first time since 1964 that Great Britain has had a boat in an America’s Cup Match. Although INEOS Britannia stand on the cusp of writing a fabulous chapter in this Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup they know all too well that in Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli they face a competitor that will never roll over.
As the song goes: ‘It ain’t over till it’s over’ and, after a maintenance day for the teams tomorrow, racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final continues on Friday October 4 with two races scheduled.
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