DAY 4 – Emirates Team New Zealand win the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta
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.
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 Team, 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.
DAY 3 – Changing fortunes on day three of Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta
Another glamour day in Barcelona with four tantalising match-ups on the penultimate day of action at the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta. No change at the top of the leaderboard overnight with Emirates Team New Zealand holding firm after a win against the Swiss whilst the charging Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli kept the pressure on and secured the second podium spot with a clean win against INEOS Britannia.
For the British and French teams though, there were plenty of positives to take away with both securing their first points of the regatta. INEOS Britannia enjoyed an impressive opening win against Alinghi Red Bull Racing where the potential of ‘Britannia’ was stunningly revealed. Looking fast both upwind and downwind, Sir Ben Ainslie’s team secured the lead in the closing stages of the first windward leg and romped home, never headed again, to a resounding 33 second victory.
Ainslie was pleased with that performance saying: “It was a much better day. I felt like we were finding our groove a bit with how we were sailing the boat. It’s very small differences as expected at this level, but, a good race against Alinghi Red Bull Racing but a shame against the race with Luna Rossa with the pre-start entry – it was a nice pre-start – other than that I think it would’ve been quite an interesting race without the penalty as there was a difference in sail plan decisions. So yes, a good day, a positive day, every day we’re out there we’re learning more about how to sail the boat and improving on that which is a good feeling.”
For Orient Express Racing Team, the French bounced back from their Foil Cant System issues of yesterday and looked super-positive on the water. Their win against NYYC American Magic was awarded soon after they started as NYYC American Magic were forced to retire with a rudder rake cylinder issue that brought ‘Patriot’ to a halt before they could start.
Quentin Delapierre was pleased to score their first point and praised his outstanding shore team, saying: “It was good to be back on the water and good for the team’s confidence. I really appreciate the teamwork the guys did last night, and I think the boat worked pretty well today and we could do our normal boat handling. We were ready to race against the Americans but unfortunately, they had a big issue.”
Tom Slingsby, helmsman for NYYC American Magic talked through the rudder-rake issue they faced in the pre-start with Orient Express saying: “There was a loud bang and we had a failure in the rudder system. It’s frustrating because it’s a completely new issue. We have sailed around here for six months now and never had a problem. We were sailing around for an hour prior to the race, doing all sorts of manoeuvres with no issues. Then we enter the start-box, cross the French, go into a tack and ‘bang.’ You hope this never happens but the points in this event don’t count – and it would have been hard for us to progress to the final, even with a win – so it doesn’t really matter. But we lost a chance to get some more practice in, which is disappointing.”
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli kept their relentless pressure on, with a win against INEOS Britannia in the third race of the day after the British scored two penalties on themselves in the pre-start with a marginally early entry at the starting line and a boundary infringement. The resultant 150 metre forfeit was enough to give the Italians an early lead from which they built and were never headed, recording a 46 second victory and reaching the final.
Speaking afterwards, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli helmsman Jimmy Spithill said he was looking forward to the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta final against Emirates Team New Zealand with clear objectives: “It’s really just to learn as much as we can, and really just another great opportunity to have a shot at the Kiwis. I haven’t seen the forecast yet but yeah, just another good opportunity to line-up against the top team.”
For Alinghi Red Bull Racing it was a tough day on the water, succumbing to two losses – against INEOS Britannia and Emirates Team New Zealand. Maxime Bachelin, port helm, was looking to the future and taking as many positives out of the day as possible, saying: “It was a tough day. We worked a lot on the pre-start in the simulator yesterday because of the start with American Magic yesterday was not that good. Today our two pre-starts were pretty good, we managed the boat-handling quite well so this was nice, but afterwards we made mistakes on the racecourse on the first cross, and so it’s there where we just lost the boatlengths and after that they kept extending. But still, very happy with the day. It’s a very good practice to have two races in the day.”
The final race of the day saw Emirates Team New Zealand take on Alinghi Red Bull Racing and for the first time we saw a split tack start with the Kiwis taking the right and the Swiss going left. When the two boats came back together, it was advantage Emirates Team New Zealand and they capitalised on every leg, winning by some 1 minute and 15 seconds. A 100 percent record from the Defenders of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, they go into Sunday’s match against NYYC American Magic having already sealed their place in the final.
