RACE REPORTS FROM DAY 2 OF THE PRELIMINARY REGATTA, SARDINIA

Yesterday, the sea state was an issue for all the teams, especially as the afternoon wore on and we saw some dramatic incidents on the downwind legs with loose gybes off the boundaries and plenty of nose-diving. Remember, the AC40 is capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots and the best sailors in the world are pushing them harder than they have ever been pushed before to get an advantage in this ulta-competitive regatta.

Today’s sea-state is again set to build on the back of wind-chop with averages in the opening races of around 0.3m but by the end of the afternoon, Race Director Iain Murray said in the briefing this morning that we could again see wave heights of around 0.7 metres with a short, 4 second period that will again make manoeuvres tricky - especially downwind.

The racing is all set to be spectacular again. By the end of the day, after six races, we will have a very clear indication of who is really in contention for the overall title.

Last night we ended up with four teams on 20 points, and one stand-out leader in the form of the Luna Rossa Women & Youth Team. They are the target now, and Italy holds its breath for the hometown favourites to deliver on the biggest stage of them all here in Sardinia.

Starting times today have been brought forward by a few minutes with the first start at 3.10pm CEST and then scheduled starts at 3.46pm and 4.27pm CEST.

Teams are allowed to request one delay ‘card’ of 5 minutes and Chief Umpire Richard Slater confirmed that we have seen GB1, Athena Pathway and Luna Rossa 2 play that option yesterday due to technical reasons. That leaves the rest of the fleet still with a delay card option but removes the option for those teams going forward through the weekend.

Race Reporting will be LIVE here throughout the afternoon:

RACE 4 - 3.10pm Race Start

A blistering opening race of day 2 that saw one of the greatest arm wrestles ever seen in AC40 racing as Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa 2 went toe-to-toe over six legs of the course in an almost private match race.

In the pre-start, Luna Rossa Women & Youth fell off the foils and also reported software issues onboard to start late, some 700 metres behind the fleet, and effectively out of the running. ETNZ Women & Youth, led by Erica Dawson & Jake Pye led the chasing pack and took advantage of others’ misfortune but the story was all about the heavyweight contest up front. Initially Peter Burling and Ruggero Tita held the advantage having started cleanly and controlled the right side of the course, rounding the first mark in the lead and taking the chasing pack with them off the starboard windward gate, but Nathan Outteridge and Seb Menzies were determined to keep clear air and split to take the starboard gate. That clawed the gap back so by the first leeward gate, the Italian lead was cut.

On the second beat, Outteridge & Menzies hung left and came back on a good shift and at the cross, ducked underneath Luna Rossa’s stern but headed right to come back on a starboard advantage. That was crucial. At the second top mark, ETNZ came in on starboard and tacked right on the face of Luna Rossa, forcing them away and from there, although it was tight, ETNZ were never headed. This was a stunning performance by the two pre-regatta favourites and after a two-board gybe on the left boundary that was certainly not their best, the two flew down the 1.2nm course neck and neck. A symo gybe at the leeward gate and then a gybe back from Luna Rossa could arguably be where the Italians lost the race, but the final beat was close. ETNZ squeaked around the top mark just ahead and then again it was split tactics down the final run to the finish. A close port/starboard forced Luna Rossa to take the Kiwis’ transom before coming back onto the finish layline on starboard gybe. ETNZ saw it, kept the power on, came across on port and then executed a crash gybe across the line to perfection. Big win for Emirates Team New Zealand.

Race 5

An incredibly complex and compelling race ensued in a falling sea-breeze that made boat-handling incredibly difficult on the J3 (smallest) jibs that all the teams ran. Off the start-line it was Athena Pathway with Hannah Mills and Ellie Aldridge getting clean away on starboard with Luna Rossa 1 of Marco Gradoni and Margherita Porro. It was a split fleet start with the La Roche-Posay Racing Team heading out right on port tack and making the best of it when the fleet came back together. By the first mark, the Fremch team were on a tear and rounded clear at the left gate with Luna Rossa 1 taking the right gate and finding more pressure down the left side of the first run. By the time the two front-runners came back together, Luna Rossa 1 were clear ahead and looking imperious but jeopardy abounded in the softening breeze.

