Cup Spy: August 23 – Louis Vuitton Qualifier Regatta Day 2 – 6 Days Left to Win
Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 23 August 2024 09:55 PDT 24 August 2024 Alinghi Red Bull Racing and American Express – AC75 – Louis Vuitton Qualifying Event – Day 2 – Barcelona – 23 August 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
Commentary: There isn't much time left before the real race begins.
The second day of the Louis Vuitton Qualifier Regatta in Barcelona has concluded. Expectations were high, but once again they were not met. Three races were finished as soon as they started, a big lesson for next week when the round-robin racing begins. The fourth race was stopped as soon as it started.
After that series, one of the five teams will go home, and most would pick France's Orient-Express Racing Team to round out the campaign, but the qualifying series over the past two days has suggested two or three more could be contenders – and the semi-finals certainly limit their shelf life.
Unlike the 2021 qualifying series in Auckland, there will be no month-long break before action resumes on August 29, just six weeks away.
Up until now, each team has followed their own public relations program to talk about the games, but if the first two days of the qualifying regatta have taught us anything, it's that not everyone can be a winner.
The first sports quote I heard from an Olympic rower turned America's Cup athlete was “performance equals potential minus mistakes.”
Most of the teams competing in the current America's Cup have great potential, the only question is whether it will be this America's Cup or the next one.
There will be plenty of mistakes made on the miss side, putting the defender at risk just as much as the challenger.
What we certainly saw today in two of the three starts was that split-second decisions could prove extremely costly and put teams in positions from which there was little hope of recovery once they crossed the starting line.
We also saw Luna Rossa's Jimmy Spithill in overwhelming form, showing great judgement and boat positioning in his match against American Magic.
Like yesterday, today's race raised the question of how objective and how committed the months spent practicing and racing on the AC40 and two versions of the AC75 were. Given the SailGP circuit on which many AC teams and sailors compete, that's a lot of time on the water, but how difficult was it really? Today we may have gained a little more insight into that.
Sure, in hindsight it's easy to spot mistakes, but these were highly paid professional sailors, not Wednesday night race participants.
The two teams competing in the 2021 America's Cup, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Emirates Team New Zealand, appear to have learned the same lesson from Auckland, based on what we saw today: sailing technique must be first rate and executed consistently. Both teams undertook very tough self-critical reviews after the last Cup and appear to have learned their lesson.
Two other interesting things happened that day.
Firstly, unlike day 1, there was no lead change once the race started. In fact, it was all over at the start and any advantage gained was spent in a drag race to the right hand side boundary where the result was pretty much decided. The right hand side of the course seemed to be favorable both upwind and downwind. And in these conditions, maybe Barcelona is a one-way track.
Secondly, in two races, especially the seventh race between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic, the US team, despite being overtaken at the start, maintained a lead of between 17 and 21 seconds over the next four mark rounds.
And anyone who saw the AC75s sailing in 7-10 knot winds in Auckland today will know all too well the effect that turbulence on the rig can have on the AC75s following behind. Although hurt by their start line blunder, the US team controlled the damage extremely well from very adverse conditions.
The worst of the day came in the final race, when the French team withdrew due to an unknown technical issue. Luna Rossa did the same in the first leg yesterday. Both races benefited Emirates Team New Zealand, who ended up topping the overnight leaderboard with three wins.
It is more than a little worrying that after all this development, testing and training, boat failures are still a major issue and could be so decisive at this level of the sport, and ultimately the Cup.
The problem aboard the French boat was doubly unfortunate in that it meant two AC75s from the same design team were sailed against each other and we never got to see what the differences really were.
While the battle on the water grabs all the attention, the Rules Committee has its hands full with the initial responses from teams to its original ruling on the Cycloa honeycomb fairing/cover and its boundary layer effects, and there is no doubt there will be more to come.
One common complaint about the AC75 is that the crew can't be seen, as they're mostly at the bottom of the vessel, their heads covered by helmets and goggles. Now one team wants to take this a step further with a new helmet design that covers the nose and mouth for safety reasons.
“We are looking at ways to protect sailors' faces from hitting parts of the yacht or from being hit by large amounts of water during a steep dive or other deceleration. To that end, we are prototyping face masks that would protect the face in the same way that a helmet protects the head and goggles protect the eyes,” the rules committee explained.
No doubt there will be more to come.
Replays – Louis Vuitton Qualifier Event Day 2
Race Summary:
Race 5 American Magic vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing:
They started evenly, but American Magic clearly aimed for the right side of the course and quickly took a 140 metre lead.
