Matthew Sheahan reports from dockside in Auckland as Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli beat the Brits 7-1 and earn their place in the America’s Cup Match 19\/12\/20 – Auckland (NZL)
\n36th America\u2019s Cup presented by Prada
\nRace Day 3
\nEmirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli TeamFrom the evidence of the Prada Cup Round Robin, there was every reason to expect that the Prada Cup Final between INEOS Team UK and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli would go down to the wire as the two teams fought to become the official challenger for the America\u2019s Cup.
\nBut in the end, I don\u2019t think it is unfair to say that by the conclusion of the series, there was a sense of inevitability about the result. It\u2019s always easier to see what was going on after the final result has been delivered, if nothing else it\u2019s the first time we get to step outside the bubble and look at the series as a whole.<\/p>\n
The reality is that Ben Ainslie and the boys delivered two very impressive starts where they showed that they had the foresight and the skills to mix things up and put the super slick Italians on the back foot during the start.
\nThe trouble was that in both races the early British advantage was scrubbed out barely a third of the way up the first leg.
\nNo wonder Spithill and Bruni have been so relaxed in the post-race interviews and press conferences \u2013 they knew they had speed to burn. They knew that they had another gear in the gearbox in which they could either climb out of trouble, survive in the dirt, or squeeze \u2018till it hurt and bounce the Brits off.
\nAnd of course, you knew that too. (And if you didn\u2019t and you want a 3min catch up on what happened in the final two races).
\nBut it also has to be said that Luna Rossa\u2019s performance has been impressive. While the other two challengers have been on a roller coaster ride through the pre-amble to the Cup they have sat in the middle, said little, showed nothing and delivered when it counted.
\nWhen they slid through the Prada Cup Semi-Final and dispatched American Magic we thought that they were having to talk up an awkward route to the Cup. They would surely have preferred to have had the extra time in the shed. Turns out that this was wrong and that getting out on the race course was a good way to get match fit and develop their skills for their next encounter.
\nArticle continues below\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tAmerica\u2019s Cup: Schedule and how to follow the racing<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe teams are there, the boats are there, and finally after two months of AC75 racing in Auckland, for the\u2026<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tAmerica\u2019s Cup boats: How they work and why they\u2019re unique<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe AC75s, the America\u2019s Cup boats currently racing in the Prada Cup and that will be used for next month\u2019s\u2026<\/p>\n
It also turns out that one of their big issues was communication between Bruni and Spithill and their newly appointed breeze spotter\/mainsheet trimmer Pietro Sibello. You don\u2019t need or want to be in the shed to rehearse this kind of development, hours on the water is what counts.
\nFor the Brits I suspect the issue was more about hardware. Their performance in the Prada Cup Final showed that they have the sailing skills but didn\u2019t have the hardware to support it. And while there are tweaks and improvements that can be made, wholesale changes to the hardware takes time.
\nOn to the America\u2019s Cup
\nFrom here and the Italians are now going to face the Kiwis as the America\u2019s Cup challengers for the second time. It\u2019s taken 21 years to get back to this place [the two teams last raced an America\u2019s Cup match against each other in 2000], which provides some perspective for those that are currently packing up their bases. So, can the Italians do it?
\nAgain, it\u2019s anybody\u2019s guess at this stage but what is interesting is to consider how the Kiwis are preparing for the big days ahead.
\nEmirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli racing in the America\u2019s Cup World Series. Photo: COR 36 \/ Studio Borlenghi
\nThe eagle eyed among you may have wondered why Emirates Team New Zealand have been on the race course just before and straight after racing during the last two days. Were they missing the media attention? I suspect not.
\nSurely the reason is to gather data on their future competition.
\nGetting onto the race course and going hell for leather gives you a great set of data to form a datum by which to compare the performance of the challengers. You know what you could do in those conditions, but how did they fair?
\nGetting their data is easy. Plus, unlike the practice races or training you know that they were pushing pretty hard given that their passage through to the Cup was at stake. The data is real.
\nThen, when the challengers have finished beating each other up you get onto their race course again in the conditions that they finished in and set a few more benchmark runs.
\nIt\u2019s often said that the problem with being the Defender is that you don\u2019t get to play with the opposition until it counts and that they have got match fit in the process. I\u2019m not sure that the case this time around.
\nSo, after three months of watching the 36th Cup unfold I think it\u2019s time to modify my approach too.
\nLooking back at my notes and ramblings since arriving here back in December I\u2019ve decided that the best thing to do going forwards is to jot down my gut feelings and then bet against the complete opposite\u2026such has been the unpredictability of this America\u2019s Cup cycle.
\nWe\u2019ve now got just short of two weeks in which what we think we know now could easily change.
\nI\u2019ll sign off with one other thought.
\nPhoto: COR 36 \/ Studio Borlenghi
\nIn winning the Prada Cup Final, Luna Rossa and the club that they represent, Circolo della Vela Sicilia, are only the second team\/club in Cup history to be a Challenger of Record to make it through to the Cup itself in a multi-challenger event. The only other occasion was the first ever Challenger of Record, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in 1970 with Gretel II. They beat the remaining challenger, Baron Marcel Bich\u2019s French syndicate 4:0 (two others had dropped out), but they lost to Intrepid come the Cup.
\nAs a result, some see being the Challenger of Record as being a poisoned chalice, but if the Italians pull it off and win the Cup this time they will be the first ever Challenger of record to do so.
\nYou can read more of Matthew\u2019s observations from this America\u2019s Cup over on his blog at Planetsail.org and watch his videos, like the one below, on his Youtube channel.
\nThe post Sense of inevitability about Italian America\u2019s Cup qualification appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Matthew Sheahan reports from dockside in Auckland as Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli beat the Brits 7-1 and earn their place in the America’s Cup Match 19\/12\/20 – Auckland (NZL) 36th America\u2019s Cup presented by Prada Race Day 3 Emirates Team … <\/p>\n