Cup Spy: August 23 – Day 2 Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta – Six sleeps left

Cup Spy: August 23 – Day 2 Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta – Six sleeps left

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 23 Aug 16:55 UTC
24 August 2024

Commentary: Not a lot of time left before the serious racing begins

Day 2 of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta in Barcelona has concluded, promising a lot but again with delivery short of expectations. Three races sailed were over at the start – a big lesson for next week, when racing begins in the Round Robins. The fourth stopped as soon as it started.

Following that series one of the five teams will be heading home. Most would have picked the French Orient Express Racing Team for that end to their campaign. However the past two days in the Preliminary Series have shown that a couple more teams could also be candidates – and certainly they are on a limited life expectancy come the Semi Finals.

Unlike the Preliminary Series in Auckland in 2021, there is no month long break before the resumption of hostilities on August 29, which is just six sleeps away.

To date the teams have talked game led by their respective PR programs. But the lesson from the first two days of the Preliminary Regatta is that everyone is not a winner.

A sporting mantra we first heard from an Olympic rower turned America’s Cup grinder is that Performance equals Potential minus Mistakes.

Most of the teams in the current America’s Cup are long on potential, its just whether it is this America’s Cup or the next.

The Mistakes side of the equation will catch several, and the Defender is as much at risk as the Challengers.

What we saw today certainly in two of the three starts was that split second decisions proved very expensive, and put a team in a position where they had little hope of recovery as they cleared the startline.

We also saw that Luna Rossa’s Jimmy Spithill is in devastating form, and showed amazing judgement and boat positioning in the match against American Magic.

Like yesterday, today’s racing called into question as to just how objective, and hard nosed the months have been that have been spent practice racing and sailing in AC40’s and two versions of AC75s. Factor in the SailGP circuit on which many AC teams and sailors compete, and that is a lot of time on the water – but how challenging has that really been? We maybe got an insight into that today.

For sure it is easy to spot errors in hindsight – but these are well paid professional sailors, not Wednesday night racers.

The two teams that competed in the 2021 America’s Cup – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Emirates Team New Zealand, on the basis of what we saw today, seemed to have learned the same lesson from Auckland – that sailing skills have to be top notch and consistently executed. Both teams conducted very self-critical reviews after the last Cup and appear to have learned the lessons.

There were two other interesting aspects of the day.

First, that unlike Day 1, there was no lead swapping once the race had started. In fact all were over at the start with the advantage gained being spent on a drag race to the right hand boundary, and there the result was pretty well sealed. The right hand side of the course seemed to pay upwind and down. And maybe the course at Barcelona in these conditions is a one-way track.

The second was that in two races and particularly in Race 7 between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic, where the US team despite being cleaned out at the start held their trailing margin at 17-21 secs for the next four mark roundings.

Again those who saw AC75s sailing in Auckland in the 7-10kt breezes of today, will be well aware of the effect of rig turbulence on the trailing AC75, and while the US team will be smarting from their startline snafu, they did extremely well in controlling the damage from a position of significant disadvantage.

The low point of the day came in the final race, where the French withdrew because of an unspecified technology problem. Luna Rossa did the same yesterday on the first leg. In both races Emirates Team New Zealand was the beneficiary and leads the overnight leader board, with three wins as a result.

It is more than a little disturbing that after so much development, testing and training that boat breakdowns are still a significant issue, and at this level of the sport – and ultimately could decide the Cup.

The issue aboard the French boat was doubly disappointing, in that we were unable to see to AC75s from the same design team sailing against each other, and seeing what the differences really were.

While the battle on the water attracts most of the attention the Rules Committee has plenty on its hands with the first response, from a team, to its initial ruling on the cyclor honeycomb fairing/covers and their Boundary layer effect. No doubt there will be more to come.

One of the complaints about the AC75 generally is that the crews are impossible to see, being mostly below decks, and with their heads enclosed in full helmets and goggles. Now one of the teams wants to take that a stage further with a new helmet design which covers the nose and mouth – for safety reasons.

“We are looking at ways to protect our sailors’ face from hitting parts of the yacht or being hit by large amounts of water in case of nose dives and other decelerations. To do so, we have been prototyping face masks that protect the face, much like the helmet protects the head and goggles protect the eyes,” the Rules Enquiry explains.

More to follow, no doubt.

