INEOS Britannia Takes the Lead in Another Crucial Day of America’s Cup Racing

It has been a “Groundhog Day” series, with each boat winning a race each day until the British broke the logjam in brutal, wave-smashing conditions again in Barcelona. Following a day of carnage in which Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli pulled off a miraculous win after tearing apart their boat with a deep-dive plunge, INEOS Britannia bounced back to take two crucial wins to reach Match Point with a 6-4 lead in a best-of-13 series for the Louis Vuitton Cup.

It came down to just a couple of tiny mistakes by Luna Rossa to swing the pendulum in favor of INEOS Britannia as the Italians lost their rudder, smashing into a particularly massive wave that sent them into a power slide. They had been struggling with a smaller jib through much of the first race.

With the race incredibly even at this point, Luna Rossa went for a tack to the starboard marker and bore away hard at over 50 knots. Shortly after, though, the silver-hulled boat went into a sudden nosedive that brought the boat to an immediate halt.

Onboard cameras caught pieces of fairing around the jib-track area on the port side coming off through the sheer velocity of the impact, and Luna Rossa was forced to go head to wind as they tried to assess the damage. Their race over, the crew were quickly out of their cockpits with helmsman Jimmy Spithill the first on the scene to inspect the damage.

In order to take the win, INEOS Britannia was required to sail on and complete the course. But after two laps, while the British were on the fifth leg, the Italians announced their retirement and Chief Umpire Richard Slater awarded the race win to the British.

Immediately, Luna Rossa’s superb on-water support team and technicians jumped into action and boarded the yacht with reels of carbon fiber sheeting to effect repairs. In the second race, with the gusts up around 23 knots, Luna Rossa made no mistakes up and down the final two legs, covering loosely and flying virtually in a straight line to the finish with a magnificent win, crossing the line 16 seconds ahead!

“The important thing was that the guys were able to effect a repair to allow us to race that second race. It was quite a large open area so it would’ve been a huge performance hit if the guys weren’t able to fix it,” LRPP’s Spithill said. “The team has really been under some pressure a few times now and every time it feels like we’re responding even better.”

Unfortunately for the Italians, the jubilation from yesterday was short-lived as the momentum has flipped back to the Brits, who are in Match Point

The Italians spent the afternoon looking for flatter spots on the water (which were few and far between) to jibe or tack in as the sea state was more than lumpy gravy. It was a “nightmare with the waves,” Ainslie said. “We managed to keep these boats foiling in top-end, difficult conditions.”

Francesco Bruni, Jimmy Spithill’s co-helmsman aboard Luna Rossa, admitted, “We made a little mistake losing the grip on the rudder.” But he continued, “Every race is important. We know how good we are and honestly, I don’t feel any pressure!”

With solid breezes over the past three days of racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, a very different weather scene will be setting in by Friday, so any advantage the British may feel will probably be lost as the Italians now have their back against the wall. To make matters worse, two of the British “wins” were due to breakdowns on Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.

There is definitely more volume in Britannia, which, compared to the sleek, metallic, silver torpedo-shaped hull of the Italians’ Red Moon makes their boat look more like a destroyer for the “dark side” or a Mississippi River barge. As Sir Ben Ainslie commented, it is “… bloody hard to sail these boats in these waves!”

The day before, which ended with both teams locked at 4-4, the changing conditions had provided a real opportunity to capitalize on any weakness they could exploit. These teams are in extremely evenly matched boats, with only minor variables evident in terms of outright speed on specific legs of the course.

Barcelona is buzzing right now. Fanzones at Plaça del Mar and Bogatell have seen huge crowds passionately cheering for their teams, as around the world fans have been treated to some of the most spectacular racing seen anywhere on the planet, ever.

Yesterday’s top speed, recorded by INEOS Britannia on a bear-away — 55.6 knots — was the fastest recorded speed in an official race in America’s Cup history. When will we see that beaten?