Despite looking like another bland piece of America’s Cup politics and procedure, it is difficult to overstate the significance of the newly formed America’s Cup Partnership (ACP).

First revealed a few weeks ago in the 38th America’s Cup Protocol, the ACP changes fundamentally the way in which the Cup will be run in the next cycle and beyond.

And while there are good reasons for the change, it’s not going to be universally popular. In fact, this could be the most controversial Cup move in modern times, some say it could even be the beginning of the end for the Auld Mug as we know it.

Sir Ben Ainslie, who has played a major part in creating the ACP – and whose team Athena Racing represents the Royal Yacht Squadron, the Challengers of Record – says this is, “The biggest step change in the history of the Cup,” and that the ACP is, “Critical to the future success of the Cup.”

His opposite, Grant Dalton, CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand representing the Defenders, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is equally punchy. “If we hadn’t have done this it could have been pretty much the end of the Cup.”
Both are bold statements and both will raise plenty of comment and fierce debate.

RNZYS Commodore David Blakey and RYS Ltd’s Bertie Bicket shake hands, watched by Sir Ben Ainslie and Grant Dalton, to mark the signing of the Protocol for the 38th America’s Cup, in August 2025. Photo: Suellen Hurling / RNZYS / America’s Cup

Spreading the load

Traditionally, if you win the America’s Cup you take on the responsibility for putting on the next event once a Challenger has thrown down the gauntlet.

It’s a big obligation, both logistically and financially and puts huge pressure on both the Defenders and the club they represent, especially in multi-challenger Cup cycles where the burden of hosting an event that runs for months can place huge demands on infrastructure.

Covering the huge financial costs is made even harder as the short-term nature of a Cup cycle that lacks any detail makes it especially difficult for sponsors to justify putting their hands in their pockets.

This means that the time frame between America’s Cup matches inevitably gets drawn out, which in turn causes its own problems when it comes to maintaining public interest in the event. Filling these gaps with more events costs more money and so the problem continues to spiral.

The financial. burden of hosting multi-challenger Cups, such as the very successful 32nd Cup in Valencia, Spain in 2007, is significant. Photo: Jose Jordan/AFP via Getty Images

The ACP seeks to change this by sharing the logistical and financial burden with the other competitors.

In simple terms, under the new structure when a Challenger enters the America’s Cup it takes a place on the board that governs the event. From here the rules, the schedule, the venue selection and every other detail of the cycle is agreed and actioned.

Dalton and Ainslie argue that this creates future structure to the event around which hosting deals can be made for future venues along with long term sponsorship deals and other financial considerations.

They also argue that costs can be better controlled and talk of spending caps which they say would help to increase the number of future potential teams.

No longer unique?

All of which sounds positive, especially given that this is how SailGP, which was born out of the 2017 America’s Cup, is currently growing.

SailGP has succeeded in creating a commercially focussed, spectacle-driven circuit – but is that the right direction for the future of the America’s Cup? Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP

But there are those that will argue that democratising the America’s Cup strikes at the heart of its foundation.

Commercialising it in this way, and running a Cup event every two years as has been suggested, risks turning it into another world championships of sailing and removes the winner-takes-all aspect that has drawn a steady stream of billionaires for 174 years.

The appeal and potential commercial benefit of winning the Cup and bringing it home could also be gone if hosting deals have been made for future cycles. This could also reduce the appeal and prestige of the Cup making it harder to raise finances.

Big money deals

But Dalton and Ainslie don’t see it this way.

“We would dearly have loved to be able to negotiate with Naples for two cycles,” says Dalton. “Their infrastructure bill is €180 million, but when you can only plan for one cycle you can’t do long broadcast deals and you can’t do long sponsor deals which is the well known Achilles heel of the Cup.

“So, in this commercial world – and knowing that our sport is niche – we knew it was time to make that move. And so along with the Challenger of Record with support from the New York Yacht Club we have been able to do it but it’s not been easy because there’s a lot of stakeholders to be satisfied.”

Ainslie agrees. “The challenge has been trying to convince stakeholders that this is the right move for the Cup,” he says.

“Initially there was quite a lot of resistance for many different reasons and it’s taken 12 months to get to this point. But as hard as it’s been, actually the conviction from Grant that this is what we should be doing has delivered at the end of the day.”

The America’s Cup has endured since 1851, as captured in this painting of America running to the finish line of the RYS Cup in Cowes. Will these new changes secure its future? Image: duncan1890 via Getty Images.

But these are big changes, and even Dalton has his concerns. “We knew that if we didn’t do anything then we might not have a Cup in 10 years time.

“So, in the end this was a call that we had to make but you won’t be able to convince me that we’re right yet, I think only time will tell.”

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Peter Burling, the most successful America’s Cup helm in the modern era, has signed with Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.

Following much speculation, the Italian challengers confirmed today, Friday 20 June 2025 that Burling – who helmed Emirates Team New Zealand to a record three back-to-back wins (the ‘three-Pete’) – will join Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli for the 38th America’s Cup cycle.

Burling announced he was departing Team New Zealand back in early April this year, after he and team boss Grant Dalton were unable to come to agreement on key terms.

Exactly what they were were never disclosed, but there was plenty of speculation that it was to do with the level of all-in commitment Dalton sought from his key team members. Burling is also skipper of the Black Foils New Zealand SailGP team.

Burling’s SailGP team racing in front of an adoring home crowd earlier in 2025. Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP

Exactly what capacity Burling will join the Italian team in is unclear, in part due to wording in a draft protocol released by Team New Zealand in late May 2025

That draft Protocol currently forbids sailors who competed in the last Cup for one nation representing another in AC38 stating:

‘…up to two non-nationals may participate as crew on a Competitor’s yacht in a race in the AC38 Events, provided such non-nationals did not participate as crew in any races of the following AC37 Events – the AC37 Final Preliminary Regatta, the Challenger Selection Series or the AC37 Match.’

This rule was known to be one of the sticking points among several Challengers – including the Challenger of Record, Ben Ainslie’s Athena Racing.

However, the Italian challengers have been notably quiet following the recent dissent voiced by the British, American and Swiss teams.

This does raise the question of whether the Italians intend to have Burling on the water for AC38 at all, or if that rule is no longer set to be included in the Protocol.

Peter Burling has signed for the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team for the 38th America’s Cup

“We’re thrilled to welcome Peter Burling to Luna Rossa,” said Max Sirena, CEO of Luna Rossa. “Peter has been a long-time rival, and over the years we’ve come to deeply respect both his exceptional sailing talent and his sportsmanship on the racecourse.

“Even though his exact role has yet to be defined, he will certainly be part of the sailing team, reinforcing Luna Rossa’s core leadership group and contributing to key areas of our development program.

“Peter brings tremendous sporting, technical, and personal value. We are confident his presence will give the team a significant boost, bringing renewed energy, expertise, and determination as we look ahead to the challenge before us.”

Luna Rossa competing in the 37th America’s Cup. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

“I’m incredibly proud to be joining Luna Rossa for the 38th America’s Cup,” said Peter Burling.

“I’ve always loved racing against Luna Rossa and now to join this iconic team is a real honour. The innovation and competitiveness they bring to the Cup has always inspired me. I’m grateful for the warm welcome and I’m looking forward to working hard alongside a world-class team, doing my part to help win Luna Rossa’s first America’s Cup.”

Article continues below…

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Following a statement from Alinghi and co-ordinated statements of support from Athena Racing and NYYC American Magic yesterday, Thursday 29 May, Team New Zealand have responded with their own statement on the 38th America’s Cup venue late Thursday UK time.

Alinghi accused Team New Zealand of selling ‘something they do not own the rights to’ after the Kiwis announced the venue for the 38th America’s Cup apparently without approval of Athena Racing, the Challenger of Record.

However, Team New Zealand claims that the Challenger of Record (CoR) signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ when they signed up to be the Challenger of Record for the next America’s Cup at the conclusion of the last event in 2024.

The statement from Team New Zealand came in two parts. The first read:

‘The Defender, as per the Deed of Gift has the right and responsibility to choose the venue and the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Challenger of Record at the conclusion of the 37th America’s Cup also gives that full right and obligation to the Defender.

Article continues below…

‘Team New Zealand have sold something they do not own the rights to. This is not acceptable.’ Alinghi issues strong America’s Cup statement

Swiss America’s Cup team Alinghi Red Bull Racing issued a statement today, Thursday 29th May, as the latest war of…

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‘The Defender remains committed to work with the teams to create a partnership for the future America’s Cups.’

This was followed some hours later by a second statement which read:

‘Further clarification on today’s earlier statement from Emirates Team New Zealand regarding the agreed responsibility of the Defender on selecting the Host Venue of the 38th America’s Cup across all events including the Challenger Selection Series. The MOU with the Challenger of Record also says:

“The Venue for the Match and for the preceding CSS will be determined and announced by the AC38 Defender within eight months of the AC37 Final Race. The final dates for the Match and the preceding CSS will be announced within a further two months of the Venue announcement.”’

As the back-and-forth continues the wording of these tit-for-tat statements is starting to look increasingly legal.

The America’s Cup has long been a home to legal battles and quite how this ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ apparently signed by British Challenger of Record squares with the famous America’s Cup Deed of Gift – the 1882 primary document that governs the rules to challenge for the America’s Cup – could well be one for the lawyers to decide.

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Swiss America’s Cup team Alinghi Red Bull Racing issued a statement today, Thursday 29th May, as the latest war of words among various interested America’s Cup teams escalates.

That statement was followed by another from the official America’s Cup Challenger of Record, the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Athena Racing.

The first indication that something was (once again) amiss in the world of the America’s Cup came when Team New Zealand announced Naples as the venue for the 38th America’s Cup, seemingly out of the blue – though rumours of an announcement had been circulating.

That venue announcement was followed days later by Ben Ainslie’s Athena Racing, and US team NYYC American Magic, both issuing co-ordinated team statements. The Athena Racing statement revealed the British frustration that six months of negotiation with Team New Zealand, headed up by Grant Dalton, had failed to result in a Protocol agreement stating that:

‘For seven months Athena Racing has been in negotiations on a protocol for the 38th America’s Cup with the Defender, Team New Zealand, on behalf of all the Challengers – with the aim to deliver a fair sporting framework and commercially viable event for all America’s Cup stakeholders. Despite recent progress being made, significant barriers remain.

‘Typically, a host agreement has only followed the publication of an agreed protocol. In the absence of an agreed protocol, it is therefore difficult to understand what exactly has been agreed between Team New Zealand and the Government of Italy as the sporting framework and details of the event do not yet exist.’

Ben Ainslie. Photo: INEOS Britannia

These opening salvoes then saw Team New Zealand biting back against charges of a lack of transparency, calling the challengers ‘unreasonable’ and taking the unprecedented step of releasing the America’s Cup Protocol draft apparently without full consultation with Challenger of Record Athena Racing.

Gloves-off America’s Cup statement from Alinghi

The statement released today by Alinghi takes aim squarely at Team New Zealand and goes as far as claiming that ‘Team New Zealand have sold something they do not own the rights to.’ And additionally reveals they have contacted the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron ‘raising questions about the administration of the competition by Team New Zealand.’

In what was another clearly co-ordinated effort from the Challengers, the Alinghi statement was quickly followed by another from both Athena Racing and NYYC American Magic, both giving full-throated support to the sentiments expressed by the Swiss team.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing had previously announced that they would not compete in the 38th America’s Cup. Photo: America’s Cup

In full the Alinghi statement reads:

‘When Alinghi Red Bull Racing withdrew in April from consideration for the 38th America’s Cup, we did so because we had serious concerns about the administration and governance of the Cup by the Defender, Team New Zealand.

‘While we wholeheartedly welcome the choice of Naples as a perfect host venue for the Cup in 2027, our concerns were deepened yesterday when Team New Zealand celebrated the announcement of the host venue at an event in the city.

‘They had no right to do so without first having agreed a protocol with the Challenger of Record, Athena Racing, who were not consulted on the host venue arrangements which critically impact all challenging teams with regards to cost and logistics.

‘In signing a commercial deal with the host city that includes the Challenger Selection Series of races for the Louis Vuitton Cup, Team New Zealand have sold something they do not own the rights to. This is not acceptable.

‘Additionally, the lack of transparency over the terms of the venue deal struck by Team New Zealand begs the question: How can a venue be agreed without either the host city or any of the challenger teams knowing what form of regatta will take place?

‘This is just the latest demonstration of the Defender’s failure to live up to its fiduciary duties as the Trustee of the America’s Cup.

‘These growing concerns about the governance of the Cup is why Société Nautique de Genève has written to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron raising questions about the administration of the competition by Team New Zealand and requesting information relating to RNZYS’s responsibilities and duties as Trustee.

‘As a two-time winner of the Cup and a former Trustee ourselves, Alinghi will always feel a responsibility to the America’s Cup and believe that those who organize and run the event should always seek to put the collective interest of the Cup above all else.

‘Like Athena Racing and American Magic, we believe that a successful America’s Cup hinges on openness, trust, and a shared understanding among all participants. We remain hopeful that a protocol between the Defender and the Challenger of Record can be agreed that establishes an equitable sporting framework for the racing and a commercially viable event for all America’s Cup stakeholders.

‘If this can be achieved, then Alinghi is ready to explore ways that we can be part of that future, especially in the wonderful city of Naples in 2027, a truly fitting setting for the world’s greatest sailing competition.’

Alinghi are no strangers to Cup controversy themselves having been taken to court by Larry Ellison’s BMW Oracle after their succesfull defence of the America’s Cup. the resultant fall out saw several years of battle in the courts before a Deed of Gift match between the two teams in 2010.

Could the Cup be heading back to the courts once again?

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Nathan Outteridge has become a name synonymous with excellence in competitive sailing and he is now gearing up for one of the biggest challenges of his storied career: leading the Kiwi team, Emirates Team New Zealand, as skipper in the 38th America’s Cup.

Outteridge, an Olympic gold medalist and world champion, brought a wealth of experience and a competitive edge that made him a key figure when he was signed by the team as Peter Burling‘s co-skipper in the 2024 America’s Cup.

Following that successful defence Burling stepped away from the team and in May 2025 it was Nathan Outteridge named Emirates Team New Zealand skipper for the team’s defence of the 38th America’s Cup.

Who is Nathan Outteridge?

Born in 1986 in Newcastle, Australia, Outteridge’s affinity for the water was apparent from a young age. He first began sailing at the age of five, and it quickly became clear that he had a natural talent for the sport. His early years were marked by rapid progression through the junior ranks, setting the stage for what would become an extraordinary career.

Nathan Outteridge first made waves on the international stage as a teenager when he won the 2003 World Championship in the 29er class. His career continued on an upward trajectory when he transitioned to the 49er class, where he formed a formidable partnership with Iain Jensen.

Nathan Outteridge competing in the foiling Moth. Photo: Thierry Martinez

Together, Outteridge and Jensen became a dominant force in the 49er class, culminating in winning the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics (with his New Zealand America’s Cup co-skipper Peter Burling and Blair Tuke picking up silver) and silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics (where Burling and Tuke took gold). These accolades cemented Outteridge’s status as one of the premier sailors of his generation.

Beyond the Olympic arena, Outteridge has been a constant presence in the highest echelons of sailing. His expertise in foiling, in particular the foiling Moth, and multihulls made him a natural fit for the modern America’s Cup, where innovation and speed are paramount.

Article continues below…

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He made his debut in the 35th America’s Cup in 2017 as skipper for Artemis Racing. Despite falling short of the ultimate prize, Outteridge’s leadership and skill were widely recognised, and he left a lasting impression on the competition.

Outteridge’s versatility as a sailor is one of his greatest strengths. Whether it’s steering a foiling catamaran in the SailGP series, where he’s demonstrating his talent time and again, or mastering the intricate tactics of match racing in the America’s Cup, Outteridge has consistently demonstrated an ability to adapt and excel in any sailing discipline.

Skipper Nathan Outteridge gets the Japan SailGP Team airborne in Cadiz, Spain, in October 2021. Photo: Felix Diemer/SailGP

As the co-skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand, Nathan Outteridge faced a unique set of challenges in the 2024 America’s Cup and it was fascinating to watch how he worked alongside long-term friend, training partner and competitor Peter Burling.

Known for his analytical approach and calm demeanour under pressure, Outteridge is a leader who thrives in high-stakes environments. His ability to inspire confidence and bring out the best in his crew was a crucial factor in the team’s victory in the intense competition in Barcelona.

Emirares Team New Zealand’s Core Team announced in May 2025. Photo: Hamish Hooper / Emirates Team New Zealand

Now Outteridge is stepping up the lead the sailing team for the Kiwis and he has very big shoes to fill. Burling has been at the head of this team – in one form or other – for their win in 2017, successful defence in 2021 and the most recent defence in 2024.

As the next America’s Cup draws closer, Nathan Outteridge stands as a key figure to watch. His journey from a young sailor in Australia to the skipper of one of the most iconic teams in sailing is a testament to his dedication, skill, and love for the sport. With the Cup on the line, Outteridge’s leadership and expertise will be pivotal in determining whether Emirates Team New Zealand can reclaim the Auld Mug for the fourth consecutive event and thus re-write America’s Cup history.

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The current holder of the America’s Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand, have named Nathan Outteridge as the skipper of their team and the man who will head up their Defence of the 38th America’s Cup.

The news comes after the team was unable to come to an agreement with 3 time winning skipper, Pete Burling earlier this year. It’s thought that Burling was not able to commit to demands surrounding how much of his time should be focused solely on America’s Cup racing in the build up to the next event.

The announcement was simply presented in social media posts by the team with the same short message on their website which reads:

The America’s Cup always ends on the water, but it always begins with a meeting of minds. This week the Emirates Team New Zealand core sailing team began plotting the strategy to defending the America’s Cup again in 2027.

Meet the core team so far:

Nathan Outteridge (Skipper)
Andy Maloney
Blair Tuke
Sam Meech
Chris Draper
More sailors to be announced in due course…

Emirares Team New Zealand’s Core Team. Photo: Hamish Hooper / Emirates Team New Zealand

Outteirdge was bought into the team ahead of the 2024 America’s Cup, with he and Burling sharing helming duties on the AC75 on the team’s march to victory. So he is far from a surprise selection to step up to the role of skipper.

Indeed consistency appears to be the key in most of the rest of the ‘core team’ announcement with long term and trusted Emirates Team New Zealand sailors, Blair Tuke, Andy Maloney, and Sam Meech all core members of the team for several cycles.

However, the final member of the core team – and a brand new signing for the Kiwis – is British sailor Chris Draper. Draper has a long history at the very top of the sport and in many ways his sailing resume is not dissimilar to that of Outteridge.

Draper was a formidable Olympic 49er sailor picking up a bronze and silver medal. He has plenty of America’s Cup experience too, albeit always with teams who were unlikely to challenge for the trophy itself.

In 2013 he was a key member of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s late challenge and then in 2017 he was the tactiacian onboard the Dean Barker skippered Softbank Team Japan. Since then he has headed up and been a key member of a number of SailGP teams.

The inclusion of a British sailor on the key sailing group could well signal a relaxation of the strict nationality rules of the previous cycle, which are said to disliked by a number of the smaller and newer teams, preventing them buying up talent to accelerate their learnings.

We will not know if that is the case until the 38th America’s Cup protocol is officially released, which is currently under discussion between Cup Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand and challenger of Record, Ben Ainslie’s Athena Racing.

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It was one of the less well kept secrets in sailing, but yesterday it was confirmed that – fresh from their biggest success in the event in 90 years – Britain will again compete in the next America’s Cup.

As the victorious Emirates Team New Zealand team began their media rounds, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Shoebridge confirmed that a challenge had been accepted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

“We’ve accepted a Challenge this afternoon but we’ll leave that for a separate announcement,” he said initially.

However, shortly afterwards INEOS Britannia skipper and team boss Ben Ainslie confirmed that the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes had indeed challenged for the 38th America’s Cup, and their Challenge had been accepted. The British are now Challenger of Record for the second consecutive event.

Grant Dalton congratulates INEOS Britannia backer Sir Jim Ratcliffe on winning the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. Both teams’ yacht clubs, the RNZYS and RYS, will be represented in the 38th America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

“Yeah, well, the Royal Yacht Squadron have signed up again to be the Challenger of Record for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron,” he told the waiting press.

“We had a great partnership through this last Cup. I think you saw with the Protocol – such a progressive protocol this time around, particularly with the Women’s America’s Cup.

“And there’s so much more we can do with the event. I think this has been a huge success, but there’s so much more potential in the America’s Cup. So it’s on us now to work with the Kiwis and try and help them as a Defender to promote that.”

Bertie Bicket, chairman of Royal Yacht Squadron Racing, being interviewed as the Royal Yacht Squadron is confirmed as Challenger of Record for the 38th America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Host venue for the 38th America’s Cup?

