Louis Vuitton Cup Finals - Race 8

Another Dramatic Match as Luna Rossa Wins! - Prada Forces One Last Race For the Louis Vuitton Cup

After 201 races, the Louis Vuitton Cup still hasn't settled anything. Luna Rossa and AmericaOne are tied with four wins each in the Final series. Race Nine, to determine the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup and the Challenger for the America's Cup is scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday). Italy's Luna Rossa forced the decisive race by earning an incredible win under immense pressure. Having lost three consecutive races to Paul Cayard on AmericaOne, Francesco de Angelis rallied his troops and won what was yet another close race. Millions of dollars, three years of hard work, and over four months of racing will be decided in just two hours on Sunday afternoon.

Racing started in ideal conditions again today. For the second consecutive day, the Hauraki Gulf was under sunny skies dotted with high cumulus clouds. There was 10-15 knots of wind from the South-Southwest and a slight sea swell. The wind veered to the Southwest throughout the afternoon.

LUNA ROSSA BEAT AMERICAONE - DELTA 00:37

The start of Race Eight of the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals featured very aggressive manoeuvring from both Paul Cayard on AmericaOne (USA-61) and Francesco de Angelis (ITA-45). De Angelis gave a sign of things to come on the initial dial-up when he waited until the last possible moment to turn his starboard tack boat up into the wind, and almost made contact with AmericaOne. Cayard, never one to shy from combat, led out behind the Committee Boat from the dial-up with de Angelis on his tail and then turned back for the starting line first. Luna Rossa established a small overlap to leeward and de Angelis luffed once and then again, forcing Cayard to tack. Luna Rossa crossed the start line first near the pin end. AmericaOne tacked again near the Committee Boat and also started on starboard tack, upwind, and two seconds behind the Italian boat. Penalty flags were flown on both boats on the initial dial-up and the luff, but the Umpires decided no rules had been infringed.

The boats pushed out to the left side of the course from the start. Separated laterally by just 100 metres AmericaOne, to windward and Luna Rossa, slightly ahead, sailed out nearly to the port tack layline. Cayard first, and de Angelis just moments later, tacked and pushed up towards the top mark. When the wind shifted left, and both boats appeared to be laying the windward mark, de Angelis started footing off to roll over the top of AmericaOne. But the wind went back to the right and at that point both grey boats appeared as though they would miss the mark. A small left shift near the mark and de Angelis made it around while Cayard was forced to tack twice to get to the layline. AmericaOne trailed by 20 seconds at the top of the first run.

Both boats elected for bear-away spinnaker sets and Cayard gybed off for the middle of the course after a few moments. AmericaOne exhibited good speed and gybed back to close in on Luna Rossa. De Angelis gybed just three boatlengths ahead of AmericaOne and Cayard slowly picked metres out of the already tenuous lead. Midway down the leg, de Angelis could look over his shoulder and see Cayard just over 50 metres behind him. Cayard and de Angelis gybed at virtually the same time, and now AmericaOne was in a strong position to interfere with the wind reaching the Italian boat and perhaps roll over to windward. De Angelis gybed away, protecting starboard tack advantage on the next convergence, but Cayard had won the inside if he could establish an overlap for the mark rounding. When Luna Rossa gybed short of the layline, Cayard closed and then gybed with a full overlap and positioned well between the Italians and the wind. De Angelis slowly luffed, Cayard responded slowly, and the Umpires ruled AmericaOne didn't respond quickly enough, penalising Cayard. AmericaOne was now burdened with a 270-degree turn to exonerate the penalty, to be taken at any time before the finish. Both boats rounded the mark cleanly with Luna Rossa holding a 19-second lead.

The second weather leg featured Cayard and his tactician John Kostecki trying to break out from a tight cover as Luna Rossa stayed between AmericaOne and the top mark. The AmericaOne afterguard elected not to take a big risk by separating to an obviously poor position, deciding instead to try and stay close, and wait for an opportunity to unload the penalty by forcing one onto the Italians. Cayard took advantage of a small problem on Luna Rossa to break out of phase, but de Angelis immediately came back, crossing ahead and tacking to weather of AmericaOne. For the top half of the leg, Luna Rossa would cover, forcing AmericaOne to split away, and the boats would converge again after both tacking a minute later. In this manner the two grey boats zigzagged up the middle of the course - Cayard throwing 21 tacks at de Angelis on the 25-minute leg. In yet another demonstration of how evenly matched the two boats are, Luna Rossa only added 11 seconds to its lead at the turn.

On the second run, AmericaOne raised its bright green spinnaker to see yet another small tear. Cayard has suffered through five torn spinnakers in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals, although this time the tear didn't develop, and he carried it for the entire leg without mishap. Again, Grael and de Angelis sailed a cautious leg, applying a loose cover on their American rivals. AmericaOne looked to be a little faster the entire leg, and cut a full 13 seconds out of the lead to set up a nervous final circuit of the course for the Italians. Luna Rossa carried a slim, 17-second lead around the mark.