Mark 1: American Magic leads by 12 seconds at mark 1. The U.S. has a 240+ meter lead downwind.
Mark 2: American Magic rounded out the lead with 15 seconds midway through leg 3 and 340 meters of water lead in 7 minutes 3 seconds.
Mark 3: American Magic rounded in 11 minutes 24 seconds and had a 31 second lead. In leg 4 the boats were sailing at 40-45 knots.
Mark 4: American Magic rounded in 14 minutes 39 seconds with a margin of 36 seconds. The lead extended to 520 meters on leg 5. The boat was sailing at 30-35 knots upwind in a light breeze of 10.3 knots.
Mark 5: American Magic again chose the right side with 11 knots of wind. At Mark 5, America rounded in 19 minutes, 27 seconds and held a 46 second lead. Their lead on the water was now 940 meters.
The finish: American Magic crossed the starting line 22 minutes, 56 seconds after the starting signal, opening up a 56-second lead.
Race 6: Emirates Team NZ vs Ineos Britannia:
Emirates Team New Zealand won the start after the British team lost speed when steering upwind in the weakening winds and went into displacement mode, leaving ETNZ to stay downwind in their foiling boats and take the lead 400 metres from the start line.
Mark 1: Emirates TNZ rounded in 3 minutes 57 seconds after the start and had a lead of 38 seconds and 500 metres on the water.
Mark 2: Emirates TNZ rounded in 7 minutes 15 seconds and 39 seconds, extending their lead by just one second.
Mark 3: Emirates TNZ rounded in 11 minutes 40 seconds, with a margin of 55 seconds and 708 metres above water.
Mark 4: Emirates Team NZ rounded in 15 minutes and 3 seconds, but encouragingly for Great Britain, they were just 51 seconds behind, with a four second lead downwind and 900 metres on the water.
Mark 5: Emirates Team NZ rounded in 19 minutes 38 seconds to extend their lead to 59 seconds and over a kilometre on the water on leg six.
The finish: Emirates Team NZ finished 23 minutes and 8 seconds behind the start, with Team Great Britain closing the gap again on the final downwind leg to finish 52 seconds behind Team New Zealand.
Race 7: American Magic vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
The Start: Jimmy Spithill pushed American Magic up to the right of the line on the final approach. LRPP had a good line to the start line and started ahead of the US team, who had to walk down the start line, get on the right side and start 140 meters back.
Mark 1: Luna Rossa rounds 4 minutes 14 seconds and 17 seconds ahead or over 200 meters ahead. Italy takes the port gate, USA takes the starboard gate. On leg 2, sailing at 44 knots, their initial lead of 250 meters grows to 340 meters.
Mark 2: The gap remained unchanged as Luna Rossa rounded 7 minutes 43 seconds after the start, with American Magic rounding 17 seconds later and about 300 meters behind. Both boats were evenly matched upwind, with American Magic splitting the tack, forcing Luna Rossa into cover.
Mark 3: Luna Rossa rounded 12 minutes and 15 seconds after the start, gaining a margin of 21 seconds or 250 meters on the water, which grew to 280 meters downwind.
Mark 4: Luna Rossa rounded in 15 minutes 40 seconds, with American Magic ahead by 18 seconds on the water and about 212 meters, but the Italian team was 400 meters ahead upwind.
5th mark: 13 seconds after the start and 20 meters in, Luna Rossa has a large lead of 35 seconds.
The finish: Luna Rossa finished 23 minutes and 22 seconds after the start, winning by 40 seconds over American Magic and about 600 meters on the water. The Italians chose the right side of the course, which gave them a speed advantage of 6 knots. American Magic chose the left side as their final trump card, but they were under less pressure than the USA and paid the penalty without affecting the result.
Race 8: Emirates Team NZ vs Orient Express Racing
The French team retired before the start due to a technical issue and the race was stopped just after crossing the start line, awarding victory to Emirates Team New Zealand, who continued on the course before finishing the race.
Points at the end of Day 2 of the Louis Vuitton Qualifier Event – Barcelona, August 23, 2024
weather forecast:
PredictWind America's Cup Centre predicted excellent conditions again today for AC75 racing.
This Friday the 23rd, winds will be light in the morning with varying directions. Southerly winds will strengthen in the afternoon, with 8-12 knots on the race course. Sunny all day with temperatures rising to 28°C on the water and 31°C on land. This Saturday the 24th is forecast to be a good day for racing, with southerly winds at around 10 knots in the afternoon, sunny and warm all day. *Updated 22nd at 9pm Spanish time*
Race program for the second day of the Louis Vuitton Qualifiers – Barcelona, August 23, 2024
