America’s Cup.
Team New Zealand and American Magic lead the World Series.
Team New Zealand and American Magic tie for the lead on matchday two of the 36th America’s Cup World Series in Auckland.
On the second day there were double confrontations between Team New Zealand‘s Te Rehutai and INEOS Team UK‘s Britannia 2, with two New Zealand wins. And between the Patriot of the American Magic and Luna Rossa II, with a victory for each team.
The competition area has been route C, from the port of Waitemata and under a North-Northeast component wind of 12-15 knots
The Italian team was penalized for entering the starting area early, but recovered well as the Patriot nearly capsized during a tack when its windward foil seemed to be slow to come out of the water.
The Italian team took the lead, but in the second stage the Americans came within 9 seconds, although Luna Rossa held out to win by 12 seconds.
The second duel of the day between the New Zealand ‘Te Rehutai’ and the British ‘Britannia II’ was always dominated by the kiwis although the home team came dangerously close to hitting the 900 kg fiberglass windward buoy in poor communication between skipper Peter Burling and tactician Glenn Ashby.
Even so, the speed of Te Rehuti, was imposed to the boat of Ben Ainslie by 1’32 ”in the arrival.
The second confrontation of the day between the American “Patriot” and the “Luna Rossa II” was again very close. The Italian team, with the Australian James Spithill and the Italian Francesco de Angelis co-sponsoring the boat, suffered a couple of penalties and that made them lose distance,
In addition, the ‘Patriot’, with its very successful skipper Dean Barker, was heading towards the left side of the race course, the one most favored by the wind although the advantage was minimal, just 5 seconds over its rival, faster upwind ( against the wind).
The Americans recovered in the penultimate stage turning with 16 seconds ahead, extending their lead to 30 seconds at the end of the course.
The last test of the day between Ben Ainslie’s ‘Britannia II’ and New Zealand’s ‘Te Rehutai’ showed an initial improvement in the British AC75 that was advanced in 12 seconds in the first section, but the ‘Kiwis’, under a wind changing, they took the best side of the race course and placed in front.
The ‘Britannia II’ reacted well at a time when she seemed to match the speed of the New Zealand ship. Even so, Burling executed the maneuvers better in the final section and the ‘Te Rehutai’ prevailed by 1.42 ”.
The positive for the British team is that they have been able to complete two races after a difficult few days for Ainslie.
The third day will start on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. local time.
Auckland World Series 2020
Second day
– Friday 18 December
Luna Rossa Prada (ITA) -American Magic (USA) 1-0 (by 12 ″)
Team New Zealand (NZL) -INEOS Team UK (GBR) 1-0 (1’32 ”)
American Magic (USA) – Luna Rossa Prada (ITA) 1-0 (by 30 ″)
INEOS Team UK (GBR) -Team New Zealand (NZL) 0-1 (for 1’42 ”)
Classification (4 races contested)
.1. American Magic, 3 points; 2. Emirates Team New Zealand, 3 p; 3. Luna Rossa Prada, 2 p; 4.INEOS UK, 0 p.
– Saturday, December 19
Third and last day
Luna Rossa Prada (ITA) -INEOS Team UK (GBRE)
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) -American Magic (USA)
INEOS Team UK (GBR) -American Magic (USA)
Luna Rossa Prada (ITA) -Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)
