Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, the team representing the Circolo della Vela Sicilia yacht club, secured their place in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final after a last race against NYYC American Magic where there were plenty more questions than answers before the starting gun fired.
Overnight, the Italian shore team burnt the midnight oil repairing a damaged mainsail traveller track system that had given way in the semi-final race yesterday and gifted the American team a race win to close to 4-3 in this first-to-five series. The Italian shore team heroes were described as looking like ‘zombies’ this morning but their efforts were thoroughly rewarded with the Italian boat gleaming in the Barcelona sunshine, looking good as new and the team regaining its imperious form of earlier in the semi-final.
The win was hard-fought from the initial stages with American Magic’s Tom Slingsby expertly winning the start and making the first cross upwind. A downspeed tack on the second cross was ultimately the undoing of American Magic with the Italians able to power through to leeward and take a lead that they would never lose.
In the shifting south-easterly breeze that filled and phased across a relatively flat sea-state, Luna Rossa initially extended but some great calls on the second upwind leg brought American Magic back in contention and just eight seconds adrift at the mid-way point.
Picking a big pressure patch on the second downwind leg allowed the Italians to extend and for American Magic it was roll-the-dice time on the final windward leg. Unfortunately for them, there were no opportunities to make gains and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli sailed away to record a 61 second final delta and secure their place in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final against INEOS Britannia – scheduled to start on Thursday September 26.
Scenes of jubilation abounded on the water with the Italians releasing the pressure of what has been an intense twenty-four hours for the team. Shoreside at the Official Race Village and at the fanzones at Bogatell and Plaça de Mar, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli fans mirrored the on-water joy with rapturous applause and cheering that continued at the afternoon presentation of the team on the main stage. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli fans are some of the most passionate of all and will certainly make their presence felt when racing starts in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.
After the two boats dropped sails, Luna Rossa performed a classy ‘sail-by’, with the Italian crew applauding their American opponent in a sporting gesture very much in the spirit of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.
Jimmy Spithill, skipper of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli was proud of what his team had achieved overnight and today, saying: “It was an incredible effort from the guys on the shore when you look at what happened yesterday, and a lesser team really could’ve crumbled, and I’ve seen this. This is my eighth campaign in a row now and you always face a couple of moments in a campaign where you kind of find out what you’re made of, and I really felt like yesterday was one of those for the entire team.
“We had to react and the guys in the shore team really took the lead and just worked all through the night to get our boat ready to race and go on and win. You’re usually pretty motivated when you go out there but when you see that and how you live it as a team, it’s a very, very powerful thing.”
Francesco Bruni, port helm for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, came ashore relieved and thankful to have got into the Louis Vuitton Cup Final saying: “That win meant a lot because we were coming back from a bad moment and also because we did it in the right way: we sailed a clean race taking good decisions and not over feeling the pressure. We had a very hard night after the breakdown yesterday. The shore team was very tired this morning and as a crew we wanted to give back a good win to those guys, and we did it.”
For NYYC American Magic their journey in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup ends today and for the New York Yacht Club, the club that created the event and held the famous ewer for 132 years, the wait goes on for it to return to their West 44th Street clubhouse in Manhattan.
Speaking about the loss Tom Slingsby, starboard helmsman for the American team, was clearly emotional saying: “Stepping ashore it’s brutal, it’s really tough. I mean you’re representing so many people when you’re steering one of these boats, and you’ve got sixty-plus people back at the base who are relying on you and hoping we can get there. It’s just such a wide team that put so much trust in you and it is brutal. You’ve just got to lick your wounds congratulate the better team and try to come back stronger.”
Port helmsman for NYYC American Magic, Lucas Calabrese, who stepped in for Paul Goodison following injury, spoke about what the campaign meant saying: “I’m just remembering all the hard work everybody put in over the last two-and-half years, the long nights, the early mornings. I’m super proud of the way we represented our team. We never gave up, which I think is very important. I hope maybe we will have a chance in the future. Hopefully the team principals keep going and I am really thankful to them and to all our leaders that made this campaign happen.”
Calabrese also offered kind words about Paul Goodison, saying: “Obviously, nobody wanted that to happen. It took me a couple days to assimilate how hard of a time Goody was going through. I really feel for him, and I know he worked so hard for so many years – not just the last two years – to get here. We had him in our thoughts all the time while we were racing.”
Shoreside, the competing sailors all respectfully exchanged friendly and professional handshakes and even a few hugs, with Francesco Bruni giving praise to the NYYC American Magic Team, saying: “I think they did a fantastic job, honestly. They put a lot of pressure on us because they were very strong opponents. The work that Lucas has done to sail at this level it’s really impressive, and congratulations to all the team. It was exactly what we needed: a strong team to fight with to make us stronger and thanks to them that really happened.”
So, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli secure their spot in their second consecutive Challenger Selection Series Final and after their bounce-back win today will be riding a wave of momentum.
Facing them now is a fired-up Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia who secured their place in the Final yesterday having eliminated Alinghi Red Bull Racing 5–2.
Impossible to pick a winner, it really is anyone’s Final, but as we’ve seen in these sensational Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final pairings, anything can happen – and in the America’s Cup, it usually does.
@americascup