As ever, due to the unique structure of the America’s Cup, there are now many questions about what the event’s future might look like.

While the decision makers are all in Barcelona, the question of host venue is among the most pressing.

The Spanish city created a genuine spectacle for the final of the America’s Cup, with phenomenal crowds – including a truly impressive number of black shirted Emirates Team New Zealand supporters – lining Port Vell, a fleet of superyachts racked half a dozen deep and sparking sunshine yesterday setting up an event finale that will last long in the memory.

Superyachts and spectator boats accompany Emirates Team New Zealand, the winners of the 37th America’s Cup, back into Barcelona port. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

As a location, Barcelona also delivered handsomely with the team bases set around the port alongside comprehensive superyacht infrastructure (plus Palma is just a short hop away). Onshore, multiple event villages – all free to enter – generated a real sporting atmosphere, and the Mediterranean climate and ‘promenade’ tradition guaranteed good footfall. Though there were also protests at the event’s presence in the city, part of a wider discontent with Barcelona’s very high tourism numbers.

The acknowledged major negative of Barcelona as a venue – primarily the light, unpredictable winds at the close of season, combined with a challenging sea state – proved to be not as much of a problem as anticipated.

The spectator support for the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona has been impressive. Photo: Ana Ponce / America’s Cup

The AC75 rule changes, which were designed to ensure the boats could foil in lighter breezes, meant that we saw far fewer races decided by boats crawling along in painful displacement mode than in AC36. For much of the competition race days the breeze was, in fact, actually stronger than the worst case scenarios modelled by teams’ meteorologists.

There’s certainly been no confirmation that it will be Barcelona once again – though there are lots of positive noises being made about the venue.

When asked whether Barcelona would play a part in the event’s future, Kevin Shoebridge said “As a venue? I hope so, but no decisions about that stage. Hopefully in the next week or two we’ll put out a timetable when decisions like that will get made.”

Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand wouldn’t immediately be drawn on whether the event would return to Barcelona for the 38th America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Potential other venues for AC38?

Other venues which have been variously rumoured include Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which would be a fundamental change of tone for the event, but would likely come with significant financial support for the event.

And, of course, the Defenders could choose to take it home.

Auckland, home of the 36th America’s Cup, still has the infrastructure to support a return of the Cup, though it would be unlikely to generate the same level of funding that the notoriously parsimonious Kiwi team would need to lodge a fourth successful campaign.

But one thing was striking in Barcelona this autumn: the narrative from outside New Zealand in recent years might’ve been that public support for America’s Cup at home had waned due to bigger-picture issues. The global cost of living crisis makes sourcing public funding for a multimillionaires’ yacht race challenging in any country, but particularly in a nation as small as New Zealand.

Barcelona’s Port Vell, home of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Yet even the briefest walk around Barcelona revealed the passion and commitment of thousands of Kiwi supporters to back their team – flying tens of thousands of miles to do so. Perhaps there is pressure to honour that loyalty and commitment with a home event – a Preliminary event, if not the Cup Match itself?

In terms of time frame, Emirates Team New Zealand team boss Grant Dalton has dropped heavy hints that he would like to see a quick turnaround for the next Cup – telling New Zealand outlet Stuff back in September that he could “possibly foresee, very likely, a new edition of the Cup in 2026.” The timing would also depend on which hemisphere the Cup is set to be in.

Boat or crew changes for the 38th America’s Cup ?

It’s widely understood that there is an agreement in existence that the AC75s will continue as the class for the future Cup (though, as with all elements of America’s Cup, everything can theoretically be subject to renegotiation. The Cup is certainly no stranger to legal wranglings).

It’s definitely too early to speculate whether that would likely involve a refinement or a more comprehensive overall of the AC75 rule. But there have been some intriguing hints dropped by key players from both the Defender and Challenger of Record.

When asked about the development of the class in the pre-America’s Cup Match press conference INEOS Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie said: “It’s really interesting the technical development of these AC75 yachts, and the automation of how the yachts are sailed. And at what point does automation become too much and the human interface is not as relevant as it should be?

“I think we’re probably getting close to this line, but it’s been a fascinating development.”

Emirates Team New Zealand lead designer Dan Bernasconi – who will be pivotal in any rule change – also said yesterday: “We wouldn’t want to make changes that make the existing boats obsolete.

“We could probably look at the crew configuration again. and look again at the rules around how the controls work.

“There’s a lot of automation on these boats. In some ways that means there’s less need for as many sailors doing sailing roles. Personally I’d be keen to maybe remove a bit of that automation and have a need for more sailors actually sailing the boat.”

Emirates Team New Zealand lead designer Dan Bernasconi speaking after the team won the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Future of women in the America’s Cup?

So, there may be a drive to remove some of the automation of the AC75s, potentially increase the number of sailors on the boat, and to build on the momentum of the Women’s and Youth America’s Cups.

If that’s the case, then one possible avenue could be to create an additional ‘sailor’ role that would mandated as female (and/or youth) crew position within the America’s Cup crews.

“There’s no reason now with these boats not to have women on board,” Stephane Kandler, CEO of Orient Express Team France told me yesterday.

“And if we could put more sailors on board, we should have women on board for sure.

“We talked about it as challengers. And I think everybody’s quite keen, which is a big change.”

The first ever Puig Women’s America’s Cup has been widely heralded as a success, with the all-female crews using matched AC40s. But is there an opportunity to see women onboard the AC75s in the 38th America’s Cup? Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

One solution that’s been mooted would be to replace one of the ‘cyclor’ positions and use more stored power. “In reality, you don’t really need [the cyclors]. If you want, you could put two women on board – as a minimum or whatsoever. I think this would be amazing,” added Kandler.

Co-CEO of Orient Express Team France Bruno Dubois echoed the sentiment, saying: “I really hope there are some rules coming into place for that: on the 75 for Women and Youth. But for youth probably older than 25, so I would say under 30 like the Ocean Race would be better.”

In the interview linked above, however, Dalton has said: “We would never mandate a woman on the (AC75) boat, ever.”

Stephan Kandler of Orient Express Racing Team is among those who believe a women’s position on the AC75 would be a positive move. Photo: Ian Roman

We’ll have an in-depth look at the 37th America’s Cup and the future of the 38th in the next issue of Yachting World magazine, plus follow for all of our 2024 America’s Cup coverage.

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As America’s Cup Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand came into this competition as clear favourites and the team to beat.

But the Kiwi camp has far more than just the structural advantage of being the ones that wrote the Protocol for the 37th America’s Cup, and the originators of the AC75 concept.

The most successful America’s Cup team in modern history demonstrated from the very first events in this Cup cycle that they were looking for nothing less than absolute dominance. To win in 2024, having defended in 2021 and won in 2017, would be a truly historic ‘three-peat’.

It was the American Magic team that took the overall win at the first Preliminary Regatta, the teams’ first outings in their one-design AC40s in Vilanova just along the coast from Barcelona, last September. But the Kiwi response was forceful, and at the next event in Jeddah they won five of the eight races.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Winning AC75 Taihoro

When their second generation AC75 Taihoro was launched, it appeared – very briefly – deceptively similar to Te Rehutai, their winning AC75 from 2021. But the Kiwis signalled their confidence in the design straight out of the box – literally, launching and flying their AC75 within hours of the brand new boat touching water in Auckland.

Once Taihoro was shipped to Barcelona, some of the Defenders’ developments began to become evident, with early footage of the team rigging and testing the yacht hinting that they had developed a highly sophisticated mainsheet system, and potentially automated controls that linked foil lift/drop, rig rotation and headsail trim.

On the water, the boat’s high, fast mode, tight tacking angles and speed out of manoeuvres pointed to impressive finger-tip control for the trim and flight control team.

The Emirates Team New Zealand sailing team congratulate each other. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Burling and Outteridge

The previous two Cup victories had seen the emergence of ‘Pistol Pete’, the laser-focussed helmsman Peter Burling and his partnership with 49er Gold Medal-winning crew Blair Tuke as trimmer (together with Australian Glenn Ashby in a skipper/trimmer/flight controller role).

But following the clear advantages of the twin helms setup that Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni demonstrated on Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in 2021, for 2024 the Emirates Team New Zealand AC75 needed a second helmsman.

Enter Nathan Outteridge, one of the greatest high performance and foiling helmsmen of his generation. And, happily, a New Zealand resident (though an Australian by birth).

Burling and Outteridge’s relaxed onboard chat belied a razor-sharp partnership that has been honed since the beginning of their 37th America’s Cup campaign, the pair driving with incredible precision.

Together with experienced trimmers Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney returning, the four-way communication onboard Emirates Team New Zealand was impressive to listen to – and truly came into its own on some of the shiftiest days of the America’s Cup.

Taihoro is by some margin the quickest AC75

Together, boat and crew proved a near unbeatable package. Emirates Team New Zealand dropped a single point in the AC75 Preliminary Regattas, being beaten only by American Magic.

There was just one moment that might have drastically altered their path to victory, when Taihoro dramtically slipped while being craned back ashore after racing in the Preliminary Regatta, crashing onto her cradle with force. So great was the impact, the sound reverberated around Barcelona’s Port Vell like an explosion.

It could, team boss Grant Dalton admitted, have been a campaign ending moment. But the boat escaped relatively undamaged, apparently requiring only some minor work to their foils (which were ultimately upgraded for the Match anyway).

In the Round Robin, there were a few early clues as to how this Cup might shake down, with both INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa taking a single race from the Defenders.

October 12, 2024. Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, Race Day 1.

Emirates Team New Zealand dominance

But once the America’s Cup match got underway, the Kiwi performance levels were frankly ominous, easily winning the first four races on the bounce.

Barcelona filled with a tide of black shirts, the country’s fanatical sports fans descending on the Spanish city in huge numbers to will their team to victory.

Day four of the America’s Cup saw a shift of gears, with Emirates Team New Zealand making a couple of uncharacteristic errors, while INEOS Britannia found favourable conditions in the bigger waves. The Kiwis may have appeared relaxed, but they were surely at least slightly rattled.

The Brits picked up two wins on Day 4. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Whatever was said by the no-nonsense team boss Dalton and his hugely experienced coaching team that night, next day the Kiwi crew came out fighting, and Day 5 was a display of total dominance – the Emirates Team New Zealand team demonstrating speed, tactical confidence, and a calm ruthlessness to easily win two significant races and go 6-2 up.

With the British team fighting for their lives, the final day’s racing was a light winds, flat seas affair: exactly the conditions Taihoro revelled in. There were also some tricky shifts – the conditions Burling and ‘wind whisperer’ Outteridge excel in.

The British took the challenge to them – throwing everything at the red and black boat to try and shut them out at the start, and at one point climbing to within 30 metres of them on the penultimate upwind. But the Kiwi’s calm demeanour never cracked under pressure, and they controlled the final stages to take their seventh win and third America’ Cup.

“Beautiful, boys,” said Burling as they crossed the line, a master of understatement.

Defeated Challenger Ainslie paid tribute to the win, saying: “They’re the best team ever in the America’s Cup.” Few would disagree.

Follow all of our 2024 America’s Cup coverage

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Emirates Team New Zealand have, today Saturday 19 October 2024, won their third straight America’s Cup and so become the first team in modern America’s Cup history to win three America’s Cups in a row.

Race Day 6 of the 37th America’s Cup dawned as last chance saloon for the British INEOS Britannia squad, with Emirates Team New Zealand leading the Brits 6-2 in the first-to-seven series.

The question for all onlookers was whether the British could win two straight races – as they did on day three of the event – to force the racing to continue for at least one more day.
“I’ve been in far too many sh*t fights in my career,” Britain’s Ben Ainslie had told us yesterday. “There were many scenarios, situations similar to this where it might appear pretty helpless, but actually you just never know what can happen.”

Once again the forecast was for extremely light winds in Barcelona and it was clear from early on that there would be a delay to racing as the breeze shifted. However by the time of the start, the sun was out and the wind had swung toward the sea breeze direction which implied there could be a thermal enhancement during the afternoon. But, at this time of year with the land also fairly hot, thermal enhancement is limited so wind in the double figures never looked particularly likely.

After a delay of just under an hour, the thermal breeze had built to provide almost 10 knots at the startline, but the windward end of the course was still overing just over the minimum 6.5 knots. To add to the pressure the wind also looked pretty unstable and pretty gusty too.

Race 9 INEOS Britannia Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 

In the pre-start it was the turn of New Zealand to enter first on port and the Brits gybed around to follow.

The Kiwis gybed at the right hand boundary and INEOS Britannia gybed inside of them to set up ahead and therefore to leeward. The Kiwis immediately tacked away and quickly tacked back, with the Brits following them and then tacking in front of them to lead back.

The Brits did a great job to control the situation and get a commanding position just below the New Zealanders out of the start, forcing the Kiwis to tack away straight after the gun.

So it was first blood to the Brits, who immediately tacked over to follow the Kiwis to the right of the course.

But the New Zealanders looked quick and when they tacked back onto starboard the port-tacked Brits were forced to duck them.

Consistently the New Zealand boat has looked fast in light winds and flat water and they have been the better boat through their tacks. Added to this, they also managed to get over into a bit of a puff on the left of the course and by the second cross Burling and Outteridge’s team were up to a 100m lead as they crossed the Brits on port.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Emirates Team New Zealand continued to extend throughout the whole of the first beat to lead by 19 seconds around the first windward gate. It was only moments after the start, but the British team were already going to be looking for something of a miracle to get back into this vital, match-point race.

But for those who thought the race was gone, the Brits picked up some decent breeze up the middle of the second beat and as the two came together again INEOS had taken some decent chunks out of the Kiwis, who tacked right in from of INEOS Britannia.

Ainslie and Fletcher immediately tacked away to the right again and by the time they came back on starboard they had gained once again. Again the Kiwis tacked in front of them and again the Brits tacked away.

When they met again, the Kiwis were forced to tack underneath the bow of the starboard INEOS. It was edge of the seat stuff as the Brits looked to have wrested control.

However, with both boats over lay, the Kiwis still had a small advantage and were able to lead the two boars into the windward gate taking the left hand mark looking upwind. INEOS tacked to round the opposite gate dead even.

But Burling and Outteridge had done a good job to pick the favoured mark and they eked back into the lead on the favoured side of the downwind, a lead they held to round the leeward gate 12 seconds up.

Emirates Team New Zealand rounded the right hand mark, while the Brits chose the left mark to force a split. But by the first cross the starboard tacked Kiwis were leading and tacked in front of INEOS to protect the right, which had worked so well for the Brits on the previous lap.

But the wind was looking a little stronger on the left for INEOS and for a time they were looking solid, but a port tack header as they came back across saw the Kiwis with a solid lead and once again they tacked to cover and protect the right at the top of the course.

Emirates Team New Zealand managed to step away on the final part of the beat and, having seen off the attack from the Brits, they rounded the last windward gate, 17 seconds ahead and set off on their last downwind.

It was, essentially, a victory lap (leg) for Emirates Team New Zealand who crossed the finish line over half a minute ahead to claim their third consecutive Americas Cup.

You have to hand it to Ainslie’s team, they won the start and caught the Kiwis napping on the second upwind. There isn’t much more that could have been asked of them in this race.

As for the Kiwis, they have once again shown themselves to be the best Americas Cup team. Their boat, in these conditions, was clearly quicker around the course and she was sailed well to make the best of their advantages.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Burling. “It’s been a tough week, but I’m proud of how the team just kept battling today. To be honest it’s still sinking in. This team has some bad memories from before my time of sitting on match point so it’s nice to get it done today.”

“It’s pretty special, its been a huge journey and I’ve loved every minute, it’s been a huge dream for quite some time,” said Outteridge for whom this was his first America’s Cup win.

“Firstly I have to say a huge well done to Team New Zealand. In my view, they are the best team ever in the America’s Cup,” said a crestfallen Ainslie. “To our team I can’t say enough thanks for all the effort they have put in to get us here. We had out moments but at the end of the day the better team won.”

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us back home and in Barcelona. The support we’ve has has been amazing. We set out 10 years ago to win the Americas Cup and we’re getting closer each time, so we’ll get it next time,” Ainslie concluded.

Follow all of our 2024 America’s Cup coverage

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Nobody pours 10 years of their life – and millions of pounds of backers’ money – into a project that they don’t believe in. But right now, Ben Ainslie and his INEOS Britannia team will be digging deep into their reserves of self-belief.

The British America’s Cup Challengers are facing their final, most critical fight, with Emirates Team New Zealand driving home two dominant wins today to go 6-2 up. In the first to seven series, this is Match Point.

How the two teams respond to this final act will be fascinating. Both Ainslie and Burling are talking in the same terms of taking each race as it comes – but in reality, that means very different things for each of them. Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow, though very light winds are forecast.

Brits making history

Ainslie, who told me before the regatta started that he was “quite happy being an underdog”, in truth would not have gone into this third Cup campaign without total confidence in his team’s potential.

History weighs heavily in the America’s Cup and the British had to achieve a greatness that has not been achieved in a century of sailing in order to take their place on the starting line alongside Emirates Team New Zealand this week. They were the first British team to qualify for the America’s Cup match in 60 years, and Wednesday’s double race wins were the first points scored by a British America’s Cup boat in 90 years.

But whilst what they have achieved is already exceptional, right now, they need to do something truly extraordinary in order to keep Emirates Team New Zealand, the most successful America’s Cup team in modern history, at bay.

INEOS Britannia racing on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Both before and during this America’s Cup, Ainslie and the whole team have been utterly consistent in their view that they just need to keep improving, chipping away, making gains. But tonight they undeniably have their backs against the wall. Does this final act need them to find something beyond process and percentage gains – something more visceral, perhaps?

“I don’t think so. We’re not going to pull a rabbit out of the hat here. I don’t think anyone is,” Ainslie told me.

“It’s about this constant development. And I think we can sail faster tomorrow from what we learned so far through these finals, even though it’s very different conditions.

“We know the Kiwis are developing as well, and they got so much experience in the Cup and in these boats. And also we’ve got to go out and execute.”

Siege mentality for INEOS Britannia

Let’s not forget, Ainslie has been here before. He made his name in two epic dogfights against another Goliath of the sport – the legendary Brazilian Laser sailor Robert Scheidt in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, famously getting the better of Scheidt in 2000.

He faced losing at his home Games to Danish Finn sailor Jonas Hogh-Christensen, at one stage lagging by 10 points, before surging back on a wave of outrage following an on-water protest call to take a record fifth Olympic medal, and fourth gold.

And he famously joined the afterguard of Oracle Team USA when they were 8-1 down in the 2013 America’s Cup before performing one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history.

“I’ve been in far too many sh*t fights in my career,” Ainslie observed today. “There were many scenarios, situations similar to this where it might appear pretty helpless, but actually you just never know what can happen.

“And what you’ve got to do is just keep digging and keep fighting. Like I said, you just never know what might happen.”

INEOS Britannia trailing Emirates Team New Zealand on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

What would have to happen, of course, is for the British team to not drop a single point, and stage a comeback equal to that in 2013.

“Yeah, it’s going to need to be something like that,” Ainslie said after racing today. “It’s 6-2 down. We’re on the back foot, we don’t have any second chances, but that’s the nature of the game.

“We need perfection from here on in. We don’t have any second chances, but in some ways that’s easy. You know what you’ve got to do.

“We’ve come a long way through this competition and improved a massive amount. You’ve just got to keep that going, it’s different conditions tomorrow. Why not come out, get a couple of bullets on the board?”

Casting back to the conversation we had in the weeks before the Cup, Ainslie had described the team as having “a bit of a siege mentality, which is never a bad place to be.”

Right now, INEOS Britannia are truly besieged. It’s a place he may be more comfortable than most – but can he and his team fight their way out one final time?

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Today’s forecast was always going to be challenging and the first race of the day was held on a snakes and ladders course with big variations in both wind speed and direction across the course for Day 5 of the America’s Cup.

In the first race of the day Emirates Team New Zealand showed both confidence and fluid communication in their decision making to win the favoured side and go 5-2 ahead.

The Kiwi team then demonstrated that it was no single fluky shift which put them ahead, by again reading the wind conditions best to easily dominate the second race.

Key takeaways from the America’s Cup Day 5

• Emirates Team New Zealand halt INEOS Britannia‘s advance by dominating Day 5 in shifty conditions
• INEOS Britannia demonstrated both speed and manoeuvrability in Race 7 start – but the race was won by ETNZ picking the right lane on the first beat
• Emirates Team New Zealand sounding confident, with constant communication across the whole boat, slick boat handling, faster boat speed, and flawless decision making.
• British Challenge now in the last chance saloon. With light winds forecast tomorrow – potentially no racing possible – what can Ainslie and crew do to regroup?

Shifty conditions on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 7 INEOS Britannia Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 

It was a stripey, snakes and ladders course for Race 7, with a 6-16 knot breeze that was extremely patchy across the racing area.

