Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals Day 2
by Mark Jardine 15 Sep 14:50 BST
15 September 2024
Close to a collision in the INEOS Britannia vs. Alinghi Red Bull Racing match on Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals Day 2 - 15th September 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
A big day in the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Finals, where two teams could end up one point away from the Final, or all even again.
The matches on Saturday, while having one-sided results, were very different. The Italians and Americans battled closely, while the British and Swiss matches saw the teams far apart by the finish.
Could American Magic find better boat handling? Could Alinghi discover another gear?
With more wind, up to 17 knots, it was a very different day, which could mean very different performances from the teams.
Broadcast
- The commentary is getting better and better, with the communications on board the boats becoming far clearer, and given space in the commentary so we can hear the sailors' thinking.
- I'd still like to see windspeed and VMG more often, as they are so key to watching the racing.
- The early / late graphic for each yacht, showing whether the boats need to speed up or slow down in the pre-start, is a nice addition.
New York Yacht Club American Magic vs. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
With more breeze, the Italian team had opted for a slightly bigger jib than the Americans.
American Magic shot into the start at area at just under 49 knots, and positioned themselves high on the line, but Luna Rossa did a great job of controlling their position, and forcing the US team to tack away, while the Italians continued to the boundary.
At the first engagement, Luna Rossa tacked directly ahead of American Magic, but the Americans managed to fit in a high mode without losing any more distance.
At the windward gate the Italians rounded 13 seconds ahead, with the teams choosing different marks. Luna Rossa again had one of their 'skids', where the rudder briefly lost traction, but quickly managed to get it back under control.
On the downwind leg the lead extended marginally to 15 seconds, but American Magic's rounding was poor, ventilating the foil, which dropped the hull into the water at the same time as the boat sliding sideways, and resulted in the deficit extending to 400 metres from 200 metres. At the second windward gate the margin was 30 seconds, and Luna Rossa were looking unlikely to make a mistake and let the Americans back into the race.
Downwind American Magic reduced the deficit to 23 seconds by the second leeward, but it was back up to 32 seconds at the final windward gate, with Luna Rossa finishing 26 seconds ahead.
One mistake is all it takes, but Luna Rossa looked supremely comfortable going 3-0 up.
As American Magic starboard helm said, "It's time to get rolling."
INEOS Britannia vs. Alinghi Red Bull Racing
With the British team going into a loop in the pre-start to put pressure on the Swiss team, Alinghi touched down off the foils, and then came hugely close to a collision when the Swiss team lost control downwind. Thankfully Ben Ainslie on INEOS Britannia bore away into a gybe fast and disaster was averted.
The Swiss team came close to capsizing, but the situation they found themselves put the British into a kilometre lead.
The race was very processional, but INEOS Britannia's mainsail was making a cracking noise through the tacks and gybes, most likely due to a broken carbon structure within the two skins of the sail and will see the mainsails dropped between races to fix.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs. New York Yacht Club American Magic
Despite lining up relatively clear of Luna Rossa, American Magic still ended up on the back foot after the start with Tom Slingsby saying, "We're struggling for speed here." while the boats chased towards the left-hand side boundary.
Luna Rossa rounded the first windward gate only 6 seconds ahead of American Magic, so either the speed difference is marginal, or the US team took a better course upwind.
American Magic rounded the first leeward gate 11 seconds behind, but Luna Rossa's rounding was scrappy, skidding sideways with the bustle hitting the water, closing the gap to 100 metres. By the second windward gate the gap was still 11 seconds.
A good downwind leg saw the Americans close the gap to 8 seconds, with both boats hitting 48 knots at times, and achieving VMG speeds of 41 knots.
American Magic slowly clawed back into Luna Rossa on the final upwind leg, but the Italians did a superb job of bouncing the Americans off to the left by tacking on top of them, rounding the final windward gate ahead by just 3 seconds.
The US team have proved fast downwind, and Luna Rossa thought it too tight to gybe in front of American Magic during the first cross, showing that the gap was closing.
A poor gybe by Luna Rossa saw the gap close to just 15 metres, but the Italians just managed to cross on port ahead of American Magic on the final cross to take the win by 2 seconds, and to match point in their Semi-Final.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing vs. INEOS Britannia
Alinghi lined up slightly early on the line, so were pushed to make the pin end of the line, and INEOS Britannia gauged away slightly to gain the early advantage. The British then repeatedly tacked on the Swiss boat to extend their advantage to 15 seconds at the first windward gate.
In the highest winds of the day, the tacking duel pushed the cyclors to the limit, with the heart race on Alinghi's cyclor team averaging 195bpm, but both teams were sailing exceptionally smoothly.
While INEOS Britannia relentlessly pulled away from Alinghi, it was fascinating to listen to Glenn Ashby describe how, in these stronger winds, the teams aim to keep the speeds beneath 45 knots to avoid reaching cavitation speed, where the water on the top of the foil turns to a gas.
He also described how the AC75 can be sailed higher out of the water, bringing more of the leeward foil out of the water to reduce drag as at high speeds more lift is generated, and a smaller surface is required to keep the boat foiling.
During all of this, neither boat made any errors, but INEOS Britannia went 4-0 up after a 48 second win.
The Semi-Finals could be over after two more races.