As the sun set in Barcelona on a memorable Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, it was Emirates Team New Zealand spraying the Moët & Chandon champagne as winners, after an enthralling and epic, super-tight final battle with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Undoubtedly the race of the regatta, we saw match-racing of the highest order with the finest helmsmen on both teams going head-to head in a race where no quarter was given right from the start. Thrilling, engrossing, it was simply sporting brilliance and a huge advert for the Louis Vuitton Cup that starts on August 29th.
https://youtu.be/9jQSuDF104g?si=4glTU29_mWv34wN5
Peter Burling, skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand was understandably delighted with the win but described what it was like onboard, saying: “I think just incredibly challenging to sail in those conditions, we had a fair few issues we were managing on the boat, but we lucked-out in the pre-start and got a penalty on them, I was amazed the second penalty got turned off when it did with them still ahead of us – but then to stick to our guns and make a pass from there was really pleasing.”
And Burling further added: “We were expecting it to be tight and we were struggling to get the shifts right, but it’s going to be a close regatta. It’s all about making sure you get the phases right and sail the boat in the right places. I think we were a little frustrated with how we sailed today but plenty to go back and have a look at afterwards.”
Aside from the final, we also had three high-quality races with all six teams in action and with the weather changing to an east-south-east direction, bringing with it a vicious swell, we saw overtaking aplenty and a marker of intent laid down by the New York Yacht Club American Magic team.
Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison, sailing ‘Patriot’ inflicted the first defeat of the regatta on Emirates Team New Zealand with a stunning display of boatspeed, tactics and technique. On the day, the Americans were a class apart but with their place already secured in the final by dint of a 100%-win record coming into today, there was no panic from the Kiwis.
Paul Goodison, port helm on ‘Patriot’ was pleased with the win but contextualised it saying: “It was really satisfying the way we sailed today. We were very disappointed yesterday to miss out on racing with the French and to come out today get a win is just great. It’s especially satisfying to do that in the lighter trickier conditions we are more expecting to see as we move through this competition. To be able to perform well in those conditions and to race well as a team was a big, big, win for the team.”
Skipper and President of Sailing operations at NYYC American Magic, Terry Hutchinson, came ashore happy with the win against Emirates Team New Zealand but laser-focused on the challenges ahead: “The way the guys sailed today was really consistent and it was everything that we’ve been talking about, so we have an almost vertical learning curve of improvement in front of us which is really encouraging because you can see the potential of ‘Patriot’ and you can see the potential of our team. We’ve just got to keep chipping along and getting it all together. It’s hard not to be happy, but we still got third, so if you win a couple battles but don’t win the war you’ve got to keep the bigger picture in mind and I think that’s what we will do.”
Elsewhere we saw a brilliant race between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Alinghi Red Bull Racing with the young Swiss team inflicting penalties at the start and gaining an early lead. Front running in pressure situations is hard and the Swiss gave away their advantage through boat-handling issues and tactical errors that they will undoubtedly learn from as the Italians secured the win.
Arnaud Psarofaghis, skipper of Alinghi Red Bull Racing described one of the key moments of the race saying: “During the downwind we lost the rudder out of the gybe. We don’t really know what happened because afterwards the boat was working pretty well again. We need to review the data but maybe we pushed a bit too much there. It was a great fight with Luna Rossa. We kept on trying to push them away, but they kept on coming back. It was tough racing and the guys on the bikes did a really good job, because we pushed really hard on the power consumption today.”
For INEOS Britannia and Orient Express Racing, both teams came into today with a point to prove and a point to gain. The pressure was on both teams and early errors gave the advantage to the French, but Sir Ben Ainslie’s British team kept the pressure on and eked out the marginal gains to eventually get a lead that they never relinquished.
Speaking afterwards, Ainslie’s co-helm Dylan Fletcher who was appointed to the race team just before the regatta, commented: “I think it was a fantastic day of racing across the whole fleet we saw some exciting racing, good passes, and we had a bit of a tough one with the French but I think once we found our rhythm we decided to stretch our legs and there’s lots of work to do between now and the Round Robin and going forward but we’re just trying to be on that steep trajectory to be at the right place we need to be to win at the end of the day.”
For Kevin Peponnet, port helm of Orient Express Racing, it was another day of positives and frustrations with the team performing well on the racecourse over five legs in tricky conditions: “There was a lot of good things but we made some mistakes at the pre-start and on the choice of the jib – we were struggling and we need some training in the lower range of the jib so we’re going to work on this but yeah, we had a great fight against the British, it was a really good crunch.”
The final race of the day – the final of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta – was a classic. This was high-performance foiling racing of the highest order with the rules being tested from the start and desperately close boat-on-boat action all throughout the race. Emirates Team New Zealand came out on top, picking the pressure well on the final run to the finish but for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli it was an outstanding performance.
Speaking afterwards Francesco Bruni, port helm accepted some blame for the loss saying: “It was painful to lose that race, we fought hard and I’m very sorry for the whole team because obviously part of those penalties are due to mistakes I made. We have to review deeply all the situations because we have very small screens on board that are super hard to judge if the penalty was for you or for your opponent. Hats off to New Zealand, for a great race, but I’m very proud with the team. I think we have a great boat, a great team, a great sailing team and I think it will be a very interesting America’s Cup.”
With the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta trophy presented to Emirates Team New Zealand by local blind Patí Català sailor Dani A. Pich, on the main stage at the Official Race Village on the Moll de la Fusta in the Port Vell, the curtain comes down on a thrilling regatta that revealed much.
All eyes are now on the Louis Vuitton Cup, starting on Thursday August 29th where every race and every point matters. The Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup is about to get serious.
(Magnus Wheatley)