INEOS Britannia executed a slick and confident start, entering the box and swiftly throwing their AC75 through a tight gybe and circling, perhaps demonstrating some improved manoeuvrability, to keep clear of the Kiwis. The British boat then hit the line a nose ahead and at full speed, over 40 knots.

Emirates Team New Zealand tacked off right, immediately hooking into a favoured right-hand shift which saw them make early gains to take lead at the first cross.

Burling and Outteridge tacked immediately on top of the British boat, bouncing them back off to less favoured left, and were able to bank the gains of a 40-degree wind shift up the first beat. As the winds flicked across the course the lead varied from 200m down to 50m, but with each further shift the Emirates New Zealand Team were able to increase their overall advantage.

Downwind INEOS Britannia initially showed a click more speed, but ETNZ were better in phase with the shifts and quickly restored their lead to over 300m.

From there, there was nothing the British team could do – while the breeze was puffy and shifty across the course, there were no significant opportunities to pull back the Kiwis’ advantage, and by the final leg there was over 1km between them.

Huge crowds in Barcelona as the 37th America’s Cup nears its conclusion
Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Peter Burling said after racing: “Obviously a completely different day, it’s really shifty tricky dynamics.

“We probably didn’t expect to do quite that many circles [in the pre-start], but they were obviously obsessed by trying to follow out to the boundary. We feel like we did a pretty nice job. We really liked that right-hand side and went back on some aggressive late times and that’s what gave us the early lead, and nice to be able to capitalise on that.”

Nathan Outteridge added: “It’s a very different day out here today, super dynamic, there’s a big hill upwind of us. Just got this gust-lull situation, where one minute you’ve got 8 knots, the next 13 or 14 and big shifts. but we were pretty switched on to what was going on.

“I think it kind of caught everyone a bit off guard how dynamic that start got. But it was great to get off the line nicely above and defend the right-hand side. But I’m sure the next race is going to be pretty different.”

British skipper Ben Ainslie commented: “Tough race for us, we looked like we were potentially going to be in good shape on the startline but the breeze just kicked in hard on the right.

“That was kind of it really.”

Race 8 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher

Despite regatta director Iain Murray’s warnings that the breeze might fade this afternoon, instead it had built slightly for the second race of the day with puffs of 15 knots. Both boats downsized their headsails accordingly.

In the pre-start, rather than the dizzying circles of Race 7, Emirates Team New Zealand looked to have held INEOS Britannia up above the line. However, with enough separation between the two boats, the two started fairly evenly, ETNZ a click ahead and quicker, just 1m back from the line.

The British boat then tacked off to the right-hand side which had paid so handsomely on the previous race, but Burling and Outteridge confirmed their preference to each other to initially carry on.

When the two boats tacked and crossed, Emirates was easily ahead, and the Kiwis went on to pick up better pressure on the right-hand side of the course in the second half of the top leg. They rode a significant lift and around 3 knots more pressure into the top mark, and their lead quickly became unassailable.

EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND win the start of Race 8 in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

A slight touch down for INEOS Britannia on the first downwind leg sacrificed another handful of metres, and with the two boats out of phase there was no coming back for the Brits. Emirates Team New Zealand near doubled their advantage on the penultimate leg, and crossed 1km and 55 seconds ahead.

This moves Emirates Team New Zealand to ‘match point’ on 6-2, with just one win needed to secure their third successive America’s Cup victory.

“It’s not over yet,” Ben Ainslie told his crew on INEOS Britannia as they crossed the line.

Skippers reactions on America’s Cup Day 5

Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling said after racing: “It was nice to bounce back from a few small mistakes the other day and put a couple of solid races on the board. Obviously completely different conditions to anything we’ve race in so far.

“It was just awesome. We were loving it, it feels like a south-wester at [home]. Super shifty, you had to use the modes a lot, and the team behind me on both sides of the yacht put in a huge amount of watts to give us heaps.

“Really proud of the way the team executed today. Obviously when you get a couple of losses it really puts you under pressure and the way the team responded to that today was awesome.”

Nathan Outteridge added: “Today you needed to get off the line, and if you got off the line well and you got your first choice of the first bit of pressure life gets pretty easy.”

Outteridge, who’s facing the possibility of winning his first America’s Cup said he was “Really stoked to be in this position,” but added, “I”m feeling like it’s not done til it’s done!”

INEOS Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie commented: “It wasn’t a good day for us. Hats off to the Kiwis they just sailed two really really strong races it that shifty stuff. They managed to pick the right side, do a nice job of defending, and put us in a bad spot.

“But we’ll take that on the chin. It’s still not over yet, so we’ll keep fighting.”

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Day 5 of the America’s Cup looks set to be a tricky and tense day for both Emirates Team New Zealand and INEOS Britannia.

As the teams docked out ahead of Races 7 and 8 in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup, regatta director Iain Murray gave a summary briefing on conditions expected for the day.

“It’s a sailor’s day of opportunity today,” Murray said.

The breeze is forecast to shift from the north-west and west to the south-west, and potentially ease over the course of the afternoon.

“We’re expecting sort of 9-10 knots. Some of the models, the Arome model, have that fading down to 8 or 6 knots as time goes on. And there’s also the possibility that none of this could be right and the breeze could stay in the NW, try to go to the NE and dissipate completely.”

He outlined three possible scenarios for today’s weather:

“If it stays cold and stays in the west I think we’ll be just fine. If it starts to move through the left into the south-west it’ll get lighter, and if it goes into the NE we’ll probably come home.”

The race course for Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup in Barcelona

The race course will be laid a new axis direction for the AC75s, although some Women’s and Youth racing was held in a similar wind direction. 

“With the windward marks up by the shore that presents probably the lightest and trickiest part of the racecourse next to the land, and we’re expecting it to be both up and down and left and right in terms of wind,” said Murray. “So that’s why we say it’s a sailors’ day of opportunity, but we’ll see.”

Today could be a day for some old-fashioned wind-spotting. It’s worth remembering that Emirates Team New Zealand’s co-helm Nathan Outteridge has the nickname of the ‘Wind Whisperer’ – but INEOS Britannia demonstrated on Wednesday that they can use light wind ‘holes’ to their advantage. It’s going to be tense.

A packed dock-out for INEOS Britannia ahead of Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

First to seven wins

With some understatement, he added that “Saturday doesn’t look too good.” Currently all the weather models are forecasting 0-2 knots for tomorrow.

Although race organisers had made it clear that they were hoping to finish the regatta this weekend – and would not have raced today if ETNZ had won on Wednesday, rather than INEOS Britannia’s two victories – from hereon there will be no further laydays. Race organisers will race the AC75s every day they can until the first team has secured seven wins.

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Walking through the labyrinth of super-narrow streets that make up Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter on the opening weekend of the 37th America’s Cup finals, I slowed behind a family wearing red socks (and of course the All-Black New Zealand shirts).

“Excuse me, can you remind me why you wear red socks?” I asked (knowing the answer but seeking it from the next generation). Naturally, the young kids and their guardian quickly explained how these were Sir Peter Blake’s lucky socks, a tradition they are trying to keep alive today.

Minutes later we were into the hot sunshine, dockside at Port Vell, the central Barcelona city marina, waiting for the ceremonial dockout of Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC75 prior to racing. I was tip-toeing behind a lengthy crowd wall at least four deep, again all proudly wearing the All-Black Kiwi strip.

To witness the Maori horns and singing, the Haka and sendoff for the AC75 ‘Taihora’, which is then led out each day by a traditional Maori canoe (a Waka), is truly spine-tingling stuff.

Anyone who has seen the Haka before a rugby game will know it’s motivational theatre that other nations can’t replicate.

The Brits may have the acoustic advantage in Barcelona thanks to the multitude of superyacht horns, which is quite something to hear as they dock out. But it also feels more exclusive – with the INEOS Britannia base facing these megayachts, it’s tough for Brit fans to get a close view unless you get a VIP pass inside the base.

All-Black army

I would guess-timate the New Zealand supporters on the opening weekend of this America’s Cup outnumbered British INEOS supporters by around 10:1.

Of course, it’s easier to pick them. The Kiwis arrive at the airport in their black shirts and seemingly never remove them (good deodorant or the diligent use of travel wash must be essential).

Kiwi fans kitted out in the full national regalia. Photo: Toby Hodges

But it’s always sobering to remember that this is a nation of 5 million people – the equivalent to just over half of London’s population.

Yes, the New Zealand team is fighting for an unprecedented hat-trick of wins in the modern America’s Cup era, but let’s not forget what happened in the build-up to this edition.

Having won in foiling cats in Bermuda in 2017, they brought the Auld Mug back to Auckland, where it had enjoyed a home with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron for the first seven years of the Millenium.

The Kiwis then re-invented the format, turning the competing vessels into the futuristic foiling monster monohulls we see today. The design and engineering nouse to do such a thing and then build and sail the first one to prove it works, shows the country’s innovative and deeply resourceful nature. (Bear in mind that the rigs for all the competing boats are built by Southern Spars in New Zealand too).

The problem was, when the 2021 Cup competition came around it was during Covid, so no one could watch the AC36 live. And then Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton took the bold decision to sell the location… back to the other side of the world.

All of this means you’d be forgiven for thinking Kiwi fans would be a tad bitter and may not want to spend an annual salary flying 18,000km to support their defending team!

Not so. In fact, it seems that every single one of them is currently in the Catalunyan capital. 

The Red Socks that became a symbol of the Kiwis in the America’s Cup in the ’90s remain to this day. Photo: Toby Hodges

Religious support

The Kiwis are stubbornly independent, infectiously passionate and incredibly resourceful. It makes for a dangerous mix for its sports teams and fans when you’re against them.

During my lifetime, this remote Pacific island country has dominated both international rugby and America’s Cup sailing. These sports are like a religion to them and they support them as fervently.

I’m afraid even INEOS’ financial might and technology can’t compete with that.

So if you’re a British fan, it’s time to don that Union Jack, head to Barcelona and start cheering as eagerly as possible.

Fine margins will decide this Cup – which may just come down to having that extra team member in support.

[Foot note: I admit to being a patriotic Brit and in writing this headline am hoping it helps jinx the outcome!]

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It was high tension at the INEOS Britannia base ahead of today’s racing – Day 4 of the America’s Cup. The team had been out practising in stronger winds and a heavier sea state yesterday, and was clearly hoping that wavier conditions would give them an opportunity to switch things up.

Key takeaways from the America’s Cup Day 4

• Emirates Team New Zealand are not invincible – a single mistake by the Kiwi boat took them out of the Race 5 before the start
• Boat handling for both teams was knife-edge in the waves, but INEOS Britannia seemed marginally more sure-footed
• INEOS Britannia have been focussing on manoeuvres and performance in wavier conditions – but with lighter winds forecast for the end of the week, will they have enough time left in the event to capitalise on those gains?
• British win first America’s Cup races since Sir Thomas Sopwith’s Endeavour took two races from the NYYC’s Rainbow in 1934

Race 5 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher

While the British were fairly open about their hopes that the increased sea state would help INEOS Britannia’s chances, 1m waves combined with super light wind speeds that were nudging the bottom wind limit of 6.5 knots were always going to make it exceptionally challenging for the crews to keep their AC75s on the foils.

And so it proved – as early in the pre-start ETNZ came off the foils to, apparently gybing through their own ‘wingwash’. With 50 seconds to go until the gun, the Kiwi team were down to just two knots of boat speed.

Emirates Team New Zealand off the foils before the start of Race 5 in the America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

The British, sensing an opportunity, sailed along the start line twice to use their own dirty air to try and keep the Emirates Team New Zealand boat down off their foils, before going for a dip start, crossing the line at 30 knots of boat speed.

Emirates Team New Zealand were further hampered by the boundaries as they tried to build speed and get back to foiling, finally crossing the line with the British AC75 around 800m along Leg 1.

From there it was a tense rollercoaster ride for INEOS Britannia, the big grey and black boat rolling over the waves as the team tried to minimise manoeuvres and keep in the best of the breeze. Emirates Team New Zealand did significantly reduce the advantage from around 1800m to 1200 by the final mark, but the British boat were sailing their own race, rather than covering.

Day for of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup was a critical one for INEOS Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

British coach Rob Wilson was also confident that, despite boats not being close on the water, that INEOS Britannia was showing some speed improvements compared to the Kiwis. “The performance team and all the guys on the shore have worked bloody hard to make those improvements,” he told the commentary team, “Let’s hope we can see them in the next race.”

“That was a good win for us – we were training for these situations and managed to make it stick,” Ainslie said afterwards. “But there’s nothing comfortable about sailing these boats in this sea state, and the boys did a good job of getting around the course.”

Race 6 INEOS Britannia Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 

There were significantly different conditions for the second start of the day, with the breeze up to 10-12 knots and more solidly consistent across the course, but the rolling seas of earlier persisted.

Both teams swopped headsails and mainsails anticipating stronger breezes, but in these conditions it’s a tricky balance between the search for power to overcome the sea state and the need to keep the finely balanced A75s on their feet.

In probably best pre-start of the Match so far, Emirates Team New Zealand took control and nearly pinned the British out, but INEOS Britannia managed to gybe above them and accelerate over the top of the Kiwis.

October 16, 2024. Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, Race Day 4, Race 6. EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND, INEOS BRITANNIA

Both teams were killing time on their approach to the line, diving low in the final seconds. INEOS Britannia went for the pin end, crossing on the gun at around 35 knots with impressively accurate time-on-distance. Emirates Team New Zealand split to tack off, crossing the line just a metre or so back but having shed 10 knots of boat speed in the manoeuvre.

“We had them on the ropes in the pre-start and just let them roll us, which was bit of a shame,” commented ETNZ coach Ray Davies mid-race.

At the first two key crosses on the upwind leg, INEOS Britannia led. But the British team chose to minimise manoeuvres rather than tack and cover, and rounded first by six seconds.

On the first downwind leg, Britannia gained around 3 boat lengths – but with the course extended to 8 legs there was no let up in tension.

Tension built too for Emirates Team New Zealand with a few wobbles during tricky bottom mark roundings in waves; potentially the Kiwis’s new super-slender rudder making life more challenging for helmsmen Burling and Outteridge.

Wavy conditions on Race Day 4 of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Match. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

On the second downwind leg the Brits gybed to cover ETNZ, but Emirates Team New Zealand kept the pressure on and by the third lap the breeze had faded to around 9 knots while the Kiwis had pulled back to within 120m of the Brits.

There were skittish moments from both boats, INEOS Britannia nose-diving on the penultimate leg before the crew managed to recover, and just 50m between the two boats on the last cross of the race. But Emirates Team New Zealand couldn’t get past and INEOS Britannia took their second win of the America’s Cup.

“That’s huge,” Dylan Fetcher could be heard telling his team as they crossed the line.

‘The comeback’s on,” Ben Ainslie said post-race. It looks like it really is.

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It has been a disappointing start to the America’s Cup for the British INEOS Britannia team, who have finished behind America’s Cup Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand in all three races to date.

With the Kiwis 3-0 in the lead in this best-of-13 race series, the Brits need to start getting some wins on the board if they want to have any impact on the series. Ben Ainslie’s INEOS Britannia have not looked particularly slow so far in this series, but they have not done well in the pre-start, which has seen them start most races on the back foot.

Once again the wind was fairly light in Barcelona with around 10 knots across the course at start time.

Key takeaways from the America’s Cup Day 3?

• The Kiwis have the pace to overtake
• The New Zealand boat continues to look very fast through tacks
• In a straight line there’s very little between the two boats.

Race 4 INEOS Britannia Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher

Emirates Team New Zealand were first into the start box on port tack and set off towards the right hand boundary before gybing close to the boundary and running down the edge of it. The Kiwis gybed around and the Brits, who had been following back, tacked around to gauge off to windward to set up a time on distance match back to the line.

At the start gun both boats hit the startline with the Kiwis at the bottom third of the line and the Brits up to windward. However Ainslie had done a great job of footing into their gap to leeward and at the gun the Brits had a couple of knots of boat speed over New Zealand. .

When Burling and Outteridge reached the left hand boundary the Brits were able to tack straight off their bow, and squeeze up to force the Kiwis to tack away immediately.

INEOS let them go the few boat lengths back to the boundary before tacking back as both teams headed over to the right hand boundary.

When the Brits tacked across they had starboard advantage and were able to force the New Zealanders to duck their transom.

The Brits were leading early on in the race. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

But at the next cross it was the Kiwis on starboard with the advantage and they elected to tack directly in front of INEOS Britannia, who tacked away to round the left hand gate mark (looking upwind), while the Kiwis continued around the right hand mark.

They both rounded their respective marks at around the same time, but the Kiwis had a touch more wind out on their side of the course and at the first cross downwind the Brits were forced to take the stern of the New Zealand boat.

At the next cross it was very cross with the starboard tacked INEOS just behind the Kiwis, but that would hand the starboard tack advantage to the Brits as they come into the leeward gate.

Burling and Outteridge were just able to gybe in front of Ainslie and Fletcher with the Brits gybing away immediately to take the left hand mark ,while the Kiwis rounded the right mark.

At the first cross New Zealand were just ahead again and tacked in a strong leebow position to force INEOS to tack away to the slightly lighter wind left hand side of the course.

By the next cross the New Zealand team had used the better wind on the right of the course to their advantage and had built their lead up to around 120m, the biggest it has been all race.

By the second windward gate the Kiwis had managed to build that lead a little more and both boats rounded the left hand gate mark with the Brits rounding 13 seconds behind the Kiwis.

That gap lead had built by a couple of seconds around the next leeward gate and, with the Kiwis keeping a tight cover pin their opposition it increasingly looked like the Brits would need a massive mistake from the Kiwis to avoid going 4-0 down in the series.

But the New Zealanders are America’s Cup Defenders for a reason and they do not often make mistakes.

In truth the race was gone by the end of the second beat, when Burling and Outteridge managed to covert a marginal lead into a significant gap by picking the right side of the course and showing their advantage in manoeuvres again – especially through the tacks.

“It was pretty tricky getting off that left hand boundary initially,” said Outteridge after the race. “When we had the opportunity to cross over to the right we managed to get a little gain and then get in there with the right turn,” h said of the key overtake on leg 1.

“We’ve made a good improvement with the performance of the boat and it’s tacking really nicely,” Outteridge concluded.

“It was a good race, we had a good start and got the first cross. But they are going well, they’ve been going really well,” Ainslie reflected.  “It was good to come out and have a strong start today. But as Ben said there’s some more work to be done,” Fletcher agreed.

Tomorrow is a lay-day for the competition with racing getting back underway on Wednesday 16 October.

What did we learn from the America’s Cup Race 4?

This race will be a really big concern for the British team having won the start and holding the lead halfway up the first beat they will be incredibly disappointed to have lost that lead. Once again the Kiwis real strength looks to be during tacks in this lighter weather with the Kiwis floating though the tacks a little more smoothly and managing to keep a slightly higher average speed through the turn.

There certainly doesn’t look to be a significant margin between the two boats, and it still looks unlikely this will be a total whitewash. But at 4-0 down in the first to seven series, the Kiwis now only need to win three races, while the Brits need to pick up seven wins. And that is starting to look like a very big ask…

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The first day of America’s Cup racing was a big disappointment for Ben Ainslie’s INEOS Britannia as the America’s Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand won both races to go 2-0 up in the first-to-seven-wins competition.

However, the 2-0 scoreline does not mean this is going to be a cakewalk for the Kiwis. INEOS Britannia still demonstrated decent downwind speed, while multiple place changes in the first half of Race 2 suggests it could be a close series. But New Zealand has looked very impressive upwind and their impressive form will be a worry for the Brits.

The third day of America’s Cup racing saw a light easterly wind of around 8 knots across the course, but the forecast was for this light wind to tail off as they day progressed. And sure enough, by the start time for the second race, the wind had dipped below the mandatory 6.5 knots and despite trying for 30 minutes, it was clear the wind was only going one way and the race committee cancelled racing for the remainder of the day with only one race run.

Key takeaways from the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Day 2

• Costly start error from the Brits leaves them 3-0 down and needing to find something special to have any chance in this America’s Cup
• Emirates Team New Zealand looked faster on all points of sail today
• Manoeuvring seems to be a key strength for the Kiwis, particularly tacks.

Race 3 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher

Although the forecast was for light winds, the first race of the day got away without any delays, with the breeze across the course hovering just a touch under 10 knots.

INEOS Britannia were port entry and so first into the start box. The Brits – as has become their standard move – tacked around to try to follow the Kiwis and be the aggressor. However, Burling and Outteridge had clearly been studying the British team’s starts, and quickly looked to head them off on starboard tack.

With INEOS on port gybe and the Kiwis on starboard they got incredibly close and, though the Brits were gybing away, it was not fast enough and they picked up a penalty for their troubles. That penalty was a significant unforced error and put the Kiwis in the driving seat before the race had even begun.

