Cup Spy - America's Cup Match: Day 5 - Battle of Barcelona almost over
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ 18 Oct 23:19 BST
19 October 2024
Emirates Team NZ and INEOS Britannia - Race 7 & 8 - Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup, Race Day 5 - October 18, .2024 © Ian Roman / America's Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand won both races today to progress to Match Point, needing just one more race to successfully defend the America's Cup. The Challenger INEOS Britannia needs to win the next five races without dropping one.
That will be a feat of lazarous proportions.
Today's breeze came "over Barcelona and some hills which created a lot of turbulence, with the wind speeding up an down, and swung left and right," said Giles Scott, Head of Sailing for INEOS Britannia.
"It was a really tricky day with both teams trying to manage a lot of variables," he added
The cityscape - which had the effect of deflecting the NW breeze, and created some very uneven pressure down the course with wind strength recorded at 7kts in the centre of the course and over 14kts on the adjacent boundary.
However looking at the data off the two AC75s it was even worse with the breeze swinging through 45° from 275° to 320° - according to the boat data. Wind strength varied from 7kts to 17kts, and the boat speeds from 20kts to 46kts. The extreme range of the wind strength, made sail choice difficult with jibs being out of range at both end of the breeze, requiring some very accurate trimming.
According to one of the British coaches the shifts and pressure were relatively easy to spot, and the Kiwis made a meal of it in both races.
Today was a day that the British claimed they hadn't seen previously in all their time at Barcelona. Both races were over almost as soon as Emirates Team New Zealand hit the first shift - and there was certainly no passing after Mark 1 - and the top three boats in the regatta have now sailed over 112 legs after passing the first mark without any lead changes around subsequent marks.
That sort of statistic makes the racing very lop-sided and today's racing amply demonstrated that point.
Emirates Team New Zealand lost the first start, but did have the advantage of being stacked to windward of INEOS Britannia. Although they were behind initially, the Kiwis were able to pick up a favourable windshift less than 30secs after starting and lifted off the British, who missed it completely.
At the first cross the Kiwis tacked and covered the Brits, and had a handy 50metre lead just a minute after the starting signal, as they headed for the starboard boundary.
The Brits had no real option but to fall back onto the other tack, and the boats sailed for opposite boundaries. The Kiwis found another shift and when they came back together they had a lead of over 230metres. However the wind the swung out of the port hand side of the course, giving the British a big leg up, and they pulled the margin back to just 55 metres, or less than two boatlengths.
For the rest of the race it was a lost cause for the trailing boat, as the conditions were so variable that as Giles Scott noted "no-one was going to take a split into known loss"
Emirates Team New Zealand worked away, and won the first race by 73seconds or 1100metres.
The start of Race 8, the second race of the day, was the reverse of it predecessor, with Emirates Team New Zealand to leeward, and reported to be within a metre of the start line, on start time and travelling at 37kts, with the Brits this time to windward, and hitting the same speed.
This time it was the British who broke for the starboard boundary, with Emirates Team New Zealand holding on for the opposite side, and again picked up the favourable shift, bouncing off the boundary and coming back with a 140 metre lead after less than two minutes of racing. That increased by 10 metres just short of Mark 1, and then it was another case of Goodnight Nurse by the Kiwis who went on to win by 55 seconds or over 1,000 metres.
If INEOS Britannia can win five races on the trot, it will be the greatest comeback, by far in America's Cup history. Had Brits been able to lock onto the breaks that Emirates Team New Zealand were able to find so early in the racing, then we might have been looking at quite a different outcome to the 37th America's Cup. But even more so than on previous race days, today there were no passing lanes, and once they were behind, there was no way back.
"Both starts were super close," ETNZ skipper Peter Burling said after the racing. "Both times we got the side we wanted as well, which was really pleasing. We just managed to control their first intersection and shut down the race from there.
"I think it's just awesome for the group to go out and execute two kind of completely different starts in completely different conditions and end up on the right side of it both times.
Up until today it has felt like we've been in really strong positions in a few of the starts, and then let them slide. So to be able to put two good ones together today was really pleasing."
Emirates Team New Zealand is on six wins, and on the cusp of a rare America's Cup three-peat. "For our team, nothing really changes from here. We know the last win's always going to be the hardest one, and looks like there's really light, tricky forecast for next few days as well.
"We're just set up for long haul. We're expecting a one hell of a battle, and I'm sure that's what we'll get. But we're really looking forward to it."
For the British, Giles Scott expressed similar sentiments. "As far as we are concerned, we've got five races to win, and we're up for it."
Full Replay America's Cup Day 5, Races 7 and 8
Race Summaries and Mark Roundings:
Race 7: INEOS Britannia (GBR) (Port Startbox entry) vs Emirates Team New Zealand (Starboard Startbox Entry) vs Start: 14:10hrs CET
INEOS Britannia won the start, sailing faster and forward of Emirates Team NZ. But the Kiwis tacked for the right hand side of the six leg course, and while it didn't pay initially, it paid a bid dividend about a third of the way up the leg, once they consolidated the lead the Brits had little option but to follow. The issue was a large hill upwind of the course and the effect that had on both direction and strength - which was 7kts in the middle and up to 14kts on the right.
Start: GBR won the start. NZL immediately tacked for the starboard boundary, got a "Kiwi Puff" and closed the race down.
Mark 1: 03m 54sec NZL led GBR margin 12secs
Mark 2: 07m 20sec NZL led GBR margin 13secs
Mark 3: 12m 00sec NZL led GBR margin 24secs
Mark 4: 16m 08sec NZL led GBR margin 29secs
Mark 5: 21m 02sec NZL led GBR margin 53secs
Finish: 24m 49sec NZL led GBR margin 73secs
Race 8: Emirates Team New Zealand (Port Startbox entry) vs INEOS Britannia (GBR) (Starboard Startbox Entry) Start: 1515hrs CET
Start: NZL won the start, and was just 1 metre short of the startline. GBR tacked for the starboard boundary 20seonds later, while NZL kept going for the other boundary, got a "Kiwi Puff", and it was race over.
Mark 1: 03m 45sec NZL led GBR margin 15secs
Mark 2: 06m 36sec NZL led GBR margin 25secs
Mark 3: 10m 32sec NZL led GBR margin 41secs
Mark 4: 13m 32sec NZL led GBR margin 36secs
Mark 5: 17m 31sec NZL led GBR margin 23secs
Mark 6: 20m 25sec NZL led GBR margin 27secs
Mark 7: 23m 57sec NZL led GBR margin 50secs
Finish: 26m 37sec NZL led GBR margin 55secs
Boat Performance Data
Race 7 - Boat speed
Race 7: Wind Speed
Race 8: Boat Speed
Race 8: Wind Speed
Virtual Eye
After the racing you can replay the key points, or the whole race using Virtual Eye from ARL This is the tool that Inside Tack are using to demonstrate various points - using the actual tracks of the AC75s.
You can go directly to the Virtual Eye America's Cup coverage by clicking here and click on "Watch Previous" then select the race you wish to view. Virtual Eye is a 3D viewer so you can zoom in, out, around and up and down just like you could in a helicopter.
INEOS Britannia Dockwalk
From the Fan Zone:
Crew Lists
Onboard video
Race 7:
Race 8:
Inside Tack:
Additional Images: