The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta in Barcelona came alive for the final day, with the rougher sea state providing some unexpected upsets.
NYYC American Magic USA opened the racing with a win over the previously unbeaten Emirates Team New Zealand, grabbing the lead soon after the start and strtching it to 56sec by gate 4.
ETNZ came back in the final stages, but American Magic finished with a comfortable 28sec lead and a sign of things to come.
The Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli ITA versus Alinghi Red Bull Racing SUI match started with Alinghi putting Luna Rossa over at the start, to get away and build a 500m lead by time Luna Rossa crossed and start chasing.
Alinghi rounded gate 1 with a 34sec and 390 metre lead, but then disaster as they lost rudder control and just survived a crash down. Luna Rossa took the lead but get a penalty for not keeping clear.
Alinghi was not done, recovering to lead at gate 2 by 9sec. After a close tacking duel, Luna Rossa took back the lead by 12 sec at gate 3, stretching it to 150m.
It remained a tight race but in the end Luna Rossa took the win by 46sec over Alinghi Red Bull.
The final race was Orient Express Racing FRA versus INEOS Britannia GBR, and here we had another strange Ineos Britannia start.
In the pre-start Ineos got Orient Express a penalty, but they then fluffed the no-stress start, crossing early and had to do a double dip to return correctly, giving the advantage back to France who took the gift, and led at gate 1 by 16sec, stretching the lead to 270m on leg 2.
Orient Express then miss there gybe, Ineos finally took the lead and at gate 2 had an 11sec lead.
Ineos Britannia held the lead eventually stretching to 490+ metres, and take win by 48sec. This gave the Challenger of Record two wins in five starts, to place them fourth of the six teams overall.
Ainslie said the team was looking forward to getting back out racing next week after “taking lots of learnings” from the Preliminary Regatta.
“It was a good way to finish off the regatta with a win. We’ve learned a lot about how to sail the AC75 in the varying Barcelona conditions, so we will go away and make some tweaks and come out looking for a strong performance in the Round Robin stages.”
In the grand Final Race, it was Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli ITA versus Emirates Team New Zealand.
At their earlier meeting ETNZ handed the Italians a drubbing so would we see a rerun?
At the start Luna Rossa got a 75m penalty for tacking too close and ETNZ covered them to lead off line and take an 196 metre and 22sec lead at gate 1.
ETNZ kept a 6 sec lead through gate 4, when things got interesting with some close boat on boat tacking with Luna Rossa picking up two penalties in the duel, before ETNZ lead round gate 5 by 11sec.
Emirates Team New Zealand took the overall win by 34sec ahead of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli ITA.
Following very quickly on this event will be The Louis Vuitton Cup – Challenger Selection Series (29 Aug-7 Oct).
This is the event that decides who will get to compete against the Cup holders, Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ).
The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final becomes the actual Challenger and will meet the Defender ETNZ in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match from 12 Oct.