“We tried that one yesterday but we didn’t get it quick right,” said Burling of the start incident after racing. “We’ve been working on little bits and pieces like that,” he added.

“I’m sure it’s a tough call, I felt like we were doing enough to keep clear, but obviously the umpires didn’t see it that way,” commented Ainslie of the situation.

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

The Brits did a good job of clearing their penalty and getting split out to the left of the course. But the Kiwis were pretty happy protecting the right and tacked on the British team at every opportunity.

Initially INEOS Britannia managed to keep things quite tight and kept the Kiwi’s lead to around 100m through the early part of the beat, but New Zealand really extended in the final third of the leg and were around 20 seconds ahead rounding the windward gate for the first time.

New Zealand sailed a pretty flawless downwind to step away from the Brits even more and as they took the left hand leeward gate mark, they were 27 seconds ahead of Ainslie’s British team who rounded the left hand gate mark.

The Kiwis were quick to tack over to limit the separation between the two boats and, once again did a tidy job of keeping the Brits in their pocket throughout the course of the upwind.

There wasn’t much the Brits could do on the upwind with their opponents keeping a tight cover on them and by the next windward gate they’d leaked a few more seconds to their competition.

The wind continued to die away throughout the course of the race and, although the start had seen winds just shy of double digits, by the end of the second lap, it had dropped to around six to seven knots.

With the Defender in control of the race, the only hope for the Brits was for the wind to soften even further and the Kiwis to get stuck in a hole. But it wasn’t to be and New Zealand easily sailed on to a solid win, putting their series lead up to 3-0.

What did we learn from the America’s Cup Race 3?

Emirates Team New Zealand’s tacking looked much more tidy than the Brits, and it was clear that INEOS was slipping back through each tack. Worse, although yesterday’s racing had seen the British squad showing their trademark pace downwind, today it looked a lot more even with the Kiwis building their lead both upwind and down.

If the British team want to get a toe-hold in this competition, they will need to be close to flawless in their sailing and errors like today’s pre-start mistake simply wont cut it.

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Today was reckoning day for the Defender and Challenger in the 37th America’s Cup – which team’s preparation would have been most fruitful? The battle-hardened Brits, competing in their first America’s Cup in 60 years? Or the seemingly omnipotent Emirates Team New Zealand, who’ve been calmly keeping their powder dry while waiting for the big match?

Barcelona seemed determined to build the tension, with some oppressive grey clouds and light winds leading to a short delay. But both two teams kept the AC75s up on their foils and the racing was more characterised by the need to find pressure, follow the shifts, and avoid mistakes.

Key takeaways from the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Day 1

• First reliability issue we’ve seen from INEOS Britannia in the competition so far before the start of Race 1 – and it was a costly day to have a ‘technical’ 
• Emirates Team New Zealand showed strong upwind pace and once clear ahead could control both races relentlessly
• INEOS Britannia still demonstrating downwind speed, while multiple place changes in the first half of Race 2 hints this contest could be closer than today’s scorecard suggests
• Skipper Ben Ainslie remains stoic about his team’s ongoing development potential.

Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, Race Day 1. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 1 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher

Things didn’t get off to an auspicious start for the British challengers in their first America’s Cup match race in 60 years, with INEOS Britannia late coming into the start box on starboard entry late due to a battery issue in the pre-start preparations.

In the light airs, port (first) entry boat ENTZ responded by tacking on top of them to try and give the British boat some dirty air on their entry to the start, but it didn’t knock Britannia off her foils, and the two boats lined up without any further engagement.

Emirates Team New Zealand hit the line on time and at around 35 knots of boat speed to take the early advantage.

On the first beat the Kiwi boat had more pressure on the left-hand side of the course to consolidate their advantage, building a 200m lead by the top mark. The British made some gains on Leg 2, suggesting that the strong performance INEOS Britannia has demonstrated downwind against the Challengers continues relative the Kiwis.

However, upwind Burling and Outteridge covered relentlessly, leaving the British boat continually sailing in their wind shadow and losing metres by metres, with Emirates Team New Zealand doubling their advantage by the second top mark.

There was no way back into it for the Brits: the Kiwis made no mistakes, were fast and controlled from start to finish. It’s not the start INEOS Britannia fans will have wanted for sure – the question is now whether without the pre-start issues INEOS Britannia will be able to engage Emirates Team New Zealand.

A tough first day in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup for INEOS Britannia. Ian Roman / America’s Cup

“Tough one guys,” said Ainslie to his team as they crossed the line. And there’s no doubt, it was a tough start to a highly anticipated Match series.

In post-race interview he added: “We didn’t have the perfect entry to the race, but actually the guys did good job to stay calm and recover from that.

“We were in a half-decent spot on the start line. It was just really dependent on where the breeze went – the Kiwis did a nice job. They got the left-hand pressure which put them in a strong position.

“Look, it wasn’t that we did do a whole lot wrong, they just sailed a slightly better race.”

Race 2 INEOS Britannia Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher

Race 2 saw much cleaner start for INEOS Britannia, who had port entry. Emirates Team New Zealand was marginally ahead at the start gun, but tacked off immediately towards the initially favoured left-hand side of the course.

The start of Race 2 in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, Race Day 1. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

The first cross was extremely close – INEOS ducking. Then when INEOS came back on port tack Emirates Team New Zealand picked up a slight lift to cross ahead the second time. But all the way up the first beat there was nothing between the two boats: less than 10 metres heading into the top mark.

On the downwind leg, INEOS Britannia initially took the shore side of the course to pick up extra breeze and cross ahead, while the Emirates boat did the same for the second half of the downwind.

Close crosses in Race 2 of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Both teams asked for a huge effort from their cyclors at the bottom mark, the British boat hovering perilously close to touchdown while rounding in just 7-8 knots of breeze, but digging their way out of trouble.

Emirates Team New Zealand initially extended on the second upwind, but the randomness of the course continued to be a big factor, with INEOS Britannia this time making big gains on the long starboard tack on the right-hand side of the course.

Meanwhile, on the second downwind the Brits were again first to get into the pressure, and pulled back to within 40m of the Emirates Team New Zealand.

There was another heart-stopping bottom mark manoeuvre for both teams, the boats splitting to two different marks and rounding within 10 seconds of each other, while on the final upwind the breeze had shifted to the left-hand side of the course, which the Kiwis sailed into.

There were some tense mark rounding for both teams in Race 2 of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

On the penultimate upwind the Emirates Team New Zealand were able to reassert their control, pulling away to over 400m, leaving them a much calmer final leeward mark rounding, and an untroubled path to the finish.

“It could have been an easier day,” Burling commented to his crew as they finished – whether he was addressing the fluctuating and shifting winds or his opposition isn’t clear, but it’s safe to say Kiwi confidence is riding high.

“Not the start we were looking for,” said Ainslie. “Obviously there’s a few things we have to work on and we couldn’t just match them around the track. But I’m confident the team will figure it out.”

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“Look, we’re the underdogs in this, without a shadow of doubt,” Ben Ainslie told the UK’s Guardian Newspaper in a recent interview looking ahead to Saturday’s America’s Cup.

On the face of it, he’s not wrong. Ainslie’s crew (the first British team to make it to the America’s Cup in 60 years) are up against the reigning America’s Cup champions, and a country which can lay claim to four America’s Cup wins.

Not only are Team New Zealand the most successful America’s Cup team in modern history; when it comes to match racing on foils they are unrivalled.

The Kiwis were first to introduce hydrofoils into America’s Cup racing back in 2013 when they and their foiling 72ft catamaran got to within one win of wresting the America’s Cup from then Defender Oracle Team USA.

The Kiwis were first to foil and America’s Cup class back in 2013

The following America’s Cup – by then sailed in 50ft foiling catamarans – the Kiwis won by a landslide.

In 2021, with the event sailed in the new AC75 foiling monohulls, they were imperious again, sweeping aside Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to successfully defend.

A Luna Rossa team who, it must be noted, had crushed Ainslie’s INEOS Britannia 7-1 to secure their place in that America’s Cup.

Britain may famously love an underdog, and it seems that Ainslie’s INEOS team could yet again be the David going up against an all-conquering Goliath.

But if you put all that history to one side and focus on what we know just two days out from the start of racing, to my mind the most likely outcome is an incredibly close America’s Cup, much closer than 2017 or 2021.

INEOS Britannia and Emitares Team New Zealand race in the Louis Vuitton Round Robin Series. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

The Boats

What is notable about this second generation of AC75 is how close the performance of the boats has been to date.

This is often the case when a rule set is allowed to mature as relative advantages shrink with every iteration of the class.

With Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s AC75, the Louis Vuitton Cup Final featured the challenger that was closest to Emirates Team New Zealand in design philosophy.

INEOS, by contrast, is arguably the furthest away from Emirates Team New Zealand (with American Magic being a more radical version of the New Zealand and Italian philosophy in pure hull concept).

In terms of hull philosophy, INEOS is the biggest and most-muscular looking boat in the fleet, while Emirates Team New Zealand favours more organic lines.

INEOS Britannia is bulkier than most of the other AC75s. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

This certainly makes the British boat look – to the layman’s eye at least – less aerodynamically efficient. However, the team’s close cooperation with Mercedes F1 technologies, and use of their sophisticated aerodynamic and structural engineering tools, should have had a significant positive impact in this area.

In the words of America’s Cup designer Thomas Tison speaking to Yachting World, ‘it looks as though the British boat has been designed to both reduce drag and maximise lift.”

In flat water the British AC75’s significant skeg (or bustle) allows it to sail just kissing the water, sealing the gap between sea and water, maximising an ‘end plate’ effect, which is (very simply) aerodynamically beneficial to the sail package.

In wavy conditions we have seen the British team needing to sail with more leeward heel in order to keep this larger skeg / bustle out of the water.

The Emirates Team New Zealand boat is, in many ways, a further refinement of the AC75 that won them the last America’s Cup.

The team’s approach appears to have focussed around a meticulous attention to detail, such as the removal of vertical surfaces and the streamlining of the deck comings. These changes, while seemingly minor, should collectively contribute to significant performance gains.

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Team New Zealand’s skeg / bustle, is also designed to prevent wind from passing underneath the boat, making best use of the end plate effect.

However, theirs is significantly smaller than the INEOS design, which makes it less efficient in ideal conditions, but also less likely to hit the water when it’s wavy. As such when the sea state is up, the Kiwis will not need to sail with the same leeward heel (and thus slight righting moment loss) as the Brits.

Zooming in, you can see the blended bulb approach of INEOS over the less blended bulb of New Zealand. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

The Foils

Foils are the area about which we have the least information, especially when it comes to the New Zealand boat, as the teams have to declare what they are using, but they otherwise remain very closely guarded secrets

From what I’ve seen to date, it looks as though the Kiwis and the Brits are the two teams with the smallest foils – certainly the Brits had the smallest foils of the challengers.

Smaller foils mean less drag but less stability. Top speeds should be higher, and downwind performance should be better – but staying on the foils is likely to be harder and manoeuvrability can be limited.

But it’s important to remember that the drag tradeoff every team has to make when designing their foils can be counterbalanced by the drag tradeoff that teams can make in their sail plans.

Luna Rossa, for example, seemed to have larger (and therefore higher drag) foils than INEOS, but their sail control looked to be better and they were able to flatten their sails better to reduce sail drag once foiling. This led to similar performance just from a different direction – higher drag foils, lower drag sails.

Then Kiwi foil arm bulb is similar to Luna Rossa’s and puts weight low down and forward and remains clear of the water most of the time. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Both the Brits and the Kiwis feature a bulb on the foils in order to put enough weight into them to measure under the rules. Without these bulbs they would need much fatter foils with enough internal volume to add weight to measure, which would therefore be draggier over their total span.

Both boats have also added rule-required weight at the base of the foil arm. Here, New Zealand has a similar solution to Luna Rossa with a large bulb protruding forward from the foil arm, above the water when the boat is foiling normally.

The British solution is hydrodynamically better should the boat end up foiling lower than ideal (usually in waves). Ian Roman / America’s Cup

INEOS’s solution is for large ‘ears’ on the trailing edge of their foils which will be in the water more often, but will be less draggy when they are submerged.

In the wavier conditions of the Louis Vuitton Final we saw these bulbs on Luna Rossa hitting the water often and they looked particularly slow during those moments.

Under deck sail controls, and a less wide traveller are key features of the Kiwi boat. Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Sail controls

The hulls are the most obvious difference between teams, and once they are racing differences in the foils are fairly easy to spot. But more tricky is the difference in sails and controls as much of this is hidden between the two sail skins.

As mentioned in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final it looked as though Luna Rossa had better control of their mainsail at the foot of the sail than INEOS, the latter often having a very full foot, which translates into drag at speed.

A much wider track n the British boat, and they have often struggled to flatten out the very bottom of their mainsail. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Since its launch, one of the standout aspects of Emirates Team New Zealand’s new boat is in the operation of its twin-skin mainsail. Specifically, the way in which the team has integrated the mainsail hydraulic systems within the sole of the boat.

“Unlike other teams that house these systems on the deck, Team New Zealand has managed to embed them below, reducing the aerodynamic drag and the weight above the waterline,” Tisson explained to us in his analysis of the boat.

But it’s also thought that they have a much more refined control of the two skins individually than other teams, allowing them better control of the mainsail shape.

A great deal of software exists on these boats and a number of things have been set up to be, essentially, pushbutton. Modes like high mode or bear aways, or speed build after tacks are pre-programmed and selected by trimmers to provide the broad parameters within which they will fine-tune.

Luna Rossa had very impressive sail control. Photo: Ian Roman / AmericasCup

And here the Brits may have an advantage. It is well known that all the data from their boat and from race days is being pumped back to the Mercedes F1 factory in Brackley, UK where they are parsing it in real time and making software and other instrument adjustments to improve performance from day to day – at a minimum. It’s believed the team can even work on some of the data race-to-race if the gap between races is large enough.

Of course F1 is all about analysing, understanding and utilising data, so there is almost nowhere in the world better for this undertaking – and is a clear contributing factor to INEOS’ constant improvement to date.

Ainslie Vs Burling

Though all we’ve discussed so far is technological improvements, if the boats are close, the sailors will be the ones to make a difference.

Much is new in modern America’s Cup racing and in 2024 for all teams bar Luna Rossa – who invented the concept for 2021 – having two helmsmen is another wholly new development.

In 2024 duties have been shared on all the AC75s between the four team members on either side of the boat – a port and starboard skipper, port and starboard trimmer, and corresponding cyclor teams.

Billing this match up as Ben Ainslie Vs Peter Burling does a huge disservice to their two co-skippers of Dylan Fletcher and Nathan Outteridge.

But as effective team leaders, and starboard-tack helmsmen, Ainslie and Burling will be largely responsible for decision making in the pre-start – always a key part of America’s Cup match racing.

INEOS came out on top of the starts in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

In the Louis Vuitton Cup Final against Luna Rossa, INEOS was clearly the aggressor in each start and walked away with the series win.

But it should be noted that Luna Rossa were not looking to engage in the start box, despite having one of the world’s best match racers, Jimmy Spithill, as their starboard-tack skipper.

Quite why the decision was made to not engage in the start box remains unclear. It could well be that Luna Rossa saw some strength in INEOS (for example they thought the Brits were more manoeuvrable).

Equally it could be that a perceived upwind speed weakness of the Brits made an even start more desirable for Luna Rossa. The Brits have not often shown a strong ‘high mode’ so are less of a threat if they are to leeward off a startline than they might otherwise be.

Whatever the reason, INEOS go into the America’s Cup match having roundly beaten a very strong team in the crucial pre-start more often than not, and much of that can be attributed to Ainslie’s match racing aggression.

“I’m quite sure that the Kiwis are fast, but Ben is also fast and the thing that Ben has got up his sleeve is he’s such a match racer and he’s got a lot of match experience under his belt that the Kiwis don’t,” AC veteran and 2024 regatta director Iain Murray recently told Reuters.

Emirates Team New Zealand with a 26 year old Peter Burling at the helm won the America’s Cup in 2017. Photo: Ricardo Pinto

For his part, Burling came into America’s Cup racing as a generational high performance boat talent. He was the best Olympic 49er helmsman the class had seen for many years and he and long-term sailing partner Blair Tuke won every event they entered in the four-year build up to their gold in the 2016 Olympics.

Because the New Zealander got into America’s Cup racing so early (aged just 26 at his first Cup in 2017 in Bermuda) he does not have the long match racing pedigree as someone like Ainslie or Spithill.

Time and again Burling’s match racing prowess has been called into question ahead of America’s Cups. And time and again the deadpan Kiwi has proved more than up to the task.

The two Cup wins to date have been in far better machinery than their opposition (and as the saying goes, a fast boat makes a good tactician) but he’s never looked out of his depth in the cut and thrust of competition.

Burling may be considered the high performance talent of his generation, but Outteridge is every bit as quick and the two were training partners in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics where Outteridge took 49er gold and Burling silver.

In 2016 after all that 49er dominance it was Burling who took gold, but Outteridge who took silver, so the pair are very evenly matched. And Outteridge was every bit as effective on the foiling 50ft catamarans in 2017, his Artemis team simply did not have the pace to get to the America’s Cup final.

Fletcher and Bithell after securing gold in Tokyo in the 49er class, beating Burling and Tuke to silver. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing

The newest skipper in this Cup by quite some way is Dylan Fletcher. Most assumed Giles Scott would be Ainslie’s co-skipper in this edition and it was Scott who had done much of the co-skippering to date.

Scott also took on the role of tactician in the 2021 America’s Cup regatta. But Fletcher’s skill and tenacity saw him selected shortly before the Round Robin racing began as Ainslie’s co-skipper.

Fletcher is the same breed of sailor as Burling and Outteridge and comes from a 49er background Like both of them, he has also spent plenty of time sailing foiling Moths (he was World Champion in 2022). Clearly, Fletcher brings a high performance edge to the boat.

It’s also worth noting that Fletcher and his GBR 49er crew Stuart Bithell took gold in the class at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, beating Burling and Tuke into silver. Knowing you beat your opposition in the last biggest event you sailed will certainly go some way to removing the perception of invincibility from the Kiwi team.

Follow all of our 2024 America’s Cup coverage

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The 37th America’s Cup is due to start on Saturday 12 October and will see America’s Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand taking on the first British challenger in 60 years INEOS Britannia.

The America’s Cup is a two boat match race and is a first to seven points competition (best of 13 races). Two races per day are scheduled and the competition will run daily until one team gets to the magic seven race wins.

Emirates Team New Zealand have won the last two America’s Cups but this second generation of the foiling AC75 class boats has seen all teams much closer in performance terms than the first time they were used in 2021.

For those wondering how to watch the America’s Cup there are a whole host of options and many of the America’s Cup streams are free depending which country you are in.

Read all our America’s Cup reports to catch up on the latest racing and our analysis of where each team stands.  

Looking for a free America’s Cup Sailing live stream? The event will be free in the UK on Youtube and the America’s Cup website. Full details on how to watch The 2024 America’s Cup live stream just below.

How to stream the America’s Cup in the UK for free

America’s Cup racing for the UK audience will be available on a number of platforms. The easiest way to watch the action for free will be via either the America’s Cup Website, via the America’s Cup Youtube Channel. The racing will also be available on TnT Sports – an add on to Discovery + with a cost of £30.99 per month. And it will also be available on Eurosport.

If you try to watch your domestic coverage from anywhere outside your home country, you’ll soon find a problem – geo-blocking. That’s where the broadcaster prevents you from watching your usual feed from abroad. It’s a common problem for sports fans all over the world.

By downloading and installing a VPN, you can effectively trick your computer into thinking that it’s back at home. Our sister title, TechRadar has done extensive testing of the best VPN service and Nord VPN consistently comes out on top.

How to use a VPN to watch the America’s Cup racing

Using a VPN is as easy as one-two-three…

1. Download and install a VPN – as we say, the top choice according to our sister title is NordVPN.
2. Connect to the appropriate server location – open the VPN app, hit ‘choose location’ and select the appropriate location, eg: ‘Australia’ for 9Now.
3. Go to the broadcaster’s stream – head to your home broadcaster’s site or app and watch as if you were at home – Youtube or the America’s Cup website for UK viewers.

How to watch the America’s Cup in New Zealand

New Zealand has a similar set up to the UK in that America’s Cup racing can be streamed free and live via the America’s Cup Youtube channel or via the Website.

Stuff Group and Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year entered into a partnership with Emirates Team New Zealand to provide extensive, live and lively coverage of the America’s Cup in New Zealand. You’ll be able to watch all of their coverage live via Stuff and also ThreeNow.

How to stream the America’s Cup in the USA for free

For America’s Cup viewers in the United States the options are a little more limited. America’s Cup racing will be available to stream for free via the America’s Cup website, but it will be on a 24 hour delay.