Speaking afterwards Peter Burling, Skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand was eyeing the racing tomorrow saying: “Everything to play for, we’re very much here to try and improve the performance and just check in across the range of conditions. It’s obviously going to be completely different conditions tomorrow so that’ll be exciting, and just trying to figure out a plan overnight.”
Asked if he saw Luna Rossa as the closest competitor, Peter responded: “I’m still going to stand by that teams are good in different wind strengths – we haven’t seen Magic in too much breeze yet, and Ben (Ainslie, INEOS Britannia) in some conditions seems pretty fast as well, so yeah we have to wait to and see, it just seems like whoever puts their best foot forward in a race and gets off the line well seems to win them so it’s all going to be about that tomorrow.”
All is now set for a super-Sunday of outstanding AC75 racing with three more matches followed by the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta final between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Their race on the opening day of the regatta ended prematurely with a breakdown on the Italian yacht on the first windward leg so it will be a fascinating tussle between these two impressive teams for early momentum and team morale.
DAY 2 – Kiwis on top at Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta
Barcelona, once again, put on its finest display today on day two of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta with outstanding sailing conditions for the sailors and wonderful viewing opportunities for the spectators. All along the Barceloneta beachfront and at the free-to-enter Official Race Village and Fanzones, the crowds were out in force for a spectacle of high-octane racing at its very best.
The standings show that Emirates Team New Zealand sit on top of the leaderboard tonight and today, the Defenders of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, were on it right from the start. A first race against INEOS Britannia was sublime with Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge tying Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher up and forcing them off their foils in the final approaches to the start line. From there it was all one-way traffic, and the Kiwis romped to a 52 second win.
The Kiwis second race was against Orient Express Racing Team in the last match of the day, but unfortunately the French had to retire ahead of the start with what skipper Quentin Delapierre described as a “major issue” that could not be resolved on the water, but Delapierre confirmed they would be back for racing on Saturday.
Speaking afterwards, Blair Tuke, Flight Controller and Trimmer for Emirates Team New Zealand was pleased with day but still saw the bigger picture saying: “Well we had a great start against INEOS, real battle there, they haven’t been shy in throwing the boat around in the pre-start and we’ve been seeing that for a number of days now, and so we knew that was coming, and I guess we just got the better of them there with that last minute double tack that we executed better, got on the inside of them and they flopped off the foils so race over. So good for us, it was a well-executed start, you know we’ve come into this series really wanting to get the most out of it. We don’t get that many opportunities to get battle hardened so we are trying to get as much out of every race as we can and we’ve certainly done that so far.”
For INEOS Britannia, it was their second straight defeat today, but the team are well aware that this regatta is a warm-up in their eyes for the Louis Vuitton Cup starting on the 29th August. Talking about the race Sir Ben Ainslie said: “it was a shame because it’s over at the start. We made a mess of the execution on the double tack, they did a really nice job of getting inside us to force us of the foil so, shame, a missed chance to line up against the Defenders and after that we just had to make our own way around the course. Performance wise there was a bit difference in headsail choice which is quite interesting, so a few things to take away. Obviously disappointed with the start but this is why we’re here, and we will try and get that right for the next one.”
Performance coach for INEOS Britannia Xabi Fernandez, echoed Ben’s views saying:“A tough day and we feel like it was a missed opportunity to measure ourselves against the Kiwis. We went for a move that was, I would say, not aggressive, but we tried something new in the start box and the double tack didn’t happen.”
Asked about the difficult start to the regatta for the British crew, Fernandez commented: “It’s not been the start that we wanted but, you know, we have been here before, and I think we are able to see the big picture. When you start to line up with the others and you have some new data it’s amazing what you can improve and learn, so the mood in the team is good.”
NYYC American Magic also had two races today with the first against Alinghi Red Bull Racing being a superb opener to the second day of racing. NYYC American Magic aced that encounter by 56 seconds after a solid start and first cross, but then faced down the significant challenge of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli where they succumbed to a 40 second loss, having been forced high by the Italians on the starting line in the final approaches.
