PRADA CUP FINAL, DAY 2 - MORNING BRIEFING
With two wins on the scoreboard Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli came away having stamped their authority on the first day of the PRADA Cup Final. Their performance was impressive, slick, balanced and surefooted around both of the six leg courses.
The Italian crew had also demonstrated that they were as comfortable in 7 knots of wind as they were in 17 and that whatever modifications they had made during the break between the Semi-Final and this stage, they had simply improved an already slick machine and refined their boat handling and on board communications.
Their opponents INEOS TEAM UK had struggled, especially in the first race. And in the second, while they had good speed, it was not sufficiently better than the Italians’ to eat into a leading advantage of just a few seconds.
After so many questions about what might be in store for the PRADA Cup Final, Day 1 showed us that when the breeze is up these two boats are as evenly matched as many expected.
But today is a different day, especially when you look at the weather forecast and where the racing will take place.
The breeze looks like being around 14-16kts from the NE at the start of the first race of the day with the potential for gusts to over 20kts. So, while the steady breeze is similar to yesterday, the potential for big gusts takes the conditions up a notch.
“The breeze has been blowing from the Northeast all night so that, combined with a spring ebb tide that will be running strong against the breeze until just before start time will build a big sea state,” said Regatta Director Iain Murray. “It is for that reason that we have moved to Course Area E where the sea state will be flatter.
“Although we haven’t had official racing here before, the teams have trained here a lot and we have had practice racing here too. It’s a great stretch of water to race on.”
Course E is around 20km east of Auckland, between Waiheke and the mainland and while its more sheltered location allows for flatter water, the breeze could well be more shifty. And with the forecast for gusts, reading the conditions correctly will be crucial.
In the Round Robin phase of the competition we saw how INEOS TEAM UK excelled in similar conditions when North Head was the tricky corner of the course, the big question today is whether the British Team will repeat that performance and redress the balance, or whether Luna Rossa will continue to demonstrated that they have the upper hand.