Those living in the USA and wanting to watch the America’s Cup racing action live will need to sign up to ESPN+ for the duration of the event in order to watch live. ESPN+ is $10.99 a month.

When is America’s Cup Racing 2024?

America’s Cup Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta: 22-25 August 2024
Louis Vuitton Cup: 29 August 7 October
Youth America’s Cup: 17-26 September
Women’s America’s Cup: 5-13 October
37th America’s Cup: 12-27 October

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:

1 – Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service)
2 – Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad

We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

The post How to watch the America’s Cup live streams appeared first on Yachting World.

Today saw the final three races of the America’s Cup challenger selection series, the Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin get underway after the cancellation of racing yesterday.

Once again today racing was delayed, though the southerly wind direction was due to see some thermal enhancement as the afternoon wore on, so racing was a much more likely possibility than yesterday’s very unstable conditions.

The big news from yesterday was a nosedive by French Orient Express Racing Team – who are due to have a must-win race today against INEOS Britannia in order to remain in the competition – causing some damage. They had managed to effect a temporary repair yesterday, but they will have been happy to have an extra 24 hours to make the repair a little more robust – and fully check the boat over.

The other big news from yesterday was that co-skipper of American Magic, Paul Goodison had picked up an injury so would not be racing yesterday – instead replaced by Lucas Calabrese, who has trained extensively with the team. This remains the case today and the team are reported to be taking it day-by-day.

It has been reported by a number of outlets that Goodison fell through a hatch in the team’s America’s Cup boat and sustained some rib damage, but we have been unable to officially verify that.

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 28 INEOS Britannia Vs Orient Express Racing Team

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet

The first race of the day was set to be the most important as the French needed to win to force a sail-off with Alinghi Red Bull Racing to see who is knocked out of the series. A short delay saw the race start 10 minutes late in winds that were just above the minimum 6.5 knots required to start a race.

Given the light winds and the associated risk of falling off the foils, it was maybe not a huge surprise top see both teams reluctant to engage in the pre-start. The French were first to head back to the startline very early and the Brits seemed content to let them go and claim the pin end of the line.

It was pretty poor racecraft from Delapierre and Pepponet who crossed the line right at the pin, with the Brits also hitting the line at pace at the windward end of the line. With such a significant gap, there was little chance of the French forcing the Brits to tack away and Ainslie and Fletcher were easily able to foot into the space between the two boats and accelerate to get slightly ahead. 

When the French got to the left hand boundary INEOS were easily able to tack on the French with a tight cover and lead them all the way up the beat.

The Brits managed to hook up some decent puffs on the downwind and, coupled with their impressive downwind pace, INEOS had pulled away to a 45 second lead on the first lap.

There were a few moments of peril in the remaining few laps as the wind softened a little in the middle of the race and made foiling through manoeuvres a bit touch-and-go, but the Brits were never really troubled and came home to win by over a minute. “It was a tough little race there in the light breeze,” said Ainslie. “I want to make a shout out to the French team and it’s great to see France back in the Cup and they’ve got a great young team.”

“Its not the best feeling in the world. We fought hard but it was not enough,” said Delapierre. “What this team has achieved is unbelievable. Unfortunately you can’t see it on the results, but putting together this team 1 year before and being able to compete against these experienced teams is good.”

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup Race 28?

It was not the strongest showing from the French today, who came out desperately in need of a race win to avoid going out of the competition. However, they were not even able to land a punch. It is perhaps surprising that they did not come out with a bit more of an all-or-nothing approach and try to force the Brits off their foils in the start box.

That being said it is slightly unclear whether the French are still carrying any issues from their nose-dive yesterday. It’s been a pretty decent showing by the French given their small budget, small team and lack of time racing an AC75. But ultimately it was not enough to make it through the Round Robins.

INEOS was looking decent today in light winds and again was impressive downwind. Of course this race was over at the first tack, so they were never really under much pressure.

This win for the Brits means that they stand a chance of tying Luna Rossa for the series win, in the unlikely event that the Italians should lose the next race against Alinghi Red Bull Racing which would mean a race off between Luna Rossa and INEOS for the series win. The winner of the Round Robins gets to choose their competition in the Louis Vuitton Semi Finals, so it is a significant advantage.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 29 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

It seemed a very unlikely outcome indeed that Alinghi Red Bull Racing would beat the form team of the semi-finals but they did just that… albeit by dint of Luna Rossa picking up some damage to one of their foil arms and not being able to lower it in the lead up to the race. As such the Italian team were forced to concede the race.

There was briefly a question as to whether Luna Rossa had deliberately given up the race to take on INEOS in a sail-off for. But given how much of an advantage picking your semi-final competition is, it’s almost impossible to imagine the Italians would have deliberately given up a pretty clear shot at taking that advantage by beating Alinghi (currently looking like the weakest Semi-Final team) today.

Photo: Am Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 30 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs American Magic

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge
Tom Slingsby & Lucas Calabrese

The wind remained light for this, the final race in which Emirates Team New Zealand will compete before the America’s Cup itself. And the light winds quickly became a major issue for American Magic, who dropped off their foils in the light pre-start.

The US-flagged boat did manage to get foiling again before the start, but they had picked up a boundary penalty in the process and any tactical decisions had been taken out of their hands by the series of events.

As such at the start Emirates Team New Zealand hit the startline on starboard in the middle of the line with the Americans crossing behind the on port looking to scrub off some more distance to clear their boundary penalty. When all was said and done the race properly got underway with around 150 metre advantage to the Kiwis.

But with both teams on split tacks and a fairly changeable wind strength and direction American Magic managed to claw back some of the gap and were only a handful of seconds adrift at the windward gate rounding. But that was as close as they got and in the light winds is was American Magic who continued to struggle staying up on their foils.

Having struggled and had some near misses, the American team dropped off their foils on the final upwind. They had been slipping back the whole way, but the final upwind saw them fall a long way behind, finally coming home fully 2 minutes and 39 seconds behind the Kiwis.

“Obviously we didn’t execute the start and were on the back foot a little. But Lucas did a great job and we didn’t have any problems with our speed,” said Slingsby after the racing.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Cup race 30

For the American team, a race in marginal foiling conditions is probably the worst time to have to drop in a spare skipper. Of course the races against New Zealand are irrelevant in terms of the challenger selection series, so you could also argue it’s an ideal first America’s Cup race for Calabrese. 

This race will do little to dispel the increasingly prominent view that American Magic’s AC75 has a couple of weaknesses, one of which is looking to be at the very bottom of the wind-range.

The Kiwis now leave the competition and will have plenty of technical developments still to come. They will leave this series pretty confident that the’ve got what it takes to beat any of the challengers when the America’s Cup proper rolls around on 12 October.

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Winner’s Sail-Off Race Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher

Nobody really expected this race to be on the cards at the start of the day, but with Luna Rossa’s ‘loss’ to Alinghi this quickly became possibly the most important race of the day. Given the choice of opposition, whoever wins this race is easily the most likely team to be in the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals.

The wind was still at the lighter end of the range for this sail-off, but at 8 knots for the pre-start it should have been enough to make manoeuvres a lot less risky than they have been earlier in the day. It was, then, something of a surprise to see the teams not engaging all that much.

Spithill and Bruni decided to lead back to the start very early and it was clear that the Brits were more than happy to let them go. In fact this start was almost a carbon copy of the Brit’s first race again the Orient Express Racing Team. Here the Italians hit the startline just up from the pin not fully at pace, while Ainslie and Fletcher nailed the windward end at pace, with plenty of space to foot into.

When the Italian team tacked on the left hand boundary it was a simple job for Ainslie and Fletcher to tack right in front of them and give them plenty of dirty air. From there the Brits protected the right and kept a loose cover on Luna Rossa to lead at the top mark by 18 seconds. And with few passing lanes around, the Brits were able to extend that to 29 seconds by the end of the first downwind.

From there all the Brits needed to do to was complete the course without making any major errors to take the win, and the valuable option to choose their Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final opponents. “The start is something we’ve been spending a lot of time on as I’m quite inexperienced there and so Ben’s been doing a lot of work teaching me, as well as Giles Scott and Ian Williams,” said Fletcher of their impressive starts today.

“It’s been a very interesting series and certainly INEOS had a good end,” explained Bruni. “We’ve struggled a bit in the last couple of days, but we always knew it’s going to be hard and we are prepared for that.”

What did we learn from  the Louis Vuitton Cup Winner’s Sail-Off?

The chunky INEOS Britannia (or Big Bertha as she’s become known in my household) has really hit her stride in the second half of this Louis Vuitton Round Robin series. The team are sailing well and now have a significant advantage heading into the Semi-Finals.

We’ll see in time who the Brits choose, but Alinghi seems to be the most likely pick for the Semi-Final competition and, from what we’ve seen, you’d back the Brits to win that one. “To win the America’s Cup you have to beat the best. It’s a bit early to make a call on who we will choose, and to be honest we weren’t really expecting [to win],” said Ainslie of the choice, which will be officially made this Friday before the Semi-Final racing at the weekend.

It will have been frustrating for Luna Rossa to ‘lose’ their race against Alinghi earlier today, particularly as their technical issue appeared to be a foil arm system problem, which is a one-design part supplied to all teams by the organiser. But it would be foolish to put too much weight on today’s results. It’s hard to look past them as the form team from the whole series, but the gap is certainly not looking as big as it once was.

Follow all of our 2024 America’s Cup coverage

The post Ainslie and INEOS win Louis Vuitton Round Robin, while the French are sent home appeared first on Yachting World.

Having seen most of the Louis Vuitton Cup racing (the America’s Cup Challenger Selection Series) taking place in light winds, the penultimate day of Round Robin racing saw decent winds of around 11 knots and up to 18 knots making for some glamorous racing conditions in Barcelona.

With some storm systems having rolled across Barcelona in recent days, the sea state was significant and it was clear to see some significant waves, making it difficult conditions for the America’s Cup boats. There was also a bit of debris in the water, adding an extra dimension to the racing.

Debris is far from ideal and Ainslie reported hitting something in the water ahead of their first race of the day and Slingsby also referred to something wrapped around their rudder during their match against Orient Express Racing Team.

Key takeaways from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race Day 7

• INEOS find their pace with two big wins
• Luna Rossa are beatable in breeze
• It’s last chance saloon for the French tomorrow
• Headsail selection remains key, especially in these conditions

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 23 American Magic Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

Last time out American Magic had a miserable final race of the day as they lost their race against Alinghi Red Bull Racing but they came out fighting in this race against the form Challenger of this series, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. In the Pre-start, Goodison and Slingsby did an excellent job of keeping Spithill and Bruni at bay.

The American’s led back to the line and the Italians tried to get underneath to get a hook on a number of occasions and, though it was close on a number of occasions, the US team did a great job of accelerating just when needed to keep Luna Rossa at bay and win the start in the middle of the line with Luna Rossa just off their hip.

As such it was Luna Rossa forced to tack off at the start gun, but with the starboard tack advantage at the first cross, it was the Italian team that were just ahead.

At the next cross, with Luna Rossa on starboard, Spithill and Bruni started to foot as it looked like they would need to duck the US-flagged boat. But Slingsy and Goodison elected to tack in front of them. We’ve seen on a number of occasions this regatta that a boat footing  is able to head into a high mode and carry speed for a long way, and Luna Rossa did just this to step over the top of American Magic.

From there, the race remained pretty tight for the next upwind and downwind before Luna Rossa managed to step away to a reasonable win. “It was a great start by Tommy, but it just came out the one tack and we didn’t quite get the surf out the back of it and that’s the race there,” Paul Goodison explained of they key moment.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 23?

After their disappointing race against Alinghi there has been a lot of talk about American’s Magic’s potential weakness in terms of power for manoeuvres and a great deal of discussion about whether their recumbent cyclors produce enough power. There was no confirmation of that today, with fewer manoeuvres in these slightly winder conditions.

The US-flagged boat looked quick enough for much of this race, keeping in touch with the very quick Luna Rossa, and it was nip and tuck before the final lap of the race when Luna Rossa was really able to step away. However, this is probably more down to being in second closing in on the finish – and thus taking more high risk decisions – than it is about boat speed. They’ll be pleased with their pace.

And for Luna Rossa, another win for the might Italian team, who are still yet to lose a single race against another challenger.

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 24 INEOS Britannia Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
INEOS Britannia:Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

There was a short delay to the second race of the day as INEOS Britannia requested a 15 minute delay so they could change their headsail as the wind built up to close to 15 knots – each team may request a 15 minute delay on only 1 occasion throughout the course of the regatta.

When the racing did get underway, it was Alinghi Red Bull Racing who led back to the start with the British team looking to push them back early. Although the Brits didn’t manage to get underneath the Swiss-flagged boat they were able to gap off slightly as both boats headed back towards the start in a time on distance race.

At the gun, both boats hit the middle of the line at pace, but the Brits had managed to build enough of a gap to windward that they were able to put the bow down and roll a bit of the way over the top of Alinghi. By the time both boats got to the left hand boundary, they tacked at the same time and INEOS was able to again foot over the top of the Swiss and give them dirty air for a long way on port tack.

By the first windward mark rounding it was a 12 second lead for the Brits, which blew out to a 19 second lead by the leeward gate. From there on it was a case of the British boat extending throughout to take a convincing win.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 24?

INEOS has shown decent donwind pace before and today she looked very fast indeed downwind. She also had a decent turn of pace upwind compared to Alinghi. Ainslie will be very happy with the result and, though it’s foolish to take too much from a win against a team that has not performed all that well to date, INEOS looked impressive in these breezier conditions. “I think we’ve got plenty of potential, as we keep saying, it’s just about getting the best out of the boat,” Ainslie said after racing.

Alinghi will have come into this race on something of a high from their recent win against American Magic, but finishing just shy of a minute behind in this race will be worrying.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 25 Orient Express Racing Team Vs American Magic

Skippers
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

As was the case with the previous race, the third race of today’s racing was delayed as the French Orient Express Racing Team called for a 15 minute delay. However, although the wind had increased to 18 knots, the French were not delaying to change their sail plan, instead it looked as though they may have had some technical issues with the traveller. Certainly plenty of the support team could be seen desperately trying to fix something in that area as the start time closed in.

Whatever the issue was the French were able to fix it ahead of the start and get out onto the course seemingly without any issues.

With the breeze up into the high teens, neither team was all that willing to engage in the start and Delapierre and Pepponet elected to lead back to the startline. American Magic elected not to follow them down the startline, setting up something of a time on distance race to the line. 

At the gun the French were around two thirds of the way down the line with the American-flagged team hitting the windward end of the line. But it was far from a perfect start from the French, who were not fully on the wind at the gun and thus handed an early advantage to American Magic. A combination of this and the gap they had built to windward of the French allowed Goodison and Slingsby to easily hold all the way to the left hand boundary. 

when both boats tacked onto port at the boundary, American Magic were able to tack right on the French and from there they kept a tight cover on their competition and protect the right hand side of the course. 

Although the French never quite went away, they slowly slipped back with the win eventually going to American Magic – also guarenteeing the US a spot in the semi-final alongside INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. 

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 25?

This was a more polished performance from the French than we have seen previously and there was no real sign of the wobbly moments we have seen in previous races in breeze. But it increasingly looks as though these improvements are just too late to save the French from being eliminated from the competition in the Round Robin stage of the event.

The French boat once again looked pretty quick and this was a race that was once again lost due to inexperience. For American Magic they’ll  be happy with the win, but they did not look significantly quicker than the French in this race in pure boatspeed terms. That will certainly be food for through should they end up racing the Kiwis (who have the same design boat, with some improvements and a more experienced team) in the America’s Cup itself.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 26 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

The conditions remained breezy for the fourth race of the day, but had backed off to around 14-15 knots during the start sequence but once again we saw the boats not looking to engage too much in the pre-start. Once again it was something of a boat sped race back to the startline with Alinghi hitting the windward end at the gun at pace.

Unusually for the Kiwi team, they had a pretty poor start, about a third of the way down the line, getting their timing a bit wrong. At the gun the kiwis were around a boatlength back from the line. “We were just a little late on our trigger pull at the start so we’ll have to work on that,” commented Outteridge at the end of the race.

Both boats got to the left hand boundary at around the same time and as Team New Zealand tacked, Alinghi tacked to keep a tight cover on them. But the kiwis had a smaller headsail up in this wind, and they looked to have a decent turn of pace.

Both boats tacked back onto starboard, but with Alinghi to windward, Team New Zealand were able to go into a high mode and squeeze the Swiss boat, who were forced to tack away. By the next cross the Kiwis had the lead and rounded the windward gate with a 5 second lead.

Although the smaller jib did look to give the Kiwis something of a pace advantage upwind, the reverse was true downwind where horsepower it more important than reduced drag. It was’t enough of a pace differential for Alinghi to overhaul the America’s Cup Defender on this downwind, it was clear they had a click of pace.

However, the upwind advantage for the Kiwis far outweighed the downwind disadvantage and they stepped away as the race progressed to finish with a significant advantage.

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 26?

It was a sloppy start by the Kiwis, who will want to be making the most of any races they can get with only tomorrow’s racing to go before they are excluded from the remainder of the challenger selection series. It was interesting to see the two teams with significantly different sized headsails up. And that difference did clearly translate to a pace differential upwind in favour of the Kiwis and vice versa.

Ultimately, we know the Kiwis have an impressive boat and that they will be hard to beat and they once again looked strong here.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 27 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs INEOS Britannia

The final race of the day would see the undefeated Luna Rossa take on INEOS Britannia, who sit in second in the Challenger series, so it promised to be a show-down between the leading two challengers (at least on paper).

Immediately this race was a fascinating affair as the Brits looked to come out with a slightly smaller headsail than the Italians. And once again with the breeze in the mid-teens, neither team looked to engage that much in the pre-start, with the Italians initially holding the leeward position, but the Brits choosing to roll over the top of them.

For their part, Spithill and Bruni were happy to let Ainslie and Fletcher take the pin end while they looked to start around the middle of the line. But it was not perfect from either team with both a boatlength behind the line at the gun. The gap between the boats was too big for the Brits to squeeze up to the Italians but it was also not big enough for Luna Rossa to really put the bow down and get over the top of the Brits.

When the Brits tacked on the boundary Luna Rossa were forced to tack, which allowed INEOS to shepherd the Italians to the right of the course and then tack hard on them when they both tacked back onto starboard.

From there the Brits were able to step away and provide Luna Rossa’s first defeat of the series – despite a slightly worrying moment on the final downwind that saw the Brits get too high and splash down dramatically off the foils. “It was verry good today,” said Ainslie. “We came out yesterday [during a lay day] in some rough conditions to get some extra time in and that paid off today.

“It’s a massive win for the team. We’ve talked a lot about Luna Rossa being one of the form teams, so to get a scalp like that is massive for the team.”

What did we learn from Louis Vuitton Race 27?

INEOS has been quick all day in this windier weather and has shown decent pace downwind all series. Of particular not in this race was the British decision to take a smaller headsail. As such they did not look quite as strong downwind, but had traded that for some upwind speed, which seemed to work very well.

Luna Rossa will not be too concerned ,they managed to keep things pretty tight for the most part. The Brits picked up a favourable shift on the second upwind which accounted for much of the gap, but otherwise they were fairly evenly matched in pure pace terms.

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With racing abandoned after two races due to a lightning storm on Tuesday 3 September and cancelled altogether due to storm conditions on Wednesday 4 September, racing in the America’s Cup Challenger Selection series, the Louis Vuitton Cup returned today, Thursday, with some light wind conditions making for tense racing.

The day was forecast to see light winds in of around 8 knots early on building to around 15 knots by the end of the day. So it was not a huge surprise to see racing delayed by 30 minutes as the race committee waited for the breeze to start properly building.

In fact this build never really materialised as the wind increased for the second race, but then slowly dropped away throughout the day making the later races, all about staying on the foils.

Key takeaways from Louis Vuitton Day 6

• Could American Magic have a power weakness?
• Alinghi pick up crucial win
• Worries for Orient Express Racing Team, now at the bottom of the table and lapped in the final race
• A surprising number of errors from many of the teams

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 18 American Magic Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher

After a short delay to allow the wind to build, the first race got underway in very, very light winds. In the pre-start, both teams looked to be trying to minimise the manoeuvres and stay on the foils. A small error from American Magic saw them late into the start box, which gave the Brits the advantage as they were able to gybe round behind the US boat and follow them on starboard towards the pin end of the line.

With the Brits on their stern and both boats on starboard to leeward of the line, Ainslie and Fletcher were in a commanding position and should have been able to choose when the lead back, but they allowed the US-flagged boat to step up to windward and tack away.

The Brits gybed round, which would usually be the quicker manoeuvre, however it also means sailing back through the dirty air and with American Magic footing down to the line after their tack, they were able to make that dirty air even worse, sail over the Brits and leave Ainslie and Co dropping of the foils.