Replay – Day 2 of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Event

Racing Summary:

Race 5 American Magic vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing:

The start was even, however American Magic clearly wanted the right hand side of the course and soon worked out to a 140 metre lead

Mark 1: American Magic led by 12 secs around Mark 1. USA eased away downwind to a lead of over 240 metres

Mark 2: American Magic rounded at 7min 3 secs with a lead of 15 secs and an on the water lead of 340 metres midway up Leg 3.

Mark 3: American Magic rounded at 11m 24 secs and a lead of 31 secs. The boats sailed at around 40 – 45kts on Leg 4

Mark 4: American Magic rounded at 14m 39secs and a 36sec margin. The lead extended to 520 metres on leg 5. Boats sailing at 30-35kts upwind in 10.3kts of breeze.

Mark 5: American Magic again opted for the right hand side with 11kts of breeze. At Mark 5 the US rounded at 19m 27secs and a 46sec lead. With their lead on the water increasing to 940 metres

Finish: American Magic extended to 56secs ahead crossing 22m 56secs after the start signal.

Race 6: Emirates Team NZ vs INEOS Britannia :

Start was won by Emirates Team NZ after the British lost speed tacking in the lighter wind dropped into displacement mode. ETNZ cut around their leeward side staying foilborne, and led by 400metres off the start line.

Mark 1: Emirates TNZ rounded at 3m 57secs after the start and led by 38 secs and a 500 metre lead on the water.

Mark 2: Emirates TNZ rounded at7m 15secs and 39secs and only increased their lead by 1 sec.

Mark 3: Emirates TNZ rounded at 11m 40sec and extended to 55sec margin and 708 metres on the water.

Mark 4: Emirates Team NZ rounded at 15m 3 secs but encouragingly for the Brits they were only 51 secs behind – a 4 sec gain downwind, and 900metres on the water.

Mark 5: Emirates Team NZ rounded at 19m 38sec and extended their lead to 59secs, blowing out to a lead of over 1km on the water on Leg 6.

Finish: Emirates Team NZ finished 23m 8 sec after starting and the British again chopped margin on the final leeward leg to finish 52 secs behind the Kiwis.

Race 7: American Magic vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Start: Jimmy Spithill pushed American Magic high on the final approach to the right hand side of the line. LRPP left themselves a nice line to the start line and started ahead of the US team – who were forced to sail down the start line, get on the correct side and then start – 140metres astern.

Mark 1: Luna Rossa rounded at 4m 14sec and 17sec ahead or over 200metres. The Italians took the port gate and USA the starboard. Sailing at 44kts on Leg 2 and 250 metres lead initially building out to 340metres.

Mark 2: There was no change in the margin with Luna Rossa rounding at 7m 43 sec after the start and American Magic rounding 17sec later and around 300 metres back. Both boats evenly matched on the upwind, with American Magic splitting tacks and Luna Rossa being forced to cover.

Mark 3: Luna Rossa rounded at 12m 15sec after the start and a margin of 21 secs or 250 metres on the water, growing to 280metres downwind.

Mark 4: Luna Rossa rounded at 15m 40sec and an 18sec margin or around 212 metres on the water and a gain for American Magic. But the Italians extended to 400 metres ahead upwind.

Mark 5: A big gain for Luna Rossa rounding at 20m 13sec after the start and a margin of 35secs.

Finish: Luna Rossa finished at 23m 22sec after the start and on by 40 secs over American Magic or about 600metres on the water. The Italians opted for the right hand side of the course and enjoyed a speed advantage of 6kts. American Magic played their last card to take the left hand side, but found less pressure than USA – and paid the penalty, without affecting the result.

Race 8: Emirates Team NZ vs Orient Express Racing

The French retired before the start due to a technical issue and the race was stopped and awarded to Emirates Team NZ as soon as they crossed the start line. The Kiwis continued for a short way up the course and then called it a day.

Points after Day 2 of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Event – Barcelona, August 23, 2024

Weather Forecast:

The Predictwind America’s Cup Centre forecast another day of excellent conditions for AC75 racing.

This Friday 23rd, in the morning light and variable winds. In the afternoon the wind will build from the South with 8-12 knots expected on the race course. It will be sunny all day with temperatures up to 28 degreesC over the water and 31 degreesC over land. This Saturday 24th, another good racing day is forecasted in the afternoon with Southerly winds of about 10 knots with sunshine and warm temperatures all day. *updated 22nd at 9pm, Spanish time*

Race Program Day 2 of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Event – Barcelona, August 23, 2024