The Semi-Final of the Louis Vuitton Cup (Challenger Selection Series) began with two back-to-back wins in impressive style for INEOS Britannia.
Ben Ainslie and his America’s Cup challenger team, INEOS Britannia, representing the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, wasted no time in locking in two race wins on the first day of their Challenger Semi-Final.
This is a first to win five race series and with the speed and handling the Ineos team displayed, it highlighted the improvements they have made through the prelim and challenger series, finding new perfomance highs at every outing.
It appears that unlike their previous AC75, this new iteration has the basics in place and the team – crew and designers – have the ability to refine and tweak that at every opportunity.
Not to get carried away, the two semi-finals were in stark contrast . . . The ease of the British wins although expected, and the closeness of the Italian and American races. I fancy that the Final will be a very different affair. Also interesting to note that American Magic has yet to win a race since Paul Goodison was sidelined by injury.
In their first race, the Swiss led across the start line, but INEOS Britannia was hot on their heels and round gate 1 with an 11sec lead. On the second leg, INEOS Britannia’s displayed their impressive downwind speed to claw back 120m to catch the Swiss and round second gate with a 26sec lead.
This then increased at the third gate, and after a slow maneuver caused Alinghi Red Bull Racing to fall off their foils on the fourth leg, INEOS Britannia powered even further ahead. With the lighter winds, Ainslie and the crew worked hard to sail fast and clean and managed to cross the finish line with a 1300m and 2min 05secs lead.
The second race had a dramatic pre-start, with Alinghi falling off their foils, drifting off the course and incurring a penalty. The Swiss request to use their 15-minute delay card was turned down. Alinghi were then dealt another blow, with a second penalty for a late entry into the pre-start.
INEOS Britannia also had a tricky moment in the light air, with them almost falling off their foils too but managing to recover and build speed in the approach to the start line.
The Brits then dominated the race rounding Gate 1 with a 1m 18sec lead and then extending to a 1370m lead at the finish line, to take second win over Alinghi by 1m 37sec.
It was good to see the dominance of the Brits when compared with the tigher competition in the two Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) versus New York Yacht Club American Magic (USA) matches.
In the first American Magic played its 15-minute delay card due to a suspected cyclor issue. The USA team managed to resolve the issue to nail the start and lead the way across the line.
The Italians were hunting them down though and eventuall managed to steal the lead on the penultimate leg, and caught them at Gate 4 and then led at gate 5 by 22sec. Going on to take a tight 7 sec win over Americans.
The second race between the pair ended with the same result, although the Americans did take control early on in the race, leading at gate 1 by 10sec.
American Magic fell behind after a maneuver error at gate 2, and although the lead changed on the legs, Luna Rossa led rounf all the gates to secure an 18sec victory and their second win of the day.
Ineos Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli each take a 2 – 0 win lead in their Semi-Final after day 1 of racing.
The second day of the Semi-Final takes place on Sunday from 13:00 BST (14:00 CEST) with a further two races scheduled for each pairing. watch live here on Sailweb.co.uk
Related Post:
Day 1 of the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals in Barcelona – GBR v SUI and USA v ITA