However, as the US boat tacked around at the windward end of the line and started making their approach to the start, the Brits managed to get foiling again and, in the end, crossed the startline on port, dipping American Magic’s transom.

The Americans tacked immediately and followed the Brits out to the right hand boundary. When both boats tacked on the boundary American Magic where able to squeeze up to the Brits and force them to tack away. What followed was some pretty standard match racing with the US boat tacking on the Brits every time they tried to get away from the boundary.

A combination of the US’  tight cover and a boundary penalty put the Brits 20 seconds behind at the first windward gate and there they stayed, held at arms length until the closing stages of the second upwind when the Brits managed to find some decent pressure up the Port side of the course and followed the US boat through the windward gate much closer.

INEOS Britannia was once again looking quick downwind and they managed to haul in some metres on American Magic and at the leeward gate it was all square with the teams both taking different marks. The Brits took the left of the course and the US took the right. American Magic was leading at the first cross and, once again tacked on the Brits’ wind, forcing them to tack away.

This tight cover continued but the Brits were picking up metres against the US and by the time they were in the layline, Ainslie and Fletcher managed to pick up a bit of pace by footing and, as the American’s tacked in front of them, they squeezed an impressive high mode to get directly to windward of Slingsby and Goodison.

The US boat was on the layline, so the Brits tacked to split the final windward gate. As they rounded, the US got too high out the water and dropped off the foils, potentially spelling the end of the race, but they got going quickly and were only 80m behind when the boats crossed.

The Brits chose to stand on and by the time they gybed at the boundary American Magic looked to be in decent pressure on the left of the course (looking upwind). This, coupled with a poor gybe from the Brits saw American Magic sail through the line first to clinch an absolute thriller.  “We definitely needed that. It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done in the end. It’s pretty tricky conditions out here,” said Paul Goodison.

“Obviously the final gybe is where we lost it,” commented Ainslie. “It was a real tough decision whether to cross or slam one on them, and then we had a messy gybe and that was it.”

What we learned from Louis Vuitton Cup Race 18

It’s been fascinating just how many unforced errors we have seen in this event so far from many of the teams. And this race was awash with errors from both teams.

In terms of boat speed, INEOS looked a click faster, particularly downwind today against American Magic. Downwind has long been the strength of the Brits and it was evident today, but they also look impressive upwind too, they have definitely made gains over the course of this regatta.

For American Magic, they will be happy to pick up a win to get themselves further away from the fight to be knocked out of the event come Sunday – which is now almost certainly a fight between Alinghi and Orient Express Racing Team.

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 19 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs Orient Express Racing Team

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet

The first race of the day was always likely to be more competitive than the second, with Luna Rossa the standout performer of the Louis Vuitton Cup to date and the French still struggling to fully get to grips with their boat.

Although the wind had built a little from the first race, pre-start was still going to be a little nervy, with both boats keen to stay on their foils at all costs. If the French wanted to pick up a win, they would need to be at their best to beat this polished team.

But the race was all but over in the pre-start when Delapierre and Pepponet picked up a boundary penalty as they tacked round to windward of the startline. That penalty meant that they had to drop back behind the Italians out of the start and this allowed Luna Rossa to keep a tight cover on the French up the first beat.

From there Spithill and Bruni were able to sail away pretty easily, despite the shifty winds and pick up yet another win. “We’re trying to learn lessons each day,” said Spithill at the close of racing. “It was tricky today as it was different at one end of the course to the other. But I’ll tell you hat they French have a lot of boatspeed.”

What we learned from Louis Vuitton Cup Race 19

There’s not a huge amount the be learned from this race. The issues remain the same from the French they are just visibly that bit less polished as a team than the top boats.

As for Luna Rossa, I’m running out of ways to say ‘they look worryingly impressive’…

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 20 INEOS Britannia Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge

At the end of the race between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, the wind had been dropping a little bit, and becoming much more patchy, and conditions remained the same as INEOS Britannia lined up agains Emirates Team New Zealand. Once again in the pre-start it was a case of both teams looking to limit their manoeuvres to a degree.

Ainslie and Fletcher led back to the startline, with Burling and Outteridge staying gapped well off to windward. With around 25 seconds to the start the kiwis started to bear off and build speed down towards the Brits, but the Brits spun well enough and built speed to cross the start in the middle of the line, with the Kiwis off their windward hip.

Time and again New Zealand have shown two significant strengths: their high mode and the ability to manoeuvre well at low speed (and thus in light winds). The kiwis used this high mode to good effect off the startline, holding their lane to windward of the Brits, and were helped somewhat by a slight righthand shift.

When they Brits tacked on the left hand boundary, the kiwis had built enough of a gap to foot into the space and tack with a little more pace than the Brits. The kiwi boat floated nicely through the tack and this, plus their high mode, saw them exit the tack higher than the Brits, putting them into dirty air and forcing them off their foils.

In the very light winds, the Brits got foiling again in decent time, but the race was all but gone already.

“It was a tight start and they did a good job but we managed to get a righty off the line and just live long enough to get to get to the boundary,” explained Outteridge. “When we both tacked on the boundary, bottom speeds were right down and we executed a nice tack and managed to take control there.

“It was actually a very dynamic day. It’s nice to get a win though. We though it was going to be windier and bit more stable but it’s been about 5-8 knots and dynamic conditions.”

What we learned from Louis Vuitton Cup Race 20

A 3-minute deficit at the finish it a pretty big margin for INEOS Britannia and they looked very unstable on their foils in the light winds. Clearly they were much more likely than the kiwis to fall off their foils in the light wind manoeuvres.

But it should be remembered that, as the races agains Emirates Team New Zealand do not really count in the America challengers selection series. As such the Brits could well have been trying something new in their set up. They certainly looked more wobbly in this race than they did in the previous race of the day in similar conditions.

The Kiwis, like Luna Rossa continue to look strong and are particularly good in the lighter conditions.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 20 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs American Magic

Skippers
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

With the winds remaining light both teams needed to be towed up onto their foils at the start of this race and it looked as though Alinghi could have thrown this vital race away before it had even started as they mistimed their tow release, got too high out the water and splashed down off their foils.

However, they just about managed to get up and foiling and get into the start box in time for the pre-start. However, American Magic managed to make a major error and got their timing wrong, entering the start box too early and picking up a penalty.

In the light winds and with a penalty already against the American Boat, the two stayed fairly separated in the pre-start and Alinghi hit the startline at the pin end at pace, with American Magic hitting the startline at the windward end. The US immediately tacked away scrubbing off some of the distance they need to to clear their penalty.

Alinghi tacked too and followed the American’s out to the right hand side of the course. Alinghi then did a great job of keeping a tight cover on American Magic all the way up the beat and were able to lead around the top mark, a lead they maintained on the downwind.

On the second beat, we were treated to possibly the closest thing to an old-school tacking duel I have witnessed in AC75s to date, with both teams short-tacking up the middle of the course trying to gain an advantage.

It was Alinghi who came out on top of this exchange as they managed to keep the US-flagged boat in dirty air.

But it was on the following leg where we, perhaps, saw the effect of this tacking duel with American Magic struggling to trim the sails as often as they would have liked, a clear indication of a lack of hydraulic power, which may have been slowly drained by the tacks. You could certainly hear the cyclors on American Magic struggling to pump up the pressure after so many manoeuvres on the beat and on this downwind they touched down a number of times, losing a lot of distance.

From there, the Swiss-flagged Alinghi were able to step away and took a crucial second win of the regatta and move themselves up from the bottom of the table.

“It was a very good race. American Magic gave us a hard time on that one and we had to push hard,” Psarofaghis said at the finish. “In terms of power we had all we needed and could have tacked 20 more times if we had needed,” he added, perhaps pointedly.

What we learned from Louis Vuitton Cup Race 21

Much has been discussed about the American’s recumbent cyclor position. It has certainly allowed them to build a very aerodynamically efficient boat, but it is known this is a less efficient power generating stance than a more normal upright position. Many have wondered if this would be a weakness for the American team.

That has all been speculation – and without knowing any details it remains speculation – but today after a lot of tacks, the US boat looked to be out of hydraulic pressure and unable to properly trim their sails. This will certainly be something other teams look to exploit in future matches unless it is proved to be a one-off.

But this was not all a loss by American Magic, Alinghi did a great job today and looked very polished in a high-pressure race. Psarofaghis and Bachelin sailed a great race and, bar the mishap during the tow, the Swiss-flagged team didn’t put a foot wrong and looked very polished in their manoeuvres.

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 22 Orient Express Racing Team Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge

Again it looked like the lighter winds might have finished this race before the gun as Orient Express Racing Team dropped off the foils in the pre-start to gift the America’s Cup Defender a huge head start at the startgun.

But just when it looked all over, the Kiwis tacked in a very light patch on the right hand boundary about a third of the way up the beat and also dropped off the foils. With the French back up on the foils, they were able to claw their way into the lead and got to 80 metres ahead of New Zealand by the time Burling and Outteridge go their boat foiling again.

The French actually looked as though they had extended on the downwind, picking the puffs nicely, but coming into the leeward gate the French boat dropped off its foils. The kiwis, foiled straight through their final gybe and foiled around the outside of the French to retake the lead.

From there is was all the Kiwis building their lead, while the French continued to struggle to stay on the foil and by the finish we had the biggest margin we have seen in any race, with the French suffering the ignominy of being lapped by the Kiwis.

What we learned from Louis Vuitton Cup Race 22

We’ve seen the French struggle on a number of occasions with their manoeuvres and this race once again confirmed those problems. Certainly it was interesting to see the Kiwis have their own struggle to stay on the foils, but it was also notable that the Kiwis were on a small headsail than the French and still looked to be the team struggling the most with the power.

This was a lot about experience and a lot about knowing how to get an AC75 around the course in the toughest conditions, but it also shows that, although the French bought the design package of this boat from the Kiwis, these are a long way from ‘sisterships’.

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With the first Round Robin of the America’s Cup Challenger Selection Series, the Louis Vuitton Cup concluded, teams moved onto the second Round Robin today, Tuesday 3 September. This second Round Robin will run through to Sunday 8 August at which point the Challenger with the fewest wins against fellow challengers will be evicted from event and will see their hopes of making the America’s Cup itself over for this cycle.

In short, from here on things get very, very real.

Conditions for this fifth day of Louis Vuitton Cup predicted another light day with a maximum windspeed of 10 knots from the east with relatively flat seas. However, the easterly breeze was actually significantly stronger than that with a lot of clouds and rain around and the breeze was up into the high teens for parts of the day.

All of this made for winds fluctuating between 10-18 knots and oscillating a fair bit as clouds and weather fronts blow down the course, making for very tricky varied conditions for the AC75 sailors.

Key takeaways from Louis Vuitton Day 5

• Alinghi get a point on the board
• Luna Rossa looks as strong as ever

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 16 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs Orient Express Racing Team

Skippers
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet

This first race of the day was set to be a big one. Alinghi Red Bull Racing are yet to score a win from their Louis Vuitton Cup racing so far. Their competition, Orient Express Racing Team had secured just a single win so far – the first race of the series when these two last met. So this battle was key for both team, who will desperately want to avoid becoming the single team to be knocked out of the competition come Sunday’s conclusion of the Round Robin Series.

It was a slightly odd start sequence between the two team and in the shifty and puffy weather it looked as though neither team particularly wanted to engage. Alinghi led back to the start and actually dropped off their foils briefly on their way back to the line, but this was far less of an issue in today’s windier weather than it has been in the racing to date and they easily popped back up on the foils to hit the mid-line at pace at the gun.

The French looked as though they wanted to accelerate along the line and harden up at the start gun to start to windward of Alinghi at pace, but if that’s what they were aiming for, the messed up the timing and were still in the process of hardening up when the gun fired.

From there it was pretty simple for Alinghi to hold their lane all the way to the left hand boundary and when both boats tacked Alinghi had the advantage. But during the tack the French looked to get a little too high on their foils and their rudder ventilated. They were able to save the boat from a huge spinout but by the time they were fully back in control they had lost a great deal of distance.

A similar incident happed again to the French up the first upwind and they splashed down off the foils too. They then took an age to get their windward foil raised and it became clear they were sailing with some technical issue.

Whatever gremlins there were in the French boat seemed to slowly dissapear but the race was already long gone, with Alinghi picking up a much needed win. “We struggled to sail the boat in the first upwind as we hd some issue,” confirmed Delapierre after the finish. “The Swiss took the advantage and we were not able to close the gap. The technical issue was there till the end.”

What we learned from Luis Vuitton Cup Race 16

We’ve seen that if they get everything right, the French boat is probably faster in a straight line than Alinghi. However, the French have a great deal less time in an AC75 than the Swiss and this inexperience has often shown itself in the French manoeuvres.

It’s hard to draw too many conclusions from this race given the French has some sort of technical issue, and without knowing the exact nature of that issue it’s even harder. But Orient Express looked pretty lose today again, as they have done on other days.

Luna Rossa get across the bow of the Kiwis in the ore-start. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 17 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

There’s a long way to go before the America’s Cup itself takes place in October, but many observers think when we do finally get there, these are the two teams who are mostly likely to be racing for the Auld Mug. As such, this might not officially count – as America’s Cup Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand’s results are discounted from the Challenger Selection Series results – but there’s plenty to learn for both teams in this racing.

With the breeze up to 18 knots as a big rain system blew across the course, these two teams looked to be gloves off in the pre-start with the Kiwis leading back to the start. Luna Rossa bore away to try to get around the transom of New Zealand, the Kiwis matched them and when Luna Rossa finally luffed back towards the line, the Kiwis duly followed and looked as though they might be able to lock the Italians out of the windward end.

“Be prepared for them to push again” was the call from Outteridge on the Kiwi boat, but Spithill and Bruni had other plans, with the Kiwis a little slow and high, the Italians powered up and managed to sail around the bow of the Kiwi boat. With only a handful of seconds to go until the start the Kiwis were force to effectively follow Luna Rossa, footing down the startline gaining speed until the gun. “It was really a power race there and our guys did a better job,” said Bruni of that moment after the race.

“I thought we were in a strong position but we didn’t manage to accelerate the boat as quick as I though we could and they just managed to get over the top of us,” agreed Burling.

Instead of just following the Italians in dirty air, the Kiwis elected to drop their windward board and roll straight into a tack but with the speed they were going it looked as though they got rudder ventilation and as they boat spun they dropped off the foils.

From there the two teams looked pretty evenly matched in the windier conditions and, barring a little moment where Luna Rossa got too high out of the water after a tack, both teams were looking pretty polished.

By the final lap with the Italians a way out in the lead and the front passing over the course, the wind started to rapidly die away and was down to 8 knots by the time both teams rounded the final windward gate.

Thunder had been rumbling around the course for a while but on the final downwind, a lightning strike hit the water in worryingly close proximity to Luna Rossa. Deciding discretion was the better part of valour, the Kiwis decided to leave the race course. They were quickly followed by the Italians and they were quickly followed by the announcement that racing would be abandoned for the rest of the day, with this race being awarded to Luna Rossa.

Lighting, carbon masts, carbon hulls and electronics do not mix…

What we learned from Luis Vuitton Cup Race 17

It might not matter in terms of the results but that was a clear win for Luna Rossa. Spithill and Bruni got the better of Outteridge and Burling in the pre-start and the Italian boat looked a fair bit quicker downwind and possibly upwind too.

When the wind dropped and things got very shifty the Italians also did a better job of picking their way through the tricky conditions – admittedly that is a lot easier to do from the lead.

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The fourth day of racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup – the challenger selection series for the America’s Cup proper – took place today. Sunday 1 September in Barcelona, with competitors facing off in a relatively calm sea state and winds hovering just below double digits for much of the day, though the wind and the waves both built throughout the day.

The wind had changed direction today with the breeze coming from the northeast and conditions had changed in Barcelona, with some showers around. As such it would be all-change for the sailors tactically as they close in on the end of the first (of two) Round Robins.

NOTE: Race 15 is the conclusion of Round Robin Round 1 and Race 16 is the start of Round Robin Round 2

Key takeaways from Louis Vuitton Day 1

• Things getting pretty desperate for Alinghi
• INEOS has decent pace downwind when the wind it a little breezier
• Luna Rossa is the standout
• No obvious issues after their damage to the Kiwis

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 12 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge

Alinghi Red Bull Racing are yet to win a race and, though this race against the Defender doesn’t count in terms of who gets knocked out of the competition at the end of the Rouund Robin, rthey would want to win this one for some sense that they are making progress.

It was far from the ideal start as a problem with Alinghi’s mast saw them unable to hoist their mainsails before the start and they had to rush back to base to effect a quick repair. But once back out on the water and into start sequence Alinghi found themselves too far outside the boundary in the lead up to the start and – as the rules dictate – picked up an immediate disqualification for their efforts.

With limited racing available for the teams, though, Alinghi chose to carry on and complete the race – particularly useful for them as they would be racing against Luna Rossa on the same course later in the day.

Having lost the start by dint of struggling to get back to the start in time, it was always going to be tricky to overhaul the Kiwis and sure enough, the Defender used this opportuity to step away from the Swiss flagged team throughout the race / practise session untll both boats decided to pull out a couple of legs in.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 13?

Not a lot we can learn from this one. Perhaps the biggest lessons for many is the rule that you can be disqualified if you are 100m outside the boundary during the start sequence. Alinghi will also have a few concerns about their mast issues – as they have previously broken their mast on two occasions, so to have some issues again (albeit not the same catastrophic failure) will be a concern.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 13 INEOS Britannia Vs Orient Express Racing

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet

If the first race of the day was something of a let down, the second was an absolute cracker of a race. With the British team leading back to the startline, Orient Express were looking to push their opponent back to the start early, but it looked for all the world as though they’d made a bit of a mess of it, as the Brits hit the pin end of the line at pace with the French boat just to windward. However, the Brits were called OCS and were forced to drop back behind the French.

Delapierre and Pepponet kept a tight cover on INEOS for the remainder of the first beat and led the Brits through the top gate by around 12 seconds. But INEOS has previously displayed a fair old turn of pace downwind and they did so again today, hauling in the French team as they both headed downwind. Ainslie and Fletcher did a great job tactically too and as both teams approached the leeward gate, the Brits were on starboard and the French needed to take their transom.

With the boats on split tacks it was Orient Express on starboard at the first cross and the Brits were forced to take their transom. The teams continued to trade blows but nearing the top mark with the French on starboard, the Brits tried to go for a marginal cross and tack right in front of the French, but it was way, way too close and the Brits picked up another penalty and ended up following the French around the windward gate 20 seconds behind.

But once again INEOS displayed a good turn of pace downwind and the British team managed to round the leeward gate only 12 seconds behind the French team.

With the French taking the left hand mark at the gate and the Brits taking the right, at the first cross, the Brits held the starboard advantage and instead of taking the British team’s transom the French elected to tack, but did so way too early and ended up allowing themselves to be shepherded to the left hand boundary.

From this moment, the British team managed to slowly pull themselves away from the French team and by the finish, it wasn’t exactly a blow-out, but the Brits looked very comfortable by the finish. “A good race for the fans that one. Slightly less so for the boys onboard,” said Ainslie. “It was a bloody good race, hats off the French for making it hard for us.”

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 13?

We know the French are quick in a straight line, it’s manoeuvres that have been their weak point so far. So it was impressive to see them fighting with the Brits and making few mistakes – in fact, you’d argue that the lion’s share of errors were made by the British team.

As for INEOS she looked very fast today compared to the French boat. We’ve seen INEOS be pretty quick downwind but in the slightly breezier weather today she looked comparatively quick both up and downwind. Mistakes from the team will be something to work on as they looked a little sloppy in places, but it was a tight old race, so errors are much more likely under those circumstances.

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 14 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

Although they were disqualified from their first race of the day, the focus for Alinghi Red Bull Racing would have been this second of their two races as they try to find their first point of the series against another challenger. Psarofaghis and  Bachelin didn’t seem as though they wanted to get too involved in a pre-start scrap and and kept gauged well off to windward of Spithill and Bruni. As such, the Italian boat was able to perform a simple time on distance start and hit the line about mid-way down the start at the gun.

Alinghi also did a great time on distance job at the windward end of the line and nailed their start. But even with a fairly significant amount of space between the two boats, the Italian team managed to find a great high mode and sucked themselves up to Alinghi, forcing the Swiss-flagged boat to tack away. By the time both teams tacked back for the first cross, Luna Rossa just managed to squeek across the bow of the starboard-tack Alinghi.

Luna Rossa are yet to lose a race in this series and they once again looked very polished with some decent boatspeed and were able to just keep Alinghi at arms length for the rest of the race, eventually winning by a handy margin.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 14?

As we go deeper into this series we can start to firm up our assumptions about the boats as the pecking order of the challengers for the America’s Cup becomes clearer. Luna Rossa have been impressive since the start and are clearly one of the favourites to make it through to the America’s Cup itself – as they did in 2021. The Italian boat is clearly very quick and once again today she displayed a good turn of pace, with a very, very impressive high mode out of the start.

