The third day of the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Semi-Finals was turned on its head, not once, not twice but three times.
The fickle Barcelona wind was looking dodgy from the get-go and continued to tease the America’s Cup hopefuls for two races before leaving for the day.
First up were Ineos Britannia and Alinghi Red Bull, with the British team looking to wrap-up their semi-final with a final win to move on to the Challenger Finals. And after a delayed start they were away with Ineos quickly building a 130m lead at the cross and leading around gate 1 by 17sec.
By Gate 2 the Brits had taken a 1min 10sec lead, and were looking good, when at the boundry tack they came off the foils and struggled in displacement mode.
Sudddenly the Swiss saw their chance, tacked with extreme care, and perhaps feeling at home in the lake-like conditions, pulled away to a 520m lead.
Ineos did manage to get sailing again but then fluffed another tack and that was more or less it for the race.
Meanwhile Alinghi rounded Gates 3 and 4 to start the final leg of the shortened course over 8 minutes ahead of Ineios, when they too were dumped in off the foils. I
It then became a race against the clock, Alinghi finally crossing the Finish in displacement mode to record their first win. Ineos Britannia were DNF.
After that excitement it was the turn of Luna Rosa Prada Pirelli and NYYC American Magic to try their luck.
This was another tacking duel race between these two, with Luna Rosa gaining the intial lead, 17sec at Gate 1, and again at Gate 2. But with the lead was constantly swapping, Luna Rosa picking up a penalty on one cross.
At Gate 3 they rounded together and split sides, and again battle nip and tuck to Gate 4, where USA get the cleaner turn and head to the LH side ahead of the Italians, who came off the foils at their tack and as with the Brits earlier, that was it for the race.
American Magic extend away to a 2550+ lead at Gate 5 and continued to the finish for their first semi-final win.
There was some waitng around for the teams second scheduled races, but the wind had had its fun and was gone for the afternoon.
The Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals. take a break and will continue on Wednesday 18 September with two more races planned for each pairing . . . the wind is invited to attend.
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