For AmericaOne, a big right shift effectively closed down any passing lanes on the final beat. Cayard was forced to sail much of the leg on the favoured starboard tack with de Angelis positioned up to windward of him. Despite that, AmericaOne was able to nibble away another small piece of the lead, and Cayard began the final run just 16 seconds behind, but with a penalty turn still to complete. On Luna Rossa, de Angelis had to feel confident about his position - and yet slightly uncomfortable. He would know that AmericaOne would be looking to unload a penalty by engaging in a fight if possible.

In the lightening breeze, both boats set asymmetrical spinnakers on the final run to the finish. First Luna Rossa and then AmericaOne executed gybe sets and moved out on the left side of the race course, with Cayard steaming up to windward. At one point the foreguy slipped on the Italian spinnaker pole, the pole and sail rising up from the deck, losing efficiency but not affecting the lead too much.

AmericaOne sensed an opportunity and gybed, but the Italian crew sorted out the problem and de Angelis was able to turn and stay with the American boat. De Angelis had to balance his need to stay close enough to AmericaOne to cover and yet be clear if Cayard tried to off load his penalty. When the boats reached the starboard gybe layline for the finishing line, Cayard tried to force a mistake on the Italian boat by faking a gybe. But de Angelis wasn't fooled, and went on to gybe to leeward of AmericaOne, maintaining enough separation to avoid any further parries from Cayard. Luna Rossa crossed the line slightly ahead of AmericaOne, the final delta exaggerated when AmericaOne tacked around to fulfil its penalty obligations.

The stage is set, and the players are lined up. Don't miss Race Nine tomorrow (Sunday).

More Information: America's Cup Resources

Press Conference Quotes

Francesco de Angelis, skipper of Luna Rossa, on bouncing back today and winning: "These races have been difficult and it was like a pendulum that went back and forth between the two teams. Today we started on the back foot, but it seems that the pendulum went on our way again. We left the dock very determined to sail well and that's what we did. We will do it again tomorrow."

Paul Cayard, skipper of AmericaOne, on the penalty against his boat today: "I think the Umpire made a good call. We were just playing a little too much with fire in the windward-leeward situations. You know the calls are pretty conservative. That's to say they don't wait for any contact of any kind, not even sails on rigs or anything, so we just have to try to figure out how much room they want to see there. There's a big obligation on the windward yacht to keep clear in that situation. I'm not going to whine about it. It happened, and we learned our lesson, and tomorrow's another day. I think that to win four straight off Prada was probably a big ask. We'll just have to win 4 out of 5."

John Kostecki, tactician on AmericaOne, on whether they should have tacked when they did on the first beat: "They were slowly gaining down there from underneath of us. It would have been pretty risky for us to let them tack and cross ahead. It was a tough call. Like Torben said, it was really close. They may have been able to cross, they may have not. If they would have been able to cross, they would have been way ahead of us at that point."

Paul Cayard, on his three penalties for windward boat failing to keep clear: "Obviously it's not my favourite situation. I think the very first one which was on the windy day when we retired later in the race - that was a really bad foul and definitely (deserved) a penalty. The one in Race 4, I still feel was not a particularly good call. If you recall that was a different case where we gybed clear ahead. They were the overtaking boat. It was more similar to the case in the Semi-Finals when it took the Umpires eight minutes to give Prada the penalty in a similar situation. In this case they gave us a penalty in eight seconds. As far as today goes, we gybed into that situation so we were overlapped right away. We had their air a little bit and we were trying to soak down on them to roll them, and we made it too close. I can admit to that being a mistake and I've just got to do better next time."

Francesco de Angelis, on winding down after yesterday's loss: "We went through many different stages. Of course the moment had to be taken very seriously. We went from technical debrief, to a crew debrief, and slowly, slowly until the time goes by and you sit at the dinner table. Then after, you have a drink - Scotch."

Paul Cayard, on the atmosphere of the Louis Vuitton Cup: "I think this whole event has been great - all the public that's around in this venue, the stadium type venue we have here. You come in from a race and they're all cheering both boats. I'd say it doesn't matter whether you win or lose, they cheer you equally. All the mega-yachts honk their horns. It's a great thing for our sport."

Francesco de Angelis, on tactics resulting in the protest, and during the start: "The luff first - you try to use the rules as the best (you can). The rule says you have to avoid the collision. Had we not borne off there would have been a contact for sure. And the start - you have to be aggressive."

Francesco de Angelis, on what he expects of the New Zealand defenders of the America's Cup: "Nobody has sailed against the Kiwis, so nobody knows how fast they are. I think everybody has huge respect for them as a team. Of course they know the place so they will be tough. The challengers have been through a lot of races and the series is not over. As I mentioned before, the fact that it will go to the last one (ninth race) has to be good if you want to race them (Team New Zealand)."