INEOS BRITANNIA AND LUNA ROSSA PRADA PIRELLI FACE OFF IN BIG BREEZE IN BARCELONA

Having won the last two encounters between the teams at the end of the Round Robin series, INEOS Britannia can arguably lay a claim to be favourites. The British have steadily improved round after round both in terms of boatspeed and tactics. Their starts have been bang on with Sir Ben Ainslie ruling the roost alongside the brilliance and calm of Dylan Fletcher. Furthermore, the team’s ability to live with the high-mode of Luna Rossa has been a major factor in their improvement.

Luna Rossa, meanwhile, survived a tough and tense fightback from NYYC American Magic in their Semi-Final and learned a lot about starting and tactical positioning from Tom Slingsby. They will certainly be better from the experience, and we are expecting pre-start fireworks from Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni.

Conditions are right at the upper end of the scale with 17-19 knots true south-westerly, a solid ‘Garbi’ with wind gusts expected to be higher. The sea-state is building with wave heights potentially getting to 1.3 metres by the second race.

It’s first to seven. The start of an epic battle. Strap in for the ride.

RACING IS ON SCHEDULE AND WILL START AT 14:10 CET. CHECK BACK HERE FOR LIVE UPDATES FROM THE RACECOURSE:

RACE 1

The breeze is in, and it’s up around the limit of 21 knots with a serious sea-state running but the racing gets underway with Luna Rossa dialling into the pre-start box from the port end, making the cross and heading out to the right boundary with INEOS Britannia following on their tail. ITA gybe on the boundary, followed by GBR and both boats start their final approach from deep and it’s Luna Rossa who are clear ahead and to windward, forcing GBR to tack off early. ITA continue before tacking to cover the British. Easy first cross for ITA who continue to the right boundary, letting GBR go to the middle-left of the course.

At the first windward gate, Luna Rossa rounds at speeds in excess of 50 knots with a 10 second leading delta. Both boats smoking down this first run in the breeze with ITA leading a long starboard gybe down the course before gybing onto the starboard layline for a two-board round-up and an 11 second lead. GBR go for an immediate tack around the mark and splashdown mid-tack, and giving more leverage to ITA who bounce off the right boundary and cover GBR who go far left.

GBR losing distance on the second beat and at the second windward mark, Luna Rossa bears-away at 52 knots with a commanding 25 second lead. A quick gybe on the left boundary sees both boats in a line on starboard gybe with ITA briefly touching down but surviving. GBR closing in with deep VMG angles and at the second leeward the lead is down to 18 seconds. A poor rounding from GBR again allows ITA to extend at the opening of leg five of this 8 lap race.

Both teams are minimising manoeuvres in the sea-state whilst unleashing the power of the AC75s and it’s pretty much a drag race up the right of the course in these classic ‘Garbi’ conditions. At the third windward mark Luna Rossa call a brilliant starboard layline and extend their lead to 36 seconds - an on-water distance of over 600 metres.GBR praying for a mistake from ITA to try and get an opening in this race but the Italians are sailing beautifully and executing well. By the third leeward gate and with two legs to go, Luna Rossa is clear ahead by 28 seconds - a small gain to the British after solid VMG running again.

No mistakes from the Italians up the final windward leg, they keep a loose cover on and protect the right side of the course. Bearing away around the final gate, the Italians are away and clear with a 42 second lead. Dominant performance with zero errors, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli come across the finish line to lead this Louis Vuitton Cup Final 1-0 and score the early psychological advantage. Final delta is 46 seconds.

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli bt INEOS Britannia (46 seconds)

Race 2

Can INEOS Britannia get into this series? That’s the question and with the breeze up and the sea-state increasing, it’s all set to be a thriller. Ahead of the start, and for the first time in this Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, the upper wind limit was breached meaning a delay to the start.

After a second delay for the wind, GBR come in from the port entry with ITA late at the starboard end. Both boats are being cautious with two boards down in the box and they dis-engage until GBR comes deep in the box with 40 seconds to go. ITA set up in the windward position with GBR aiming for the port end of the line. GBR cross the star-line first with IT going into super-high mode on the drag race to the left boundary. GBR first to tack and ITA tack immediately underneath.

On a long port to the right boundary, GBR look to be gauging to windward and more than capable of living with ITA in a drag race. At the tack on the boundary, GBR execute a brilliant face-plant, tacking right on the bow of ITA and forcing them to tack-away downspeed. GBR sail on and then come back on the port layline of the first windward gate and lead with a 7 second delta. A small touchdown on the bear away by GBR, opens up the start of the first run with the boats opting for split tactics initially.

At the first cross, GBR have gained, showing fantastic speed and deep angles downwind to open up almost a 300 metre lead. Just two gybes down the leg, GBR round up on two-boards with a lead of 17 seconds and head to the right side of the course, whilst ITA take the decision to go left up the second upwind leg. GBR have control of this race and take the opportunity to tack on the bow of ITA at the first cross. ITA making gains and build height on a drag race on port to the right boundary but GBR tack first and cross clear ahead.

On the starboard layline, GBR bear-away at the second windward gate with the delta down to just 7 seconds. A poor bear-away that results in GBR having to put two boards down to retain control, sees ITA on their tail having gybed first. A long starboard gybe down the course is an arm wrestle that GBR are winning with their superior downwind angles. At the second leeward gate, GBR’s delta is up to 13 seconds and the two boats split tactics on the third upwind with ITA heading to the right boundary.

GBR cover from the left and are clear ahead at the first cross and ignore the close cover, clicking into a good right shift. GBR’s lead is now the biggest it has been and Ainslie and Fletcher are able to sail pretty much their own race, picking the shifts well up this beat. Taking a nice port layline into the third windward mark, GBR round with a 10 second delta as ITA make a gain coming into the mark on the starboard layline.

Down the penultimate run, GBR again show their deep VMG running and convert that into a 300 metre lead as the Race Committee lengthens the legs to 1.9 nautical miles. Nailing the starboard layline, GBR exit the port marker (looking downwind) and head right initially up this last windward leg with a 15 second lead. ITA head to the left boundary. At the first cross, GBR well ahead and both boats head to the right boundary with GBR defending that side hard.

In the final approaches to the last windward gate, GBR drag race with ITA out to the port layline and bear-away at 51 knots with a 17 second lead. ITA now hoping for GBR to leave a door ajar but the British are in no mood for that and bounce off the left boundary for a long starboard gybe down the course. GBR, again showing their pace downwind and head over to the right boundary and nail the starboard layline to the finish. A neat final gybe was well-controlled by Luke Parkinson on GBR and the British soak down low and cross the finish line to level the series and score an 18 second win. Brilliant sailing from GBR - no mistakes.