FINAL DAY LIVE RACE REPORTS – SUPER SUNDAY AHEAD OF THE MATCH RACE FINAL

The format for the day is simple. We have two fleet races – and the great news is that GB1’s excellent shore team has repaired the issues from yesterday and will be racing – and after the two fleet races have concluded, the top two boats with the greatest number of points in this high-scoring regatta, will contest a one-on-one, one race, match-race final. The pressure to perform and the weight of expectation on those two teams will be intense.

Of note, is that the winning boat overall in the fleet racing will have the option as to which end of the starting line they would like to approach from in the match-race final. This could be a critical decision as in match-racing, if a boat comes into the starting box from the port (left) side, they do so at 2 minutes and 10 seconds. The starboard (right) hand entry comes in at 2 minutes but with the right of way, being on starboard gybe. Depending on the wind strength, the teams may well have differing strategies depending on the number of manoeuvres they wish to perform, so it will be interesting to see which end of the line the winning boat selects.

Yesterday, no team played their delay card, so Luna Rossa 1 Women & Youth, La Roche-Posay Racing Team, Tudor Team Alinghi and both ETNZ 1 and ETNZ Women & Youth have that option in their armoury if they should need it. GB1, Athena Pathway and Luna Rossa 2 played their delay cards on Friday.

The leaderboard is tight, and there is all to play for in this high scoring regatta with ten points for first, down to 3 points for 8th. The fight for a place in the top two is real.

Racing gets underway at 3.10pm with the second fleet race of the day at 3.46pm. The match-race Final is scheduled to start at 4.27pm – all times subject to change. Post race reports will be posted here as soon as possible after the winning boat crosses the finish line.

The Race Village and FanZone Lazzaretto open at 12pm and with it being Sunday, we are expecting record crowds. Sardinia has turned on the style as the first stiop on the ‘Road to Naples.’ Let the action begin.

Race 7 - 3.10pm:

Race 7
With so much pressure to perform, Luna Rossa 1 Women & Youth were expected to stay in the process and sail a conservative race to a place in the Final. It was not to be, a narrow OCS gave them an initial penalty and then, battling reported software issues onboard, first they gained an additional get back penalty for not completing their penalty within a minute, another and then ultimately a disqualification with Chief Umpire Richard Slater calling the Italian team off the course. With that drama going on, GB1 made the best of a crowded start line in 10 knots of shifting, fading and building breeze that tested the sailors to the maximum on their wind-reading abilities. For GB1’s Dylan Fletcher and Ben Cornish, once ahead, it was a case of painting the picture between them and executing. Over six legs they were never headed despite charges from both the La Roche-Posay Racing Team and the team with everything to gain, Luna Rossa 2 of Peter Burling & Ruggi Tita. The Italians knew that not only did they need a good result, they also had to stay ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand 1 who were languishing in fourth place all the way around the course. On the second upwind leg, La Roche-Posay Racing team closed down on Luna Rossa 2 and at the windward gate (Mark 3) squeezed inside them on the layline to the right hand gate marker and seized second place whilst GB1 sailed off to a 16 second lead.

There was little that Burling & Tita could do until the very last windward gate rounding where they elected to split and took the port (left) gate whilst the French went to the starboard (right) gate. It was a telling move. The Italians found pressure out on the right side of the course (looking downwind) and came back to cross narrowly behind La Roche-Posay Racing Team but crucially could get to the left of the course and come back to the finish with the starboard gybe, right-of-way advantage. Right at the death, Luna Rossa 2 squeezed in by just 2 seconds to take an absolutely vital second place to tighten up the leaderboard and put everything onto the final race. Luna Rossa Women & Youth score zero points to sit on 55, ETNZ 1 are second on 54 points and Luna Rossa 2 are on 53 points. All to play for.

Race 8
After a DSQ in the first race of the day, Luna Rossa Women & Youth needed a race to consolidate their standing at the top of the table but elected for a high-risk port-end, port-tack start that failed spectacularly. Chief Umpire Richard Slater called them over and asked them to re-start putting them right at the back of the fleet and their hopes and dreams were effectively over.

The tale of the race was the big beasts of the America’s Cup, Peter Burling & Ruggi Tita on Luna Rossa 2 against Nathan Outteridge and Seb Menzies on ETNZ 1 and it was the Italians that stretched out into a lead off the start and never looked back. Quite simply they were sensational over six legs of the course, fending off the hard-charging La Roche-Posay Racing Team who had Tudor Team Alinghi and GB1 keeping them honest behind. With the wind stabilising across the course, it was less of a tactical battle and more of a boatspeed and handling race with the midfield remarkably consistent and offering up no passing lanes other than at the marks. Emirates Team New Zealand 1 were dicing on the borderline of the podium down in fifth place and staying just ahead of the ETNZ Women & Youth Team which was the crucial buffer to Luna Rossa 1 who closed in but couldn’t make a difference.

At the finish line, Luna Rossa 2 won by 11 seconds from the French, La Roche-Posay Racing Team who just squeaked ahead of GB1 on the line, with Tudor Team Alinghi in third – a fantastic result for the Swiss. Behind was ETNZ, who did just enough to make the Final that will see former team-mates Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge go head-to-head in a winners tales all match-race Final. In interview afterwards, Burling confirmed that they will take the port entry, coming into the starting box at 2 minutes and 10 seconds before Emirates Team New Zealand enters, 10 seconds later at 2 minutes. It’s a thrilling final between the biggest names in the America’s Cup.

MATCH RACE FINAL

The clash of the titans. With the course cleared and the breeze settled, both boats come into the starting box with precision bang on their allotted times and immediately went into circles before ETNZ headed off to the far right of the start box. Luna Rossa elected to lead back first, and the move was spotted by ETNZ who set up to leeward and then forced Luna Rossa to tack away with both boats having time to kill.

ETNZ ignored the circling Italians, confident that they could lose the distance on a timed run down to the pin end (starboard/left) marker buoy. It was close but the Kiwis were a second or two out on their timing and were forced to stuff the boat up to windward, over the line early and scoring a penalty whilst Luna Rossa came in perfectly mid-line and established an immediate 115 metre lead. Advantage to Luna Rossa who kept a close cover on ETNZ in 12-14 knots of breeze up the racecourse and rounded the first mark with a 13 second lead. Despite split tactics down the first run, the delta was maintained. On the second upwind leg, Luna Rossa covered hard and kept ETNZ bouncing up the left of the course with a lead of 140-150 metres.

It was textbook sailing from Peter Burling & Ruggi Tita who had full control and simply kept it tight. With clear air, the Italians capitalised effortlessly and by Mark 3, the delta was out to 15 seconds and growing as the Kiwis split tactics on the second downwind leg. No dice for the Kiwis on an even course but a scary moment came for the Italians on the final gybe into the starboard (right) gate as Luna Rossa splashed down and opened the door for ETNZ who cut the deficit on the water but still trailed by some 16 seconds.

Up the final windward leg it was a case of covering hard for Luna Rossa who kept ETNZ dead behind up the middle of the course, relentlessly funnelling disturbed air onto the Kiwis, resulting in a 25 second lead with just one leg to go. The Kiwis were praying for a mistake, but it never came and Peter Burling & Ruggero Tita drove hard, keeping a cover on ETNZ, and brought Luna Rossa 2 across the finish line and win the Louis Vuitton 38^th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta, Sardinia – the first stop on the ‘Road to Naples’ – with a 33 second, commanding victory. Luna Rossa 2 wins in Sardinia.