Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Finals - Race 4
by Luna Rossa & Artemis Racing 11 Aug 2013 09:21 BST
10 August 2013
Weather: Sun, 14-16 knots wind from South West, flat sea, flood tide 1.5 knots
Race start at 13.15 local time
Luna Rossa advances to Louis Vuitton Cup Final (from Luna Rossa)
Today Luna Rossa Challenge defeated for the fourth time in a row the Swedish team Artemis Racing winning the semifinals of the Louis Vuitton Cup and advancing to the final against Emirates Team New Zealand.
The Italian team entered the pre-start zone on starboard tack. Artemis Racing tried to close the door but the Italian team reacted and turned the situation in her favour, gained control, assigned a penalty to her opponent and won the start. Although Artemis Racing crossed the starting line first and rounded the reaching mark ahead the Swedish team had an outstanding penalty; Luna Rossa took the lead of the race without giving up until the finish.
During the race Artemis Racing collected two more penalties for exceeding the course boundaries.
On the first downwind leg Luna Rossa sailed in full foiling and rounded the gate 20 seconds ahead. During the windward leg the Italian team sailed with good tactics, playing both tide and wind shifts. After the gate Artemis Racing was immediately penalized for sailing outside the boundaries and was forced to chase, collecting 1 minute and 30 seconds delay at the windward gate.
Throughout the second downwind leg, Luna Rossa displayed again a great foiling control and increased her lead on the opponent up to 1 minute and 30 seconds.
The Italian team sailed the second windward leg heading offshore and then tacked inshore in search of a less current zone, gaining 34 extra seconds of advantage and extending the lead to 2 minutes and 4 seconds.
On the last run the Swedish team collected her third penalty, again for boundaries, whereas Luna Rossa flew towards the downwind gate and crossed the finishing line 2 minutes and 11 seconds ahead.
Patrizio Bertelli, Team Principal of Luna Rossa declared: "We are satisfied to have reached our goal. I want to thank all the team for the huge effort that they have put into these last few months that allowed us to advance to the Louis Vuitton Cup Final"
Max Sirena added: "I'm very proud of this result. I want to thank all the crew and the shore team for the hard work that they have put into these last few days. We always said that our goal was to gain access to the Louis Vuitton Cup final and we did it. We won against a team that started its campaign one year and a half before us and that could develop the boat much more than us. Now we'll do our best to be ready to race against Emirates Team new Zealand. For Luna Rossa this will be the third Louis Vuitton Cup final."
"Heros of the day": the entire team for the huge effort of the past few months and for achieving this result
Luna Rossa completed the 15.49 -nautical mile course in 47 minutes, 11 seconds, maintaining an average speed of 24.17 knots and reaching a maximum speed of 40.82 knots. Artemis Racing held an average speed of 23.99 knots and reached a maximum speed of 42.05 knots.
Luna Rossa Challenge will race again against Emirates Team New Zealand on Saturday August 17th, for the first two matches of the Louis Vuitton Cup final.
Luna Rossa crew list: Max Sirena (skipper and pitman), Francesco Bruni (tactician), David Carr (pitman/grinder), Pierluigi de Felice (trimmer), Giles Scott (primary grinder), Chris Draper (helmsman), Xabi Fernandez (wing trimmer), Nick Hutton (bowman), Lele Marino (wing grinder), Marco Montis (freestyler) and Simone de Mari (hydraulic grinder).
13th day of sailing (from Artemis Racing)
Today Artemis Racing completed their 13th day of sailing their second AC72 and their final day of participation in the Louis Vuitton Cup series. Race 4 saw the most exciting start of the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Finals with the pair of AC72’s making contact before the Swedes led off the line. The team later lost their lead on the first downwind leg after being issued a penalty by the umpires for the prestart contact. Artemis Racing cleared their penalty and continued to focus on gaining back their lead.
Over the course of these four semi final races, the team has statistically improved more than their opponent, Luna Rossa Challenge. Despite these improvements, today Artemis Racing crossed the finish 02:11 after Luna Rossa.
“For us as a team, to be in the Semi Finals and to race, that was a win.” Torbjörn Törnqvist, chairman of Artemis Racing.
Artemis Racing crew list: Iain Percy (skipper/tactician), Nathan Outteridge (helmsman), Stu Bettany (pit), Andy Fethers (pit), Chris Brittle (grinder), Julien Cressant (grinder), Craig Monk (grinder), Sean Clarkson (grinder), Thierry Fouchier (jib trim), Iain Jensen (wing trim), Rodney Ardern (wing assist).
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