Cup Spy: Brits make choice of Semi-Finals Opponent
by Richard Gladwell 13 Sep 2024 10:10 BST
INEOS Britannia, winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin Series - 9th September 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
Ben Ainslie has announced his choice as a Semi-finalist opponent.
The British, the top challengers from the two Round Robins, earned the right to select their opponent in the SemiFinals, and they have selected Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
By definition, the second-place getter in the Round Robin phase, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA), will face off against American Magic (USA).
In the racing to date, INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa have beaten their semi-final opponents on the three occasions they have met.
In Race 9 of the Preliminary Regatta, the British beat the Swiss by 33 seconds. They went on to score two more wins in the Round Robins of the Louis Vuitton Cup. The British team's wins have come in light and strong breezes.
In Round Robin 1, the Brits won Race 9 after they were able to feed some rig turbulence to the Swiss in the Pre-Start, knocking them off their foils, and the Swiss started 900metres behind the British, who were doing a horizon job on Arnaud Psarofaghis and friends. However the Swiss Wind Gods returned the favour on the final two legs of the shortened course, turning down the breeze, leaving the Brits struggling to stay on their foils. Alinghi chopped INEOS's 1100 metre lead down to a mere 400 metres or 84 seconds in one of the longest regatta races at over 26 minutes.
On their second encounter in Round Robin 2, on so-called Super Saturday, sailing in a 14-16kt breeze, the Brits used their delay card to do a jib change to their J3-2 delaying the start time. Ainslie won the start and led by 12secs at the top mark. The British team were able to sail their own race in clear air, extending around the rest of the course to win by 53 secs or 900 metres. It was a convincing win.
The racing has been closer between Luna Rossa and American Magic, than the other Semi-Final pair, and we believe this will continue into the Semis.
In their first meeting in the Round Robins, after a poor first tack option - according to co-helm Francesco Bruni - coming off the start - Luna Rossa handed American Magic the advantage, which USA defended for the first two legs after some close exchanges on the first beat.
The USA rounded Mark 1 just 2 secss ahead and did well to still lead by 3 secs at Mark 2. The Italians took over the running on Leg 3 and shut down the race from there to win by 24 secs.
Their second encounter on Super Saturday of Round Robin 2 was a close-fought affair in the middle of the race, sailed in fresh winds and a confused off-axis seaway. Around Marks 2 and 3, the Italians held off American Magic by margins of 3 secs and 7 secs, respectively, but on the second downwind leg, Luna Rossa got away down the starboard side of the course and went on to win by 22 secs.
The Semi-Finals start on Saturday, September 14, and are a best of nine races or first to five wins.
By the end of this weekend, with each boat sailing four races and the possibility that one team could win all four, the Semis could be all but over.
At the Semi-Finals Media Conference, There was an update on the condition of American Magic skipper Paul Goodison, who was injured in a fall on the AC75 after racing on Super-Saturday. Stand-in skipper Tom Slingsby said that Goodison had weighed in with the rest of the crew, and clearly, the team are hopeful that he can step aboard the AC75 at some point. There is no limitation on the crew members who can be weighed, but the combined weight in a race cannot exceed the maximum permitted in the Class Rule.
While American Magic may prefer to get Goodison back on the AC75, a better move—and one that is more likely—is for Goodison to move into a role similar to that of Giles Scott with INEOS Britannia—as a set of expert eyes and mind aboard the chase boat.
As with Scott, that brings someone to the American Magic mix with an excellent on-board understanding of how the current AC75 sails, with the objectivity of seeing what is happening off the boat and the ability to see the performance data in real-time. There is no doubt that the Brits have made a serious advance in some areas - and it is likely that Scott, in his new role, has played a significant part in this along with the matchracing coach and legal mind of multiple world champion Ian Williams.
Undoubtedly, one of the big learnings from this America's Cup has been the contribution of coaches and decisive on-the-water support. They have to be able to pinpoint an issue, usually between races, and stop one loss from becoming two, which can potentially change the outcome of a series.
The elephant in the room for all teams is the failure of supplied computer software, of which the Challengers have complained at varying stages of the Round Robin. Despite Luna Rossa co-helm Jimmy Spithill testily dismissing questioning on this point at the Media Conference, the point remains that in the Preliminary Racing and Round Robins, Luna Rossa dropped out of two races with computer issues. The first happened in their Preliminary Regatta match against Emirates Team NZ, when their boat system shutdown as they were about to cross tacks with Emirates Team NZ.
They also had problems on the final day of the Round Robins when their starboard foil arm would not lower, and the Italians defaulted their race to Alinghi Red Bull Racing, dropping Luna Rossa out of the top spot on that phase of the regatta.
The International Jury dismissed a subsequent claim for redress by Luna Rossa over the latter incident.
"In this case, there is no rule that allows the Jury to hold a hearing on this matter. The Jury will not be proceeding any further", was their response.
Several teams have also complained of issues with the start countdown function. However, whether this is an actual software fault, the sailing crews pushing the software beyond its limitations, or operator error has not been publicly explained.
However, the point remains that, to date, the outcome of several races has been decided in different ways by "computer glitches", which seems to be a hazard of life with the AC75s and this style of racing.
Whether the teams are quite so accepting of an early exit from the regatta as collateral damage from technology issues is another matter entirely.