The final three races of the Louis Vuitton Cup took place today Monday 9 September, with the French knocked out and the surprising need for an additional top-two sail-offToday saw the final three races of the America\u2019s Cup challenger selection series, the Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin get underway after the cancellation of racing yesterday.
\nOnce again today racing was delayed, though the southerly wind direction was due to see some thermal enhancement as the afternoon wore on, so racing was a much more likely possibility than yesterday\u2019s very unstable conditions.
\nThe big news from yesterday was a nosedive by French Orient Express Racing Team \u2013 who are due to have a must-win race today against INEOS Britannia in order to remain in the competition \u2013 causing some damage. They had managed to effect a temporary repair yesterday, but they will have been happy to have an extra 24 hours to make the repair a little more robust \u2013 and fully check the boat over.
\nThe other big news from yesterday was that co-skipper of American Magic, Paul Goodison had picked up an injury so would not be racing yesterday \u2013 instead replaced by Lucas Calabrese, who has trained extensively with the team. This remains the case today and the team are reported to be taking it day-by-day.
\nIt has been reported in by a number of outlets that Goodison fell through a hatch in the team\u2019s America\u2019s Cup boat and sustained some rib damage, but we have been unable to officially verify that.
\nPhoto: Ricardo Pinto \/ America\u2019s Cup
\nRace 28 INEOS Britannia Vs Orient Express Racing Team
\nSkippers
\nINEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
\nOrient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet<\/p>\n
The first race of the day was set to be the most important as the French needed to win to force a sail-off with Alinghi Red Bull Racing to see who is knocked out of the series. A short delay saw the race start 10 minutes late in winds that were just above the minimum 6.5 knots required to start a race.
\nGiven the light winds and the associated risk of foiling off the foils, it was maybe not a huge surprise top see both teams reluctant to engage in the pre-start. The French were first to head back to the startline very early and the Brits seemed content to let them go and claim the pin end of the line.
\nIt was pretty poor racecraft from Delapierre and Pepponet who crossed the line right at the pin, with the Brits also hitting the line at pace at the windward end of the line. With such a significant gap, there was little chance of the French forcing the Brits to tack away and Ainslie and Fletcher were easily able to foot into the space between the two boats and accelerate to get slightly ahead.\u00a0
\nWhen the French got to the left hand boundary INEOS were easily able to tack on the French with a tight cover and lead them all the way up the beat.
\nThe Brits managed to hook up some decent puffs on the downwind and, coupled with their impressive downwind pace, INEOS had pulled away to a 45 second lead.
\nThere were a few moments of peril in the remaining few laps as the wind softened a little in the middle of the race and made foiling through manoeuvres a bit touch-and-go, but the Brits were never really troubled and came home to win by over a minute. \u201cIt was a tough little race there in the light breeze,\u201d said Ainslie. \u201cI want to make a shout out to the French team and it\u2019s great to see France back in the Cup and they\u2019ve got a great young team.\u201d
\nQuentin \u201cIts not the best feeling in the world. We fought hard but it was not enough. What this team has achieved is unbelievable. Unfortunately you can\u2019t see it on the results, but putting together this team 1 year before and being able to compete against these experienced teams is good.\u201d
\nWhat did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Race 28?
\nIt was not the strongest showing from the French today, who came out desperately in need of a race win to avoid going out of the competition. However, they were not even able to land a punch. It is perhaps surprising that they did not come out with a bit more of an all-or-nothing approach and try to force the Brits off their foils in the start box.
\nThat being said it is slightly unclear whether the French are still carrying any issues from their nose-dive yesterday. It\u2019s been a pretty decent showing by the French given their small budget, small team and lack of time racing an AC75. But ultimately it was not enough to make it through the Round Robins.
\nINEOS was looking decent today in light winds and again was impressive downwind. Of course this race was over at the first tack, so they were never really under much pressure.
\nThis win for the Brits means that they stand a chance of tying Luna Rossa for the series win, in the unlikely event that the Italians should lose the next race against Alinghi Red Bull Racing which would mean a race off between Luna Rossa and INEOS for the series win. The winner of the Round Robins gets to choose their competition in the Louis Vuitton Semi Finals, so it is a significant advantage.
\nPhoto: Ian Roman \/ America\u2019s Cup
\nRace 29 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
\nSkippers
\nAlinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin
\nLuna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni<\/p>\n
It seemed a very unlikely outcome indeed that Alinghi Red Bull Racing would beat the form team of the semi-finals but they did just that\u2026 albeit by dint of Luna Rossa picking up some damage to one of their foil arms and not being able to lower it in the lead up to the race. As such the Italian team were forced to concede the race.
\nThere was briefly a question as to whether Luna Rossa had deliberately given up the race to take on INEOS in a sail-off for. But given how much of an advantage picking your semi-final competition is it\u2019s almost impossible to imagine the Italians would have deliberately given up a pretty clear shot at taking that advantage by beating Alinghi ( currently looking like the weakest Semi-Final team) today.
\nPhoto: Am Ricardo Pinto \/ America\u2019s Cup
\nRace 30 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs American Magic
\nSkippers
\nEmirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge
\nTom Slingsby & Lucas Calabrese<\/p>\n
The wind remained light for this, the final race in which Emirates Team New Zealand will compete before the America\u2019s Cup itself. And the light winds quickly became a major issue for American Magic, who dropped off their foils in the light pre-start.
