Cup Spy – Day 12: Louis Vuitton Cup – Two Teams Persist for Another Day
by Richard Gladwell 16 Sep 10:39 PDT
INEOS Britannia and Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI) – Day 3 – Semi-Finals – Louis Vuitton Cup – Day 12 – September 16, 2024 – Barcelona © Ian Roman / America’s Cup
In one of the strangest days in America’s Cup history, not just one, but two elite teams failed to finish the course and were recorded as Did Not Finish (DNF).
Today’s conditions were marginal for racing. Only one out of the planned two rounds was able to be completed. The second round was abandoned at 1500 hrs UTC, and racing will resume on Wednesday.
The first match between Alinghi Red Bull Racing and INEOS Britannia started after a few brief delays while waiting for the wind to hit the minimum of 6.5 knots, averaged over a five-minute timeframe. It appeared as if a familiar narrative was about to unfold again when the Swiss team, Alinghi, was lured into a premature start by their British counterpart.
They incurred a penalty for starting four meters early, which allowed INEOS Britannia—who had won the last four matches in the best of nine knockout series—to start in clear wind, providing them a chance to sail their own race while minimizing tacks and gybes, thereby avoiding the risk of losing their foiling advantage—an aspect that, as seen in Auckland during the 2021 Cup, could decide the race.
Both teams were skimming the course limits, and the Brits executed a commendable job, positioning themselves well to round the first mark—using one less tack than the Swiss—building a 400-meter lead as they rounded Mark 2. However, things took a downturn for the Brits when they entered a soft pressure zone in the left corner of the course, struggling as they tacked with their speed dropping to the critical foiling speed of 16-17 knots, resulting in the all-too-common sight of a British AC75 losing its foiling capability and becoming difficult to maneuver. They maintained a decent speed but were unable to achieve foiling.
The Swiss rounded the same mark, also committed to that corner, and utilized all their lake sailing expertise to maintain their height, edging up to windward of the Brits. With clear air, the Swiss were foiling at double the Brits’ speed and sailing at a 12 knots VMG (Velocity Made Good to the next mark). Meanwhile, the British limped along at merely 1 knot VMG, attempting to regain their foiling status, as the Swiss rounded Mark 3, now enjoying a lead of nearly 650 meters.
By the time the Brits rounded the mark, they trailed by 2000 meters.
In summary, both AC75s sailed the course at displacement speed, with the Swiss applying their lake sailing skills for a solid finish within the 45-minute time limit—completing it with a four-minute margin on a shortened course. The Brits found themselves 3000 meters behind and were marked as Did Not Finish.
The subsequent match followed a similar trajectory, with American Magic fighting to stay alive in the Semi-Final against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. The Italians gained the upper hand at the start and led around the first three marks. Approaching Mark 4 at the end of a downwind leg, the Italians approached from the Port boundary, and the U.S. team from the starboard side. The Italians made a strategic miscalculation, attempting to assert their right at the mark, hoping for a penalty against the speedy American Magic.
Regrettably for the Italians, during their rounding, which required a 270° turn, they lost too much speed and had to round the mark maintaining only the space their proper course legally mandated, per Racing Rule 18.
American Magic maintained their speed, kept foiling, and rounded ahead of Luna Rossa, staying foiling for the remainder of the course. Like INEOS Britannia in the earlier match, the Italians struggled to foiling and too were recorded as DNF, being 3200 meters behind when the U.S. AC75 foiled across the finish line at 25 knots.
The racing reinforced that there is minimal fundamental speed difference among Luna Rossa, INEOS Britannia, and American Magic, and as noted by American Magic’s Tom Slingsby yesterday, it is small mistakes that have been costing them wins and points.
With fresh winds anticipated and no racing slated for Tuesday, British team forecasts suggest a sea state of 1.5 meters for the resumption of racing on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, performance analysts will have a pending 36 hours to overlay their competitors’ sailing data with their more extensive data, optimizing the boats and improving performance—as they have adeptly done nearly every day since racing commenced three weeks ago.
Race Summaries:
Semi Final B: Match 6: GBR vs SUI Start: time to be announced. Entry: Port: GBR | Stbd: SUI
Race start 8m 30sec. Wind marginal at course top at 7.3kts from 205° (Port Gate); 7.0kts from 199° (Starboard) at the bottom 7.1kts from 187° (Port) and 7.0kts from 203° (Starboard)
Wind now below the minimum limit (6.5kts) with 8m 42 sec to projected start. All recording positions below 6.5kts, however this is averaged over five minutes.
The Race Committee announced the end of racing for the day just after 1500hrs UTC, to continue on Wednesday.
Semi Final A: Match 6: ITA vs USA Start: time to be announced. Entry: Port: ITA | Stbd: USA
Semi Final B: Match 5: USA vs ITA Start: Time to be advised. Entry: Port: USA Stbd: ITA
Start sequence underway. Luna Rossa (ITA) fastest off the line windward of American Magic (USA). Wind allegedly at 10kts. USA split tacks while ITA allowed them to advance, preserving a tack for Mark 1.