Alinghi is not massively slow, but was clearly the slower of the two boats today. The team did enough to keep it fairly tight, but at some point this Swiss team really does need to pick up some wins if they do not want to be the team going home at the end of this Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin.

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 15 American Magic Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

The final race of the day was another cracker as American Magic took on the Kiwis. And the Kiwis got the early advantage as they pushed Goodison and Slingsby towards the pin end of the line good and early. As a result the US-flagged AC75 needed to scrub off a lot of speed in the cl0sing seconds to the start.  Having forced their opponents to the pin early, the Kiwis were able to tack, accelerate and hit the startline on port going significantly faster than their opponents.

It was hardly surprising, then, at the first cross that the Kiwis were in the lead and they tacked right in front of American Magic, to force the Americans to tack away. But by the next cross the US boat had hauled in the Kiwis a bit. It was obvious from a long way out that the Kiwis would, once again, tack right on the face of the Americans. And as the boats approached one another, the US team were footing to build pace. When New Zealand tacked the US boat had enough overspeed to go into a slightly higher mode and sail over the top of the Kiwis.

The boats looked pretty evenly matched on the downwind, but on the next beat Goodison and Slingsby backed themselves to pick the right shifts and did not keep a tight cover on the Kiwis. However, the New Zealanders did a better job of picking the sifts and by the windward gate the Kiwis had stolen the lead. “It wsas a good start by the guys and we got ahead, but then we gave them a couple of inches. And if you give those guys a couple of inches, then they will take it,” summarised Paul Goodison after the finish.

From there, Emirates Team New Zealand sailed a solid and consistent race to take the win

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 15?

Not a huge amount of learning from this one. Certainly it’s clear that at the moment, these two boats were pretty evenly matched in pure pace terms. American Magic showed a great turn of pace to overhaul the Kiwis, but that was more of a Kiwi mistake than boatspeed. And the pass that the Kiwis picked up over the Americans was really a bit of March Racing naiveté from Goodison and Slingsby.

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The post What we learned from a cracking day 4 of Louis Vuitton Cup racing appeared first on Yachting World.

After the upset to the schedule caused by Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand’s dramatic crash of its boat down onto the cradle during lift-out after racing on Day 1, and light winds resulting in just one full race held on Day 2, America’s Cup organisers tried to max out the schedule for the third day of the Louis Vuitton Cup. After an impressive turnaround by the shore team, Emirates Team New Zealand were back on the race course, pitting all six teams against one another with a bumper six-race programme – though only four true races were completed. Here’s what we learnt from day 3 of AC75 racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup:

Key takeaways from Louis Vuitton Day 3

• Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli dominate the day to build overall lead in the Round Robin
• Light airs pre-start tactics are key, and light airs foiling consistency has improved across the fleet – but races can still be decided by a single touch down
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing struggling to match the more experienced teams in the pre-start
• Little clues as to whether Emirates Team New Zealand will suffer any ill effects from Day 1’s damage, but early indications are that the Kiwis are back up to speed
• And we have some match racing… pre-start tactics and place changes are back. Hitting one side of the course is not going to be all it takes to win (phew!)

Louis Vuitton Cup, Race Day 3. LUNA ROSSA PRADA PIRELLI TEAM v NYYC AMERICAN MAGIC. Photo Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 7 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs American Magic

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

Starting in the best breeze of the day, this start was an exercise in time on distance, the two boats splitting on the line. American Magic crossed on the ‘B of the Bang’ at 30-plus knots, carrying that speed into the first tack to build a 100m lead in the very early stages.

Approaching the first cross, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli had reduced the deficit, so American Magic bounced them off to the right hand side of the course. But when they came back together at the top gate, the boats rounded opposite marks in symmetry, the Italians taking the advantage.

Again the two boats split to opposite sides of the course – in contrast to previous days, there did not seem to be one side which offered a repeatable advantage. Halfway down the first downwind leg, the Italians ducked the Americans – the second lead change of the race, making this one of the most engaged and engaging races so far.

After ducking right in the Americans’ wake with just a boat length between the two – the Italians continued on to the right-hand side of the course once again. This time they picked up a major right-hand shift, pulling away for yet another lead change and a 100m lead at the top mark, which they were able to solidify over the remainder of the race.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 7?

These two boats are clearly extremely evenly matched. Once any boatspeed advantage was removed, this race largely came down to conventional tactics – finding pressure, staying in phase with the shifts, and well-placed manoeuvres. And when it comes to light winds handling, the silver Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli seems to be marginally more forgiving, leaving the Italian crew free to focus on strategy and tactics. The Italian challenge is are starting to look like a very complete package.

Day 3 of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Emirates Team New Zealand showing no signs of their earlier damage. Photo: Ian Roman

Race 8 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs Orient Express Racing

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet

This should have been a chance to see whether Emirates Team New Zealand’s 24-hour repair had impacted on reliability or speed, but the French team didn’t enter the start box and swiftly retired.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 8?

Very little. On first appearances the Kiwi AC75 looks good as new, but with France’s retirement and the cancellation of today’s final race the recently fixed boat was never put under pressure.

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Day 3 of the Louis Vuitton Cup. INEOS BRITANNIA, ALINGHI RED BULL RACING. Photo: Ian Roman

Race 9 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher

In a fading breeze, Alinghi’s fate was sealed before the start, the Brits utilising their wind shadow to devastating effect, leaving the Swiss boat down speed and down hull in the water while INEOS Britannia hit the line at pace.

From here, it was all about keeping the big girl flying for INEOS Britannia, with a few tense moments for the British squad working hard to stay on the foil as boat speed hovered in the high-20s in just 6-7 knots of windspeed – despite having built up a nearly 1000m lead. Once boat speeds dip to around 25 knots or below, staying on the foils becomes a battle, so finding pressure on the race course became the driving factor. By the close of the final leg, wind speeds were down to just 5-6 knots – right on the edge of flight for the AC75s.

Halfway down the final leg, Britannia came off the foils in a low speed gybe – the boat wallowing at less than 18 knots of boat speed while Alinghi Red Bull Racing munched down their lead at 33+ knots, taking huge chunks out of their advantage. A huge effort by the cyclors and flight controllers on INEOS Britannia saw the boat get back up just in time, crossing the finish line over 1m 20s ahead of the Swiss.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 9?

This is what the second generation AC75s were designed to do: maintain flight in sub-7 knot breezes, combined with the Barcelona swell. And it was impressive to see just how low windspeed these boats can foil in – and to see that INEOS Britannia’s powerful design seems to have a ‘get out of jail’ mode in marginal conditions. The calm comms on the British boat were also revealing, despite the high tension onboard, skipper Ben Ainslie called for patience, and that patience was rewarded with another well-earned point.

But it also shows how the biggest lead changes in this competition are likely to come in the lowest speeds, not the highest. It might not be the highest performance racing the AC75s are capable of, but it certainly adds tension. “It’s a great example of why you can’t take any of these races for granted,” commented Ainslie afterwards.

ORIENT EXPRESS RACING TEAM come off the foils on Day 3 of the Louis Vuitton Round Robin. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 10 Orient Express Racing Vs American Magic

Skippers
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

Light wind technique and match racing strategy dominated the start again – both boats sailing far wide of the startline in order to minimise manoeuvres and stay on the foils before crossing via a ‘dip’ start. It might not’ve been pretty, but it did the job. American Magic crossed well ahead of the French, but the Orient Express Racing team showed impressive light airs skills to stay within 500m of the US team.

As the race progressed, the French sailed a smart, direct course, halving that advantage downwind – it looked, briefly, as if the US team might have a real race on their hands. Unfortunately, approaching the penultimate mark rounding, as they sailed through the dirty air of American Magic, the French boat plunged off the foils, boat speed dropping to sub-10 knots – the howls of frustration audible onboard. The US team pulled relentlessly away, over 2500m ahead by the finish while Orient Express picked up a DNF.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 10?

While high-speed close-quarters manoeuvres might be what we’re waiting to see, slow speed match racing on foils is a skillset all of its own, and using the AC75s’ considerable wind shadow effects is likely to be a key weapon for any team to have in its pre-start armoury.

Thought the French will be deeply frustrated by how they lost this race, in the early stages they demonstrated great coolness of head, as well as boat handling skills – this team were always on a steep learning curve, and they certainly seem to have made big strides since the Preliminary Regatta. However, American Magic demonstrated great control of this race from start to finish.

“It’s very tough conditions out here. You’re just always on edge that you’re going to fall off the foils and lose a big lead,” said Slingsby afterwards.

August 31, 2024. Louis Vuitton Cup, Race Day 3. LUNA ROSSA PRADA PIRELLI TEAM Photo Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 11 INEOS Britannia Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

This was a big one for INEOS Britannia – despite being unbeaten in the Round Robins so far, of those three race wins, two against American Magic and Alinghi both came after the opposing boats came off their foils in the early stages, while their third was a discounted ‘ghost race’ sail-over with ETNZ not able to start. This was likely to be the first race of the event which would see the Brits having to sail against one of the most feared Challengers. To add to the tension, the Italians decided to request a 15-minute delay to change jibs, while the racing was also postponed waiting for wind.

In the pre-start INEOS Britannia had the advantage, out-smarting Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to maintain clear air and pace, crossing the line ahead. The Brits maintained the advantage at the first cross, but a slow tack put them 150m behind at the second.

The Italians were able to consolidate, steadily building their lead both upwind and downwind, until the Brits disastrously crashed off their foils approaching the bottom mark. From there, there was no coming back for INEOS Britannia.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 11?

Jimmy Spithill is known for being one of the most gladiatorial match racing helms in the business, but he’s not unbeatable, and the new Ben Ainslie/Dylan Fletcher British co-helm partnership confidently saw the Italians off in the pre-start.

Yet once the Italians had the advantage, they never looked in danger of losing it – the Brits may have lost this one with a couple of key manoeuvres, but – doubly concerning for them – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s boat speed had already built them a good lead.

The only chink in the Italian’s armour seems to be their rudder control – yet again we heard Spithill and Bruni discussing that they had ‘lost’ rudder, likely due to cavitation. In higher speed racing it will be interesting to see whether this problem continues.

Race 12 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge

This race was cancelled.

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The second day of the Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robbin series – the America’s Cup challenger selection series – took place today Friday 30 August in Barcelona, but it was not far from the most thrilling day with only one full race completed in the very, very light winds.

One team that will be somewhat happy about the conditions will be America’s Cup Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, who were forced to withdraw from today’s racing while they try to repair damage sustained when pulling their boat out the water after the first day of Louis Vuitton Cup action.

It’s unclear just when the Kiwis will be back on the water and today did see them missing out on one match – against INOES Britannia – but they were also due to race the Frech and this race was cancelled due to a lack of wind.

American Magic foil while Alinghi low-ride in the pre-start. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 5 American Magic Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

As with yesterday’s racing, today saw a delay to racing as the race committee waited for the wind to fill to the required 6.5knots across the whole course that is needed to get a race started. Yesterday in these conditions American Magic dropped off their foils in the pre-start agains INEOS Britannia and lost that race as a result.

Today the Americans had a bigger headsail up and it was something of a reverse of fortunes in the start sequence as Alinghi just managed to get into the dirty air of American Magic and dropped off the foils in the light winds and it would be easy to assume that was the race won for American Magic as Alinghi were fully 550m behind by the time they got foiling and crossed the startline.

Things looked even better for the American squad as Alinghi dropped off their foils at the bottom of the first downwind. However American Magic also dropped off their foils at the top of the course.

The race very quickly became a case of watching the boats pop up on the foil and then either just make it though a manoeuvre or drop off the foils.

Ultimately when the US-flagged AC75 was 1/3 of the way down the second downwind – and with Alinghi still low-riding upwind – the course was shortened to 2 laps. At that point Goodison and Slingsby made the call to low-ride for the rest of the donwwind with 20 minutes of the 45 minute time limit still to run.

It’s not what these boats are built for and it’s not exactly spectacular watching but the US-flagged team managed to limp across the finish line in the lead. there was briefly some tension as Alinghi popped up in the foils with 200m still to go to the finish for the US, but by that time they couldn’t be much of a threat.

“It wasn’t pretty at all, but it’s just tough conditions. You get a nice gust at 8.5 knots and then it just drops off and it’s a real struggle to stay on the foils,” summarised Slingsby at the finish of the race.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 5?

This latest generation of AC75 have had some rule changes to try to make them a little better at foiling in low winds, after a couple of races saw the boat sailing in low-riding mode in 2021. But once again we were treated to the non-spectacle of just that.

What did we learn about the relative performance of American Magic and Alinghi Red Bull Racing? Pretty much nothing, but two losses from two races is far from positive for the Swiss team.

Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 6  Emirates Team New Zealand (withdrawn) Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher

After a very, very long delay waiting for sufficient wind at around 15:50 local, there was finally enough wind to watch INEOS Britannia cross the startline alone – with Emirates Team New Zealand ashore fixing their damaged boat – and immediately being awarded the ‘win’.

A pointless experience in more ways than one, as this ‘victory’ will be scrubbed from the scoresheet when the Round Robin stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup concludes. This will be the case for all New Zealand races, so the Defender cannot influence which boat is eliminated from this stage of the regatta.

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After yesterday’s opening day of racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup – the Challenger Selection series for the America’s Cup in Barcelona – Emirates Team New Zealand reported damage to their America’s Cup boat after a crane malfunction when hauling the AC75 out of the water.

UPDATE: 10:30am CEST Friday 30 August

“We have assessed the damage and have now started the repair, this will continue 24 hours a day. There is some structural damage aft in the boat, but the main force was taken on the forward cradle splash. Overnight this area has been removed (in other words we have cut the piece out of the hull bottom) and the repair has started which means building a new piece of boat. It is too early at this stage to say when we will be sailing again but I have seen these guys work miracles before” – Grant Dalton

Late last night Emirates Team New Zealand confirmed that as a result of the damage they would miss today’s second day of racing at the Louis Vuitton Cup. A statement sent out Thursday evening by the team read:

The team have secured the boat with a portable crane and it is now safely being put back in the shed where the full extent of the damage will be assessed by the team overnight.

From initial assessments a call has been made that Emirates Team New Zealand will not be sailing tomorrow.

Once further investigation is made in the following 24 hours and a full plan for the repair of Taihoro is in place, the team will give a further update on the duration of time the team will be off the water.

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton said, “Clearly this is a setback for the team at such an important time of the campaign. These are the moments that can define an America’s Cup campaign, and we have an amazing group of dedicated and talent people who will be working around the clock on getting the boat repaired.

“We will not be sailing tomorrow at least, and will provide further updates on the outlook in due course

What happens for New Zealand’s Louis Vuitton Races?

Emirates Team New Zealand were due to sail two match races today against INEOS Britannia in the second race of the day and against Orient Express Racing Team in the fourth race of the day. However, as we understand it, both of these races will still need to be ‘held’ and the Kiwis planned opposition will still need to start the race in order to be declared the ‘winner’ of the match.

In terms of the actual Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin competition, clearly todays’s two losses will see the kiwis tumble down the order.  However, as Defender of the America’s Cup they already go through to that event, so their participation in the Louis Vuitton Cup is purely to allow them to practise against the other challengers. As such, missed races will not affect the kiwis in the short term, but any missed racing will be significant.

What does it mean for the Louis Vuitton competition?

Emirates Team New Zealand will only compete in the Louis Vuitton Round Robin series, which means they only have seven races left against competition before they meet the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup in the America’s Cup itself.

New Zealand’s scores will be removed from the competition at the end of the event and races against them will not be counted to determine the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finalists and, crucially, the team evicted from the competition.

As such, the easy ‘wins’ for INEOS Britannia and Orient Express Racing Team today against no competition may see them move up the overall ranking tables, but actually don’t mean much other than one fewer race against a top team.

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It was not the start that anyone hoped for, for the opening day of racing at the America’s Cup challenger selection series, the Louis Vuitton Cup. Racing was due to get underway today, Thursday 29 August at 14:00 local in Barcelona but the wind stubbornly sat just under the 6.5 knots needed to get a start procedure underway and the first race was delayed by around 35 minutes.

When racing did finally get underway it was in very light 6-7 knot south easterly conditions initially, though the wind did build after the first race up into the low double digits but it was patchy and did not hold at that lever throughout. This relatively light weather put a premium on boathandling skills. As teams needed to get towed up onto the foils before starts, falling off the foils during racing would be catastrophic.

Even though the wind did increase the conditions remained puffy all day so it was a day of linking up the gusts that were running down the course. As such information about boat speed was harder to discern than in more stable conditions.

Key takeaways from Louis Vuitton Day 1

• Good day for the French with a win in their opening race
• Kiwi’s manoeuvrability at slow speed continues to impress
• Luna Rossa continue to impress of the chalengers
• Mistakes mount up for American Magic
• Pace of INEOS Britannia still a concern

Orient Express Racing Team leads Alinghi Red Bull Racing. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 1 Orient Express Racing Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

With both boats pulled up onto the foils ahead of the start you may expect a relatively cagey and conservative start as both teams look to stay on the foils. But as Alinghi Red Bull Racing chose to lead back to the start, Orient Express Racing Team were looking pretty aggressive, looking to bear away behind the Swiss-flagged Alinghi and get a hook on them to leeward.

The French team didn’t manage to fully get underneath the Swiss, but they push them back enough that Alinghi’s only real option was to tack away or be early to the startline and end up over the line. Alinghi tacked off and started the race on port at the windward end of the startline with the French team on starboard at the port end.

It was quickly clear just why Delapierre and Pepponet had been quite so aggressive out of the start as the left hand side of the beat was clearly favoured. At the first cross Orient Express Racing Team had pulled out a 150m lead and, protecting the left at each cross this lead grew throughout the first beat.

For a time during the first downwind it looked as through Alinghi might be able to make a pass as they picked up a decent puff and started taking metres out of the French team. And as the French gybed in front of them at the boundary, things sounded very tense onboard Orient Express, as they got a bit wobbly in the gybe, but they held on and that was about as close as it got.

Orient Express did a good job of protecting the favoured left side and took the win by 24 seconds.

“It’s a really good feeling. It’s just the first match but it’s good for this team,” said a pleased Delapierre after the finish. “Well done to the cyclors, they’ve done an amazing job, they pushed so hard and they delivered this race for us.”

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 1?

The Round Robin portion of the Louis Vuitton Cup will see one team knocked out with the remaining four challengers going into the Louis Vuitton Semi Final matches. Although they have bought a design package from Emirates Team New Zealand, so their boat can be referred to as a sistership of the Defender, many believed the French were the most likely to be the first boat knocked out of the series.

Although the French boat is something of a sistership, the relative size of this team plus the (comparative) lack of funding makes developing the boat difficult for them, so it’s perhaps better to think if this as a Generation 3 AC75, but many of the other teams have developed their boats to a generation 3.5. Plus the French getting their boat last means they are the least prepared team in terms of manouvers.

All that being said, this race showed what we saw in the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta – this can be a quick boat in a straight line and it’s not a given they will be knocked out.

For their part Alinghi will be happy to have stayed in touch on a one-sided race course, but losing the first race is far from ideal – especially against a team that they are likely to be fighting against to avoid elimination.

The Kiwis sneak past the Italians during a simultaneous gybe. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 2 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge

Straight out of the gate it looked as though Luna Rossa and New Zealand were not keen on engaging with each other in the start, with the Kiwis staying gauged well off to windward while Luna Rossa led back to the start. It was only with a handful of seconds to go did New Zealand bear away and head down to the start. Their late move essentially allowed Luna Ross to own the port end of the line and at the gun it was the Italian team to leeward with a touch more speed off the line.

It might have been a decent start for the Kiwis but the Italians had remained close enough to squeeze up to the Kiwis and force them to tack away well before the left hand boundary. From then on it looked as though neither team was interested in engaging at all with both boats happy to bounce off opposite boundaries on the first upwind and first downwind.

However, come the second beat, Spithill and Bruni were looking to protect the right and they performed a successful lee bow tack to force the kiwis back to the left. When the boats came to cross again, the Italians tried the same thing, but the Kiwis had gained a little and managed to go into a high mode and live off the Italian windward hip until both boats needed to tack back for the windward gate.

Both boats tacked simultaneously and Luna Rossa got a slight slide on their rudder which scrubbed a little speed through the manoeuvre and the Kiwis managed to pop out ahead and lead into the windward gate. “We are constantly fighting those slides with smaller and smaller foils, it happens,” said Bruni after the race.

Clearly there was a little issue for Luna Rossa in the tack but the Kiwis also seemed to glide through their tack for a long time, with the boat fairly downspeed. We’ve seen this from the Defender before during the pre-start when up against INEOS Britannia in the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta, it’s a very impressive little down-speed mode that allows them to be very dangerous in close quarters tacking.