\nThe US-flagged boat did manage to get foiling again before the start, but they had picked up boundary penalty in the progress and any tactical decisions had been taken out of their hands by the series of events.
\nAs such at the start Emirates Team New Zealand hit the startline on starboard in the middle of the line with the Americans crossing behind the on port looking to scrub off some more distance to clear their boundary. When all was said and done the race properly got underway with around 150 metre advantage to the Kiwis.
\nBut with both teams on split tacks and fairly changeable with strength and direction American Magic managed to wind back some of the gap between the two boats and were only a handful of seconds adrift at the windward gate rounding. But that was as close as they got and in the light winds is was American Magic who continued to struggle staying up on their foils.
\nHaving struggled and had some near misses, the American team dropped off their foils on the final upwind and. They had been slipping back the whole way, but the final upwind saw them fall a long way behind, finally coming home fully 2 minutes and 39 seconds behind the Kiwis.
\n\u201cObviously we didn\u2019t execute the start and were on the back foot a little. But Lucas did a great job and we didn\u2019t have any problems with our speed,\u201d said Slingsby after the racing.
\nWhat did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup race 30
\nFor the American team, a race in marginal foiling conditions is probably the worst time to have to drop in a spare skipper. Of course the races against New Zealand are irrelevant in terms of the challenger selection series, so you could also argue it\u2019s an ideal fist America\u2019s Cup race for Calabrese.\u00a0
\nThis race will do little to dispel the increasingly prominent view that American Magic\u2019s AC75 has a couple of weaknesses, one of which is looking to be at the very bottom of the wind-range.
\nThen Kiwis now leave the competition and will have plenty of technical developments still to come. They will leave this series pretty confident that the\u2019ve got what it takes to beat any of the challengers when the America\u2019s Cup proper rolls around on 12 October.
\nPhoto: Ricardo Pinto \/ America\u2019s Cup
\nWinner\u2019s Sail-Off Race Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs INEOS Britannia
\nSkippers
\nLuna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
\nINEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
\nNobody really expected this race to be on the cards at the start of the day, but with Luna Rossa\u2019s \u2018loss\u2019 to Alinghi this quickly became possibly the most important rave of the day. Given the choice of opposition, whoever wins this race is easily the most likely team to be in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals.
\nThe wind was still at the lighter end of the range for this sail-off, but at 8 knots for the pre-start it should have been enough to make manoeuvres a lot less risky than they have been earlier in the day. It was, then, something of a surprise to see the teams not engaging all that much.
\nSpithill and Bruni decided to lead back to the start very early and it was clear that the Brits were more than happy to let them go. In fact this start was almost a carbon copy of the Brit\u2019s first race again the Orient Express Racing Team. Here the Italians hot the start line just up from the pin not fully at pace, while Ainslie and Fletcher nailed the windward end at pace, with plenty of space to foot into.
\nWhen the Italian team tacked on the left hand boundary it was a simple job for Ainslie and Fletcher to tack right in front of them and give them plenty of dirty air. From there the Brits protected the right and kept a loose cover on Luna Rossa to lead at the top mark by 18 seconds. And with few passing lanes around, the Brits were able to extend that to 29 seconds by the end of the first downwind.
\nFrom there all the Brits needed to do to was complete the course without making any major errors to take the win, and the valuable option to choose their Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final opponents. \u201cThe start is something we\u2019ve been spending a lot of time on as I\u2019m quite inexperienced there and so Ben\u2019s been doing a lot of work teaching me, as well as Giles Scott and Ian Williams,\u201d Said Fletch of their impressive starts today.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a very interesting series and certainly INEOS had a good end,\u201d explained Bruni. \u201cWe\u2019ve struggled a bit in the last couple of days, but we always knew it\u2019s going to be hard and we are prepared for that.\u201d
\nWhat did we learn from\u00a0 the Louis Vuitton Cup Winner\u2019s Sail-Off?
\nThe chunky INEOS Britannia (or Big Bertha as she\u2019s become known in my household) has really hit her stride in the second half of this Louis Vuitton Round Robin series. The team are sailing well and now have a significant advantage heading into the Semi-Finals.
\nWe\u2019ll see in time who the Brits choose, but Alinghi seems to be the most likely pick for the Semi-Final competition and, from what we\u2019ve seen you\u2019d back the Brits to win that one. \u201cTo win the America\u2019s Cup you have to beat the best. It\u2019s a bit early to make a call on who we will choose, and to be honest we weren\u2019t really expecting [to win],\u201d said Ainslie of the choice.
\nIt will have been frustrating for Luna Rossa to \u2018lose\u2019 their race against Alinghi earlier today, particularly as their technical issue appeared to be a foil arm system problem, which is a one-design part supplied to all teams by the organiser. But it would be foolish to put too much weight on today\u2019s results. It\u2019s hard to look past them as the form team from the whole series, but the gap is cerainly not looking as big as it once was.
\nFollow all of our\u00a02024 America\u2019s Cup coverage
\nThe post Ainslie and INEOS win Louis Vuitton selection series, while the French are sent home appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The final three races of the Louis Vuitton Cup took place today Monday 9 September, with the French knocked out and the surprising need for an additional top-two sail-offToday saw the final three races of the America\u2019s Cup challenger selection … <\/p>\n