Paul Goodison, port helm on ‘Patriot’ was positive about the day, saying: “Like every team, we have to learn how to dominate the start box. I think anybody who is out there and dominating the starts is going to be really tough to beat. We did a great job of that in the first race, got off clean, and managed to get our nose just in front. From there we sailed really well, were able to dominate the sides of the course we wanted to and slowly stepped away – which was really, really promising. We had a similar plan for the second start but it didn’t go our way. The Italians did a good job of holding us outside the line, which was tough for us. But the reaction on board was really good, the way we kept communicating, and we didn’t let it turn into an easy runaway. So, all-in-all, quite a positive day.”
Arnaud Psarofaghis, skipper of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, was sanguine about their first loss of the regatta and saw the positives in defeat, saying: “It was a really interesting race in all aspects. We just misjudged the start, came back a little late to push American Magic but they nailed it really nicely, from there the race was won and they really locked the game down, and so we just tried to sail our boat well and try to get as much data as possible to see what we can improve for tomorrow and mainly for next week. But really positive day for us, massive learning and I mean we didn’t win the race, but we learned a lot of stuff.”
Francesco Bruni, helmsman for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, who looked remarkably slick all around the racecourse, acknowledged the challenge before them but was pleased with how the team raced today, saying: “It’s a positive phase for the team, and for sure the boat is going well. The team is sailing well, but we have to stay focused because things can change very quickly from one day to another and we know that all the teams are looking at us and looking how to improve, so we have to keep improving that’s the most important thing. We can’t just say ‘okay we are good, we are fast’ because if we stop improving, it’s going to be at the end so yes, we had a good race with a good day but my mantra is just to keep, keep, keep, improving.”
For Quentin Delapierre of Orient Express Racing Team, it was a tough day but he kept things in perspective saying: “Yeah nothing major just a little thing on the FCS (Foil Cant System) so I mean we will fix it for tomorrow. I think today, it wasn’t super important for us to go against the Defender, but the next few days are really, really, important for the team, so we just wanted to make sure that the boat will been in shape for all the next few days.”
The weekend brings more incredible action out on the glistening waters of Barcelona and the forecast is looking promising for Saturday but a complete switch in wind direction on Sunday. The race for the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta is heating up – don’t miss a second of it.
DAY 1 – Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta opening day reveals plenty
The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta got underway in Barcelona today with all four scheduled races between the six competing teams taking place in near-perfect conditions.
Four teams sit on one point after today’s racing but – by way of the event rules on splitting ties – it is America’s Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand who sit atop the standings overnight ahead of the Switzerland’s Alinghi Red Bull Racing in second, NYYC American Magic in third, and the Italian Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in fourth.
The British Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia and France’s Orient Express Racing are both yet to put points on the board and sit in fifth and sixth respectively.
Barcelona was at its very best today, delivering some outstanding conditions for day one of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta. A gusting and, at times, patchy south-westerly breeze of 12-16 knots built into the early afternoon, bringing with it a moderate sea-state with wave heights at just over half a metre making the racing more than interesting and delivering a brilliant opener for what is set to be a fantastic summer of top-class racing in Barcelona.
All four scheduled matches were completed with the Swiss team Alinghi Red Bull Racing – continuing their brilliant recovery from a dis-masting just 48 hours earlier – taking on France’s Orient Express Racing Team in the first heat.
The race went decisively in favour of the Swiss, helmed by Maxime Bachelin and Arnaud Psarofaghis, who showed some outstanding boat-handling backed up with impressive pure outright speed and capitalised on French timing errors in the pre-start to establish an early lead that they never relinquished.
Bachelin, steering on port was pleased to get the opening win under his belt saying:
“It’s awesome to start with these types of conditions, it was more than 15 knots during the race and we were finally competing against others, so we cannot expect better than that – and yes, starting with a win it’s always good.”