Mark 1: 03m 45sec ITA leads USA by 17secs, or 140 meters on water. ITA eases out to 200 meters, back to 150 meters while aiming for Mark 2.
Mark 2: 07m 26sec ITA leads USA by 17secs, or 120 meters on water. Vessels take opposite boundaries; ITA to port, returns on starboard, crossing behind USA but gets penalized for clipping the electronic boundary on USA. Quickly erased. Lead switches again as they re-cross. On second cross, USA is penalized again, leading to a lead change.
Mark 3: 13m 2 secs USA leads USA by 3 secs. USA rounds the starboard gate, ITA the port. ITA protests on the cross, no penalty. Teams sail to opposite boundaries on Leg 4. Wind shown as 8.9kts. USA clear ahead on next cross by 50 meters. USA approaches Gate 4 and swings wide, allowing ITA room as they headed for the same mark. ITA first into the mark circle but turned too sharply and came off their foils while the USA stayed foiling. USA achieved 27kts to ITA’s 10kts, leading out to 1,000 meters. ITA remains off foils, with a margin out to 1500 meters; USA just completes foiling tack.
Mark 4: To be inserted.
Mark 5: 22m 53 secs. USA Leads ITA, still off foils in the vicinity of Mark 4. Wind shown at 8.4kts. Margin is 2500 meters. American Magic completes a foiling gybe aiming for the finish line with another gybe, leading out to 3200 meters.
Finish: 26m 45secs USA leads ITA. USA remained on foils throughout the race. ITA was marked as DNF.
Semi Final A: Match 5: SUI vs GBR Start: 12:10hrs UTC Entry: Port: SUI | Stbd: GBR
Both AC75s on J-1 jibs. Boats struggled to maintain foiling as the wind appeared very light in the start box.
START: Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI) was deemed 4 meters early and penalized. INEOS Britannia (GBR) was 150 meters ahead. Teams counted tacks on the first leg.
Mark 1: 04m 21sec GBR leads SUI by 17secs. Both teams took opposite gates and sides on Leg 2—GBR chose port side.
Mark 2: 08m 59sec GBR leads SUI by 90secs. The Swiss team navigated the mark rounding and chased GBR, who had come off their foils and was 500 meters behind. The Brits fell behind on leg 2 but narrowed the gap to 400 meters. However, GBR again came off foils after spinning out in the tack.
Mark 3: 16m 12sec SUI leads by 8m 43secs—margin of 1200 meters. Brits fell off the foils again before reaching Mark 3. Both boats were off foils. Time limit is 45 minutes. Swiss are 2000 meters ahead.
Mark 4: 22min 16sec SUI leads GBR, who rounded Mark 3 just after the Swiss rounding Mark 4. Wind remains above 8kts. Both boats remain off foils. Course has been shortened to finish at Mark 5. The Swiss need to finish by approximately 1305 UTC. The Swiss capitalize on their lake sailing skills well. Gaining some puff, they reach 10kts, aimed at the finish line with just 4 minutes left.
Finish: Swiss crossed within the time limit, sailing at 10kts.
Commentary: Backs to the Wall
Two America’s Cup teams face elimination in Barcelona in hours, needing to win both races on the third day of the Semi-Final phase of the Louis Vuitton Cup to continue.
Challengers American Magic and Alinghi Red Bull Racing are in a must-win situation to keep their hopes alive in the Semi-Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Sunday provided the best wind and racing conditions of the Louis Vuitton Cup, which are not likely to recur for Monday, as lighter winds are forecast. Regardless of today’s racing outcomes, there will be no racing on Tuesday, with the forecast suggesting 1.5-meter seas if racing resumes on Wednesday.
Light winds are expected for Monday’s races.
While American Magic has yet to claim a victory, their finishes have been considerably closer compared to the Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing Team. American Magic’s largest loss is only 513 meters; others were much closer at 130 meters, 125 meters, and Sunday’s 43 meters.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s Brad Butterworth, a four-time America’s Cup winner, refrained from idle chatter in his comments released by the team today.
“The sailors trained extensively to avoid such mistakes, so when they occur, it’s very disappointing for everyone. After a bad race result, you have to leave that behind. No one feels worse than the guys on the boat after a mistake. You just have to focus on the next match, as they did for the second match.”
“It’s tough to be 4-0 down. It would be great to see this team secure a win against the British today. Unfortunately, they haven’t raced anyone in three and a half years. Facing Ben Ainslie, who’s an exceptional match racer, it’s difficult to condense 20 years of experience in a short time.”
“For today (Monday), a bit lighter air would be ideal, allowing us to use full sails. The boys perform well in that breeze. That’s my hope. However, the situation is urgent; we can’t afford another race loss.”
Newly appointed Skipper and co-helmsman Tom Slingsby expressed cautious optimism regarding the first two days of the semi-finals, but recognized the steep challenge ahead being four races down. The loss of skipper Paul Goodison due to injury cost them 70 days of training in all conditions.
He discussed with Italian media outlet FareVela after yesterday’s racing, missing a Race 4 win by an extremely narrow margin—just 2 seconds.
