With the America’s Cup teams returning to the water today – Wednesday 18 Sep – to continue their Challenger Semi-Final series it will be an all action day in Barcelonna.
First-up will be the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup, with racing scheduled to start at 11:00hrs UK.
Louis Vuitton Challenger Semi-Final Racing at 13:00hrs UK (14.00 CET).
Racing News Update:
At the end of day 4 racing Ben Ainslie and Ineos Britannia have finally moved on to the Challenger Finals.
They now await to see which of Luna Rossa and American Magic they will face. Luna Rosso will be burning the midnigt to repair their broken mainsail track in order to race Thursday.
R7 – USA NYYC American Magic v ITA Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
Tight Start with Luna Rossa to leeward and American magic tack away with 60+m lead. At Gate 1 USA have 7sec lead. Gate 2 USA lead 4 sec, ITA take lead of 160+m. gate 3 ITA leaad 8sec. teams split sides and ITA get better breeze to lead by 40m.
At cross ITA suffer mainsail track breakage and American Magic sail away to take thier third win over Luna Rossa. Luna Rossa DNF.
Score is now ITA 4 wins, USA 3 wins in first to 5 win series.
R7 – SUI ALlinghi Red Bull Racing v GBR INEOS Britannia
Ineos have changed to bigger mainsail for this second race.
Prestart Ineos Britannia get early box penalty. Alinghi Red Bull take 48m lead at Start. GBR start to RH side and dropd penalty and cross with 40m lead.
gate 1 GBR lead 25sec and extend to 400m. Couple of poor gybs by GBR and lead cut to 240mm, but they round Gate 3 with 31sec and extend to 420+m.
At gate 3 GBR lead by 50sec and 300+m lead. Gate 4 GBR lead drops to 39sec. Gate 5 GBR rounds and SUI come off foils as Ineos Britannia sail away to a 1m 10sec Win over Alinghi Red Bull and qualify for the Challenger Final.
R6 – ITA Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli v USA NYYC American Magic
American Magic start to leeward and lead but Luna Rossa pull away after tack to 265m lead.Gate 1 ITA lead 47sec. ITA struggle to stay on foils, USA catch them and lead.ITA catch USA off foils and retake lead.
Gate 2 both teams equal – Course shortened to 4 legs – several tight P & S crosses. Gate 3 USA lead is 2m 50sec. ITA struggle and round in displacement mode. USA lead 500+m foils then off. Both start foiling and USA lead by 1100+m to the Finish – ITA DSQ for boundry fault – as American Magic cross Finish for their second win over Luna Rossa.
R6 – GBR INEOS Britannia v SUI ALlinghi Red Bull Racing
Good Start by Alinghi at pin end to lead Ineos Britannia by 30m to LH boundry where GBR take lead of 40+m and on cross are 140+ ahead. SUI catch them at Gate 2 where GBRlead by 6sec and 60m to boundry. At gybe GBR loose rudder and SUI jump away to 800m+ lead, as GBR also get boundry penalty.
Gate 2 SUI lead is 61sec with wind dropping. At Gate 3 SUI lead is 61sec and 770+m, heading downwind SUI extend to 1090m. Gate 4 SUI lead by 1m 25sec upwind. Gate 5 SUI lead 1min 03sec and GBR miss lay line have to tack and are off foils.
Alinghii Red Bull take the Finish with 1min 23sec win over Ineos Britannia
The AC75 America’s Cup teams are at ‘match point’ in their series with both NYYC American Magic and Ineos Britannia holding a 4 – 1 advantage in their Semi-finals, of the first to win five race series.
Semi-Final Racing starts daily at 13:00hrs UK (14.00 CET) and will be screened live here on the America’s Cup YouTube channel.
Weather Forecast Wednesday 18 Sept:
Wind – Easterly at 10 kts, gusting 12 Kts
Sea State – E 1.1m at 6s period
Temp 22 – 26 deg C
Louis Vuitton website forecast expects a North-East wind gradient will remain after blowing strongly overnight. A risk of rain persists for the morning after the rain overnight.
By mid-day the wind should turn right to the East and blow around 5 to 8 knots for the afternoon with gusts up to 12 knots. The wind direction may keep turning right to South-East. Waves of 1 meter from the East with a 6-second period will be present on the race course.
LOUIS VUITTON CUP – SEMI-FINAL GROUP 1 – 18 Sep.
R6 – ITA Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli 0 pt v USA NYYC American Magic – 1 pt
R7 – USA NYYC American Magic 1 pt v ITA Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli – 0 pt
LOUIS VUITTON CUP – SEMI-FINAL GROUP 2 – 18 Sep.
R6 – GBR INEOS Britannia – 0 pt v SUI ALlinghi Red Bull Racing – 1 pt
R7 – SUI ALlinghi Red Bull Racing – 0 pt v GBR INEOS Britannia – 1 pt
AC75 Semi-Final Standings after Seven races