From there the Kiwis stepped away a little and were never really troubled by the Italians to the finish, taking a 12 second win.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 2?

Given that the races against Emirates Team New Zealand do not count in this series – only wins / loses over other challengers will count towards progress in the series – it’s hard to take too much from these races. Clearly both teams were not really going for each other too aggressively.

As mentioned the downspeed manoeuvrability of Emirates Team New Zealand is starting to be a clear strength. Luna Rossa still looks plenty fast too. There’s nothing in this race to dissuade me of my view that these two are probably the two form teams.

If a picture could tell the story of a whole race. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 3 INEOS Britannia Vs American Magic

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

At the end of the second race of the day both Fancesco Bruni from Luna Rossa and Peter Burling from Emirates Team New Zealand talked about the wind being a little over range for the biggest sails that they had on “It was a tricky race to be honest. We thought it would be a bit lighter than it was and so we were a bit over range for the gear,” Burling said.

So when American Magic came out to the start of their race against Ainslie’s team it was, perhaps, not a huge surprise to see what looked like a smaller jib up – Tom Burton the American Magic coach, said they were not out of range with their sails although they “definitely don’t have our biggest sails up.”

However, the wind had been fluctuating all day and with it down to around 6-8 knots in the startbox it was quickly a disaster for the American-flagged team as they dropped off the foils with over a minute to go until the start.

It took them all that time and more to get foiling again and with the race underway by a few seconds, they finally got foiling and managed to cross the startline fully 700m behind the Brits.

Both teams had moments of struggle staying on the foils and looked wobbly at times and it was a tense old affair. Throughout the course of the race Slingsby and Goodison managed to hunt down the Brits hauling them in metre by metre. By the final downwind American Magic were within a couple of hundred metres of the Brits and, picking up a decent puff on the last downwind, looked like they could possibly threaten for the lead.

But the Brits held on and crossed the finish line a couple of seconds to the good.  “It’s good and time to get points on the board, but the American’s did well to get back into the race, there’s certainly plenty to work on,” said Ainslie after the racing.

“It was really frustrating as in the start area it was really light airs and nothing like at the top of the course. We almost got back into it there, but ran out of time,” concluded Slingsby.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 3?

Realistically this race was over a full minute before the start… or at least it should have been. Starting 700m adrift and getting back to be in the fight by the finish will be about the most positive loss American Magic could imagine. This team still looks quick but increasingly the feeling is they are a little prone to mistakes.

This race might not show the total lack of pace you might think for the Brits. With that size of a lead, tactically you just want to stop the team behind getting any separation and you’re typically happy to throw away metres in order to stay between your opponent and the next mark or finish. With that in mind, the performance difference here is probably much enhanced. But still, I don’t get the impression that Luna Rossa or the Kiwis would get hauled in in that manner.

Luna Rossa lead Orient Express Racing shortly after the start of their march. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 4 Orient Express Racing Team Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

Having got a race win under their belts the French would take on the might of Luna Rossa for their second race of the day. And Delapierre and Pepponet showed their naivety in the pre-start. It was very light once again and the French chose to lead back to the startline very, very early, quickly putting themselves in a very difficult position with a large gap to windward and needing to scrub a bit of time to not be over the line.

It was a pretty simple job for Spithill and Bruni to gauge well off the windward and hold the gap until the right moment to bear away and accelerate to the line at the start. Orient Express did manage to build speed reasonably well, but starting to leeward, without any chance to squeeze up to Luna Rossa and force them to tack off, was not a great place to be. As both teams got to the left hand boundary for the first time, Luna Rossa was able to tack right on the face of the French, who then had no option but to sit in the dirty air of the Italians.

By the time the French were able to tack away they were fully 200m behind already. From there it all looked pretty easy for the Italians to hold their gap and walk away with the win. “It’s good to get the win on the board. The French are very dangerous in those conditions so we’re pleased to get the win,” said Spithill after the finish.

There was a moment on the penultimate downwind where Luna Rossa got a bit of ventilation on their rudder that may have caused an issue but the team quickly got things back under control. “The guys did a fantastic job to get the boat back under control. These boats are pushed to the limit so mistakes are easy,” explained Bruni.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 4?

The French had a poor start and really it was all over from there. We did see a couple of manoeuvring errors from the French, including not getting the mast properly rotated during a gybe. These are the sort of things they’ll want to get ironed out but leaving the day with a win and a loss is not too bad for this young team. They’ll be happy that they managed to stop the gap to the Italians completely blowing up, which once again firms up their inherent striaghtline boat speed.

“It’s a good day today,” concluded Delapierre. “Against the Italians it was way better than it has been, so that’s really encouraging.”

The ventilation issue for Luna Rossa was the result of getting a little too high in the gybe. But that coupled with the rudder skid they had in race one against the Kiwis might be a bit of a concern. Obviously smaller foils are quicker but less stable. But the Italians continue to look fast, and walk away from the day having won the only race that matters for them today.

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The fourth and final day of racing in the 37th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta 2024 saw very tricky conditions for the foiling AC75 monohulls today, Sunday 25 August.

It wasn’t hugely breezy with the wind once again in the mid-low teens, but the unstable wind from the east and a big confused sea state, meant teams would have a lot to do to keep their foiling beasts in control. And with the technical issues we’ve seen on a number of boats so far, the possibility for a breakage loomed large. This close to the Louis Vuitton Cup major damage would spell disaster for any of the America’s Cup challengers.

Although the racing got underway in winds that were in the teens, the forecast was for this breeze to drop throughout the day and, sure enough, by the final race of the day windspeed was closer to 7 knots, with the seaway still fairly significant.

Key takeaways from America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Day 4

• Based on the results, the two strongest teams in the 2021 America’s Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli remain the top two
• But American Magic is absolutely up at the same level as these two, if not quicker
• Orient Express Racing Team and INEOS Britannia are pretty evenly matched at the slower end of the Challengers

American Magic lead Emirates Team New Zealand. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 13 American Magic Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

It was a disappointing day for American Magic on day three of the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta after a technical rudder failure forced them to retire before their race even got underway. But they came out swinging for today. The US-flagged boat has a clear plan to get to the left of the course early, led the Kiwis back to the start and got off the line to leeward of Emirates Team New Zealand.

“We made a pretty big error in the prestart and led back too early, which gave an easy lead to the American’s and they made the most of that opportunity,” Ray Davies explained during the race. “I felt like we had an okay start but got a wrong shift early in the race and that was it,” explained Burling at the end of the race.

The kiwis were forced to tack away and by the time the boats had their first cross, the Americans had a solid lead. We’ve seen Goodison and Slingsby happy to let their opponents get a bit of leverage on them and here again we saw them back themselves not putting a tight cover on the Kiwis. As we’ve seen throughout the racing so far in Barcelona passes are few and far between and we saw it again today with the US-flagged boat extending significantly over Burling and Outteridge in the Kiwi AC75.

What did we learn from the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Race 13?

This race absolutely confirms the Patriot is a very, very fast boat. The Kiwis are widely rumoured to be as quick as ever, but American Magic looked like a rocket ship in this opening race. It’s tricky to make too many assumptions when the boat behind is forced to the wrong side of the course, but Patriot looked quick upwind and on a single downwind leg the Americans pulled out 15 seconds over Emirates Team New Zealand.

“When we sail well, there’s a lot of potential in this team,” a satisfied Slingsby said after racing. “We’ve had a few set backs this event, but it’s really good to finish on a high.

For their part, Emirates Team New Zealand won’t be too worried about their first loss of this regatta. Assuming American Magic is one of the fastest challengers – which the racing we’ve seen so far would indicate – the Kiwis looked quick enough that had they won the start they probably could have won the race.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 14 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

Jimmy Spithill may well be one of the best match racing skippers in the world, but even the best of us make mistakes and it looked as though the Italian team made a major error in the pre-start of this race. Luna Rossa were a little early coming back to the startline. That early lead back put them in a vulnerable sport and Alinghi were able to accelerate around behind the Italians and push them back to the start to be over the line early.

Not only did Luna Rossa have to tack and head back downwind to re-cross the startline, they compounded the error by not fully recrossing the start and were called back by the umpires again. By the time Spithill and Bruni actually managed to get their boat underway Alinghi was long, long gone.

Just when you thought this would be another race that was over before it even began, Alinghi make their own mistake as they got too high out of the water during a gybe, lost grip with the rudder to dramatically splash down. For the briefest moment it looked as though Alinghi may well capsize, but they managed to get their boat under control. Spithill and Bruni pounced on the opportunity to sail round the bow of Alinghi, but with Alinghi luffing slightly, Luna Rossa picked up a windward / leeward penalty!

The gap between the two boats looked plenty big enough, but these boats have an electronic boundary around them that prevents them getting too close. With the closing speeds this high, it’s a needed safety feature for match racing on 75ft foiling monsters, but to a sailor’s eye it is a little odd.

By the time the pently and mistake had shaken out, both teams rounded opposite sides of the leeward gate and set off on the second upwind leg almost dead even. What followed was some of the closest action we’ve seen in the regatta to date as a tacking duel takes place between the two teams on the beat and a beautiful tack from Alinghi right on the face of Luna Rossa is about as impressive as it gets. However, it’s Luna Rossa who come out of the exchange slightly ahead picking up a decent shit at the top of the course to lead around the windward gate.

From here the Italian team never really look back – although Alinghi do a good job of pushing them all the way to the finish. “Talk about doing it the hard way,” said Jimmy Spithill to his team as they cross the finish line. “Sorry about that,” he adds referring to the startline error.

What did we learn from the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Race 14?

Alinghi showed a decent turn of of pace here and it was a very, very impressive pre-start for the team, really forcing the error from Luna Rossa. By right that should have been the race won. The Swiss-flagged team also showed enough pace to stay ahead of the favoured Luna Rossa.

“It was a bit difficult for us with the waves today, so we just have to get back to to [practicing],” Maxime Bachelin said after racing and it’s fair to Alinghi looked a little less slick than the Italians when the pressure was on.

Luna Rossa continue to look a class act and winning a race when you’ve made such a significant error in the start will be a real confidence boost for Spithill, Bruni and Co.

tight racing between the British and the French. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 15 INEOS Britannia Vs Orient Express Racing

Skippers INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Oreint Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet

The British team really came out fighting and get a piece of the French team forcing a port / starboard penalty in the opening exchanges. By rights that should have been a significant boost for the Brits as the French would be forced to drop behind Ainslie’s crew immediately after the start.

With the penalty done INEOS Britannia looked happy to let the French do their own thing. However, in a quite remarkable error, the British team, totally unchallenged by their competitor, managed to be over the line early and have to make a dip back. Not only that, but starting at the leeward end looked to be an error with Orient Express Racing at the windward end, they were looking strong. Sure enough at the first cross there was a decent lead for the French.

The French team did a good job of the beat and managed to lead at the top mark by dint of making one less manoeuvre.  But their gybing was not quite as slick on the downwind and INOES Britannia managed to take the lead, although it remained very tight between the two teams. “It’s super tricky conditions. If you drop one tack or gybe it could be all over so it is pretty nerve racking for both of the teams,” explained “Rob Wilson of the conditions.

There were certainly some wobbly looking manoeuvres from both teams as the wind dropped off towards the tail end of the race, and from the French in particular who have a smaller jib than the Brits. But the race finished without any more major drama with a win for the Brits, who managed to keep a decent cover on their French rivals and finished the race with a decent lead.

“We were in the fight today which is good, I did think we were a little underpowered so that made the difference,” explained Quentin Delapierre after the finish.

What did we learn from the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Race 15?

Unforced errors by the British team are a concern and will be added to the list of concerns for Ainslie’s squad, but a second win at least makes their regatta look a little more respectable. Certainly INEOS looked to have some decent pace at the very tail end of the race, so that will be something to hold onto.

From what we’ve seen so far this was a race between the two weakest Challengers for this America’s Cup and neither team looked all that much stronger than the other. Mistakes from the Brits let the French take the lead and vice versa. Neither boat looked particularly faster than the other either. Lots to do for both of these teams.

It was a close and thrilling final between New Zealand and Italy. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Final – Emirates Team New Zealand Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge

A repeat of the 2021 America’s Cup saw the Italian and New Zealand teams get stuck into one another straight away and it was Burling and Outteridge who came out in top in the opening exchanges and managed to put a port / starboard penalty on Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.

Both boats tacked straight onto port on the startline, Luna Rossa to try to clear their distance penalty by dropping back after the tack, and Emirates Team New Zealand to prevent that happening. Thus Luna Rossa were forced to foot off downwind a bit to clear their penalty and it was a solid advantage to the Kiwis on the first leg.

The gap between the pair goes up and down a little in the puffy, skightly shifty conditions, but for much of the race, the Kiwis hold a 200m lead over the Italians and, as the race progresses it looks increasingly like Spithill and Bruni will need a mistake from Burling and Outteridge to pick up the win.

A slight overlay by the kiwis on the penultimate downwind leg could be the opening needed and it saw Luna Rossa really close in on the New Zealanders and as they tack immediately around the leeward gate it’s starting to look very close. Up the final beat there’s a tacking duel up the left hand boundary with the Kiwis coming in on starboard and then performing a leebow tack to force Italy to tack away again.

After the next tack, the Kiwis try to do the same again and the Italians try to accelerate to leeward of the Kiwis in an attempt to get a leeward hook on them. However, they’re deemed to have got too lose to the stern of the New Zealanders and so are penalised themselves (this truly could have gone either way and for my money if it wasn’t for the electric boundaries on the boats, Luna Rossa would probably have been called in the right). But Luna Rossa is quick and even having scrubbed off the penalty they looked to have taken the lead.

However, as Luna Rossa try to get over the top of New Zealand, with both boats on port and Luna Rossa to windward, New Zealand manage to get a luff on the Italians and force another penalty. It remains tight to the finish, but ultimately it’s Emirates Team New Zealand who take the win and claim the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta spoils.

“We made that a lot harder than we should have,” said Outteridge after the racing. “It’s awesome to see such a tight, tactical race, but it was good action, a good battle and lots for us to review.”

“It sure was a match race,” Spithill agreed. “I think with this wind direction and wave state it certainly showed there were some passing lanes, which we haven’t seen to date. Congratulations to Emirates Team New Zealand on the win.”

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The third day of racing for the 37th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta 2024 got underway in 11 knots today in Barcelona providing solid foiling conditions for the AC75 monohulls that was forecast to briefly build, then ease, over the course of the afternoon.

The first two days of America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta racing have seen wins for Emirates Team New Zealand, American Magic, Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli with both INEOS Britannia and Orient Express Racing Team failing to get a score on the board. No question – pressure is building for those teams – how would they handle Day 3?

Key takeaways from America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Day 3

• INEOS Britannia win a race and demonstrate improved downwind speed
• American Magic suffer a rudder failure – reliability looks set to remain a major factor for the AC75s
• Boundary penalties scupper INEOS Britannia for their second race of the day
• Italians appear to have the most complete package among the Challengers
• Kiwis continue to look dominant, and confident

INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli dial up on Day 3 of the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta. Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 9 INEOS Britannia Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher

The opening race of Day 3 saw INEOS Britannia go into the pre-start handling their AC75 with confidence despite yesterday’s difficulties. INEOS Britannia got the best of the start, leading Alinghi across the line. Immediately helm Dylan Fletcher could be heard discussing the need to get to the right-hand side, which has proven time and time again to be the favoured side in these Barcelona conditions.

In the first true speed race we’ve seen of this Preliminary Regatta. both boats looked evenly matched up the first beat, Alinghi squeezing INEOS off and taking the favoured right-hand side, while the Brits opted to protect boat speed and bailed out to the left hand side of the course. When the two boats came back together, Alinghi crossed ahead, but INEOS took the right with a click more speed – would we see the first place changes of the regatta?

INEOS indeed gained back to lead around the first mark rounding and began to extend slightly away, covering Alinghi to the downwind gate. On each downwind leg they gained a few hundred metres, on each upwind Alinghi tried to chip back at their advantage. But at the close the Swiss team were 30 seconds behind.

What did we learn from the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Race 9?

The main takeaway from this race for British fans will be that INEOS Britannia has found some pace, certainly against Alinghi. INEOS Britannia coach Rob Wilson noted during a mid-race link that while downwind boat speed was now looking strong for the team, they were still seeking a few more gains upwind.

We’ve no idea what might’ve been said in Wilson’s debrief last night, but Ainslie and Fletcher came out fighting today and were sailing smartly. Communication between the two sounded clear and confident – discussing whether, for example, to cover Alinghi or take the favoured layline, there  was no sense of panic despite the team’s urgent need for a point on the board. “A bit better,” was Ainslie’s understated response.

The race was also once of the closest we’ve seen –  in the early stages at least – with place changes on the first beat and the boats evenly matched enough that one single minor boat handling slip would have handed the advantage over.

Sail selection is also starting to become a factor – with a variable breeze forecast and two races scheduled for INEOS Britannia today, the British boat opted for a smaller mainsail than the Swiss. There’s also some evident variations in headsails between the teams – something which will no doubt be endlessly refined over the coming weeks.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing chasing hard on Day 3 of the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta. Photo: Ricardo Pinto/AC37

Race 10 American Magic Vs Orient Express Racing Team

Skippers
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet

Tech gremlins reared their head for American Magic almost immediately after they entered the start box, with helms Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison saying they had ‘lost the rudder’. The USA team swiftly retired, and the race was halted, letting the French take their first win.

What did we learn from the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Race 10?

Much as the French were desperate to get a point on the scoreboard, this is not how they will have wanted to do it. After a series of starting disasters, the French need a true race to gauge themselves against the other AC75s.

For the US team it’s unclear how serious an issue this could is – the we’ve seen minor electrical and mechanical failures across a couple of teams over the past couple of days, but a reasonably loud bang was audible on the video transmission, which indicates something physically broke on Patriot – helm Goodison said they had suddenly lost rudder rake control. Systems and components reliability is likely to be a significant challenge for the challengers with a long series to keep their AC75s going through.

Rudder issues for American Magic on Day 3 of the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Race 11  Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher

This was a big one for the Brits – lining up against one of the strongest teams – could they maintain their positive momentum from today’s opening race win?

Unfortunately, it didn’t get off to a great beginning, with the Brits picking up an early entry penalty in the pre-start by a fraction of their bowsprit. The two boats engaged with an evenly matched start, with INEOS Britannia just leading across the line. The Brits then went for a low mode, trying to expunge their pre-start penalty (in metres), only to pick up a second boundary penalty in the early stages of the first beat.

On the back foot from the outset, they were 200m behind half way up the first beat. As Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli stretched out ahead, viewers were treated to the return of the Spithill and Bruni double act, as the Italian co-helms calmly discussed their tactics with their characteristically relaxed comms style. Italians won by 46 seconds.

What did we learn from the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Race 11?

This is a Preliminary Regatta and is the first real opportunity for teams to test elements like viewing the virtual boundaries while under the pressure of being on course with another boat. Having said that, the Brits will be deeply frustrated to be picking up unforced errors, and there is no room for any such mistakes once the points start to really count.

With no boat-on-boat engagement to watch in this race, all eyes were on the relatively boat speeds, and one thing the Brits will be able to take away with some positivity from an otherwise disappointing race was that their downwind speed seemed to stem any major further losses on the offwind legs.

After racing Dylan Fletcher commented: “It was definitely a tough pill to swallow – we thought we were safe on it [the boundary] but obviously not by enough.

“After that we were quite happy with the start, to beat the Italians at that point, but then it was tough from there being on the wrong jib and with that early penalty.”

The Italians, meanwhile, continue to look like a class act, the boat demonstrating a fast, wave-skimming mode, while Bruni and Spithill’s partnership – the most long-standing of any of the co-helms in this Cup – seems to have only improved with time.

Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand looking strong on Day 3 of the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta. Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

Race 12 Emirates Team New Zealand Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge 
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

This race start will be one that Arnaud Psarofaghis can look back on fondly, holding his nerve against the Defenders to force them to split to the far end of the line, the Swiss marginally getting the better jump on the start gun. But the Kiwis swiftly demonstrated their superiority, sticking a tack right on top of the Alinghi team and bouncing them off to the left hand side of the course in the early stages of Leg 1.

From then it was all over for the Swiss, ETNZ stretching out their lead on every leg in the softening breeze.

What did we learn from the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta Race 11?

It’s not a new observation: but Emirates Team New Zealand continue to demonstrate that they are going to be very, very hard to beat. They’ve won every race they’ve started, and they’re sounding ominously relaxed – it’s hard not to imagine that there is a lot more in the tank for the Kiwi boat.

This race did show that if a Challenger can engage them in the pre-start, there are opportunities to be taken – and with the fate of so many races sealed by halfway up the first beat, an early advantage could put the Defenders on the back foot. But Emirates Team New Zealand’s boat speed and boat handling means they once they have the upper hand, they’re not giving it up.

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