After one of the highlight races of this Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup yesterday, INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli return to the battleground racecourse today off Barcelona’s stunning waterfront to go at it again over two scheduled races. This epic encounter continues and more match-racing at speeds that reached 55.3 knots (102 km/h) yesterday, is a tantalising prospect.
Yesterday we had it all. Desperately close quarters action from start to finish, these two remarkable campaigns for the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup went at each other like gladiators at the Colosseum in Rome.
With the score at 2-2, this contest is creeping inexoribly towards its conclusion and the bare fact is that one team exits the contest when the other scores seven points. In theory that could be achieved as early as Wednesday this week if one team goes on a tear, but, in reality, this is a series that looks like going to the wire. Mistakes are costly and are punished hard. Who will blink first?
Conditions today are expected to be upper-range once again with the ‘Garbi’ south-westerly system still in place and the warm thermal winds coming up the Mediterranean are expected to be in the 12-16 knot range.
Iain Murray, Race Director, also briefed this morning that we could see gusts in excess of those predictions. With that airflow, a premium is placed on the start, and we often see teams protecting the right side of the upwind legs tenaciously, but in this battle anything is possible.
We go live on air at 14:10 CET and it’s a contest that is unmissable with two very evenly matched yachts in terms of boatspeed producing the ultimate man-on-man confrontation that the America’s Cup is famous for.
We have two world class crews of sailors at the very peak of the game. Predicting this one is not for the feint-hearted and the Port Vell is beautifully split 50/50 with the Race Village and Fanzones rocking to the sounds, colours and cheers of both the British and Italian fans. Game on for Day 4 of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.
CHECK BACK HERE AT 14:10 FOR LIVE COVERAGE FROM THE RACECOURSE IN BARCELONA