“It’s frustrating to lose two races, especially when they are so closely contested,” Slingsby told the Italian sailing website FareVela. “We made a few mistakes at critical moments. We dropped off the foils at the bottom mark while closely trailing Luna Rossa to the left. The wind softened, and we couldn’t lay in.”
“We had to quickly split to the other mark but didn’t execute that gybe properly. So, it’s frustrating.”
“But there’s also excitement as the changes made to the boat seem to be effective. The boat appears faster than before.”
“It seems like they (Luna Rossa) don’t have much of a speed advantage. If we sail well, we can win races.”
“We’ve experienced many changes in this program. Lucas Calabrese has participated in just five or six days with these boats in total and has had to learn quickly against an Italian team that has had two campaigns together.”
“He performed exceptionally well today, but there’s room for improvement in the crew’s communication.”
“We’re not claiming to have had a perfect day—we made several mistakes—but it’s encouraging to see how close we can be despite those errors. We had two good starts.”
“I believe we could’ve performed even better, to be honest.”
“For the first start, we executed well. In the second start, we could have done better—when we arrived, we slid sideways trying to get in their wind, which was a mistake.”
“We are very confident in our starts. We win most of our starts and have been performing well in that aspect. If we can secure a larger lead than we did today, we will definitely take it.”
American Magic’s backup helmsman Lucas Calabrese, with just five days of experience in the AC75, is progressing rapidly along a steep learning curve against the Italian team, who are benefiting from their second America’s Cup campaign.
Sunday’s race represented the strongest winds in which Calabrese had sailed an AC75, and the U.S. team came within 2 seconds of securing a race victory.
Weather Information – Louis Vuitton Cup – Semi Finals – Day 3
Weather Prognosis:
America’s Cup Weather Partner PredictWind has set up a dedicated Race Weather Center providing fans with detailed daily weather updates, live video feeds, and historical weather data, along with daily forecasts by meteorologists.
From: Arnaud Monges – Former America’s Cup Team Meteorologist for PredictWind: Monday 16th Sept In the morning, the wind will be offshore from the North-West. Afternoon breezes may struggle to establish, with expectations for light and unsettled sailing conditions. Forecast predicts winds of 4 to 8 knots from a general southern direction with significant shifts. While the sea state is expected to be calm, maintaining foiling may be challenging. Clear skies with temperatures topping 26 degrees Celsius.
Course Location:
Leaderboard – Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals – after Day 2
Live Coverage – Day 3 Semi-Finals
Race Program:
Semi Final A: Match 5: SUI vs GBR Start: 12:10hrs UTC Entry: Port: SUI | Stbd: GBR
Semi Final B: Match 5: USA vs ITA Start: Time to be advised. Entry: Port: USA Stbd: ITA
Semi Final B: Match 6: GBR vs SUI Start: time to be announced. Entry: Port: GBR| Stbd: SUI
Semi Final A: Match 6: ITA vs USA Start: time to be announced. Entry: Port: ITA | Stbd: USA
While waiting for the Live Coverage to commence:
Virtual Eye
Now, or after the races, you can replay key moments or entire races using Virtual Eye from ARL.
Visit Virtual Eye’s America’s Cup coverage by clicking here, and select “Watch Previous” to choose the race you wish to view. This 3D viewer allows you to zoom in, out, and navigate as though you were in a helicopter.
Replay from Day 2 on Sunday:
Semi Finals format and progression:
The Semi-Finals feature the Round Robin series winner, INEOS Britannia, facing off against the Swiss team, Alinghi Red Bull Racing, who qualified fourth. The other Semi-Final matches second-placed qualifier Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli with American Magic, who ended up third in the qualifiers concluded on Monday.
The winners of each Semi-Final will be the first team to win five races in the best-of-nine series.
Each pair of teams is scheduled to race twice a day—resulting in four races total daily. The same wind limits from earlier rounds of the Louis Vuitton Cup will apply—a lower limit of 6.5 knots and an upper limit of 21 knots—measured at both ends of the course (at the start line) using recording devices on each gate. Four devices will capture readings that are averaged over 30-second intervals within a five-minute window, from 9 to 4 minutes before the start. If wind readings are within these limits, the Course Director will notify the crews through a radio call (announced during the TV commentary) that the race will proceed.
Upon receiving the go-ahead, the race continues regardless of any wind fluctuations and the only restrictions imposed are that teams meet a first-leg time limit of 12 minutes and a overall race time cap of 45 minutes. The course’s leg lengths, compass directions, and number of legs can all be adjusted during the race by the race committee.
To date, no race has exceeded 25 minutes in duration.
The race director maintains the authority to cancel racing (even if the breeze meets recommended limits) if the sea state is deemed unsafe. He can also cancel a race for safety reasons—an authority that was nearly enacted during the lightning strikes on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton Cup. However, Emirates Team NZ’s choice to withdraw from their race and sail beyond the 100-meter boundary, resulting in their disqualification, directly led to the immediate awarding of the race to Luna Rossa, preventing any safety-related decisions being made by the Race Director.
Crew Lists for Monday September 16th