Juan Vila, Meteorologist & Testing Manager for Alinghi Red Bull Racing, spoke about the team’s remarkable bounce-back from the mast breakage on Tuesday saying:
“Obviously, we never want to break a mast, but it was a good exercise for getting everyone on the same page. It brought the team closer together and gave us extra motivation to perform well in the races. For now, we are very happy with both yesterday’s practice day and today.”
The expected ‘blockbuster’ match up of the day was race two where the America’s Cup Defenders, Emirates Team New Zealand faced off against their AC36 co-finalists Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli from Italy. It was close in the initial tense prestart exchanges, but the Italian challenge evaporated when an electronic issue onboard shut their boat down for 20 seconds, taking them off the foils and forcing them out of the race. Be in no doubt though, this is a rivalry that will run and run through the coming weeks of racing.
Peter Burling, skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand was pleased with the win saying:
“We’ve had some great practice racing against Luna Rossa and it was shaping up to really good race today so it was a real shame they had the issue with the boat and couldn’t carry on because we felt that we had jumped out to a nice little lead there half way up the first beat and were looking forward to some good racing.”
Meanwhile Jimmy Spithill, helmsman for Luna Rossa said the diagnostics for the issue against Emirates Team New Zealand had not yet been analysed.
“It was a shame as we had a good head-to-head race going with the Kiwis and it looked like it was going to be a good one. We were disappointed not to get that race in but in a lot of ways we’d rather that sort of stuff happens now rather than when it really counts.”
Next up was NYYC American Magic – who had suffered a serious nosedive in practice racing the day before – up against INEOS Britannia who looked fired up for the day and the racing to come. After a blistering start from Ainslie and a brilliant first cross by the British out to the right-side of the course, the Americans came straight back after finding more pressure and nice big windshift to lead at the windward mark. Although the first downwind leg saw two close crosses the US team maintained their lead at the leeward gate and were never headed again, going on to record a win by a margin of 29 seconds.
Tom Slingsby, helmsman on NYYC American Magic, was happy with how the opening race against INEOS Britannia unfolded saying:
“It was a tight race all the way. There didn’t seem to be much in it in terms of boat speed. Once we were ahead, we were able to protect the right and it felt like we were making little gains all the time.”
“We have won our first race and although there is a long way to go, it’s good to get off the mark as you don’t want to be waiting a couple of days to get your first win. So, we’re off and running and we’ve got some big matches coming in the next few days.”
Sir Ben Ainslie, Skipper and CEO of INEOS Britannia, put the British team’s performance into context saying:
“Strategically we didn’t defend the right enough. We felt like we were in good shape halfway up that first beat. We wanted the right-hand side, and we got that, but then it became a tricky balance between do we have enough of a lead to just go to layline? Or do we just want to hammer it home and home and try to defend that right hand side? The Americans were close enough to us and did a nice job of making that a difficult call. They got to the right of us and really made it pay.”
“In this Garbi breeze from around 200 it is very much a right side dominated course – but there are some shifts and pressure lines out there and it is just about trying to stay in those pressure lines and get the right gate bias at the top of the course.”
The final race of the day was something of a mis-match right from the start with Orient Express Racing Team falling off their foils before the pre-start, picking up penalties for several infractions and allowing Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to get away to an unchallenged start and establish an immediate lead. The Italians steadily stretched out that advantage, showing superb boat-handling and outright speed to record the biggest win of the day of some one minute and 33 seconds.
For Quentin Delapierre, skipper of Orient Express Racing Team, it was another day high on the learning curve but plenty of positives as he commented:
“It’s still a learning period and mistakes are allowed. We just need to get the lesson and try to push forward with the whole team. I do think that there are many positive things – the boat looks fast with good potential – but for sure we were struggling during the start and the pre-starts especially. I do think that we had some issue with the tactical tool but honestly that’s more on us. We need to work on that, simplify everything and then just do the correct things at the right time.”
The eye-watering performance of the new generation AC75s on this opening day of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta was truly something to behold with speeds regularly approaching the 50-knot mark. The sailors really performed today, Barcelona was beautiful, and the racing was both thrilling and revealing.
Racing at the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta continues tomorrow Friday August 23 with four more races scheduled and runs through until Sunday August 25 when the event culminates with a match race final between the two top teams.