On the gybe into the final layline, both La Roche-Posay Racing Team and Luna Rossa 1 fell off the foils and opened the door to ETNZ 1 who took the right gate, whilst Athena Pathway kept their air clear and sailed around the left gate (looking down the course). Heading upwind, crucially, Athena Pathway clicked into breeze coming off the right and immediately strode into a 100-metre lead. The fast-charging Luna Rossa 2 caught a penalty on Tudor Team Alinghi who were still to round the second gate. By the second windward gate, Athena Pathway had a lead of 200 metres, and the Race Committee began to shorten the legs down to 1.1nm. Burling & Tita rounded in second simultaneously with Gradoni & Porro with Outteridge and Menzies keeping things tight in fourth. The rich got richer as Mills & Aldridge could sail their own race and pick their windshifts, but they had to cover the pack on the final beat with La Roche-Posay Racing Team hanging out to the left of the course. Coming into the right gate with pace and poise, Athena Pathway rounded cleanly whilst the French struggled on the layline and almost came off the foils.

The pressure was on for second as the British streaked away to a tremendous win by some 37 seconds. The fight for second was real though between the Italian Women & Youth, La Roche-Posay Racing Team and ETNZ 1 right to the death with the Italians executing a final gybe and two-board-down manoeuvre that forced a 20 second penalty onto the French right on the finish line.. ETNZ were the big beneficiaries, taking third and keeping their championship hopes alive. Elsewhere, Tudor Team Alinghi capsized on a mis-communicated foil raise on a gybe, and GB1 were recorded as a ‘Did Not Start’ due to technical issues.  

Race 6

We’re getting to the business end of the regatta now and the pressure was all on at the start line in Race 6 with Luna Rossa Women & Youth making the best of it mid-line with Athena Pathway, but Emirates Team New Zealand came out at the starboard end of the line on a glamour angle in clear air and established an early, albeit slim lead. This was big fleet racing at its maximum and very dependent on wind reading. Gradoni and Porro looked strong initially but in the final quarter of the beat, ETNZ 1 took control to round just ahead of the chasing pack and led down the first run to stretch to a 50-metre lead by the first leeward gate. With the wind coming from the right, the leaders headed that way but Luna Rossa 1 set-up for a starboard tack drag race, slightly to windward and slowly ground into the lead of ETNZ 1. When the Kiwis went over the layline, Luna Rossa 1 tacked underneath and forced a split at the second windward gate with ETNZ taking another manoeuvre and tacking around the left-hand gate, as Luna Rossa bore away on the right.

On the second run, as the two leaders came back together, it was the Italians who had nailed their gybe out left (looking downwind) and held the starboard advantage. It was a compound of the lead change at the top of the mark but instead of covering, Luna Rossa 1 decided to let the Kiwis go out to the left and then promptly sailed into a wind-hole. Outteridge & Menzies capitalised, gybing back into a 200-metre lead and looked set to win the race at a canter.

But Luna Rossa 1 wasn’t done yet and up the final windward leg just chipped away at the lead, coming into the final gate and deciding on a split bear -away after ETNZ had elected to take the right-hand gate. This was the crucial moment. The Italians saw wind out to the right side of the course downwind, bore away on the left marker and clicked into it immediately. The boatspeed rose, and a poor gybe by the Kiwis on the left boundary that saw them head up high to stay on the foils, gave the opening that Gradoni & Porro were looking for. The lead change was on and it was immediately 120 metres as the boats swapped boundaries ahead of the final gybe to the finish. Both nailed their gybes, Luna Rossa 1 bore away hard on starboard gybe and came across to a fabulous 11 second victory and seal their place in the standings overnight as the stand-out leaders of the Louis Vuitton 38^th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta, Sardinia. Can anyone catch them?