It was a day of tie-breaks and heartbreaks as the Round Robin stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup drew to a close. For INEOS Britannia, the Challenger of Record, it was unbridled joy as they secured the top spot in the Challenger standings after a dramatic race-off with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, whilst for Orient Express Racing Team, the late Challenger from France, unfortunately their regatta is over after a loss to the British.
With so many permutations at the start of the day, all eyes were on the winds in Barcelona as a building southerly thermal filtered up the Mediterranean and produced just enough to get racing underway. From the very start, INEOS Britannia looked sharp with Sir Ben Ainslie’s team dispatching the French, and thus closing down immediately one of the day's permutations, after a runaway race where Orient Express Racing Team did their level best to come back into late on. The British showed composure to cross the line after six legs with a 71-second winning delta.
Speaking afterwards, a deflated Quentin Delapierre, the outstanding skipper and sailing figurehead for the French team, took the defeat well and in perspective, saying: “I do think that what we built together with the sponsors and with the whole of the team is getting stronger and stronger, and for sure the ambition is to come back. But if we come back, we will need to come back stronger and faster. I think we were missing a bit of an edge in this competition and also some practice in the pre-start and the close calls. Overall, I think what we achieved together is pretty significant but unfortunately, we were not able to get inside the semis. We built things together. We worked hard on it. We were in the mix, so it is an achievement but not enough. Hopefully we will be back.”
Following France’s defeat, the remaining semi-final spot was secured for Alinghi Red Bull Racing who took on the then overall leaders, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, with the odds seemingly stacked in the Italians' favour, based on previous performances.
However, just ahead of the start, Luna Rossa sailed outside the far-left boundary with a technical issue, unable to lower their starboard (right) board, and were disqualified by the Race Committee. Alinghi Red Bull Racing started cleanly and were immediately awarded the win, but the knock-on effect was a tie in the standings at the top, requiring a race-off between the Italians and the British.
Silvio Arrivabene, the co-General Manager of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, spoke afterwards and summed up the feeling in the team about their safe passage to the semi-finals, saying: “Well, it's certainly a relief of course, but now I think it's a new chapter and we have five days away, new weather conditions, we have the ability to perhaps do some improvements on the boat and how we sail the boat. It’s a relief but we’re looking ahead, very focused but very energised.”
Ahead of the match of the day (the race-off), Emirates Team New Zealand executed a dominant performance against NYYC American Magic who brought in Lucas Calabrese on the port helm today. After a fall off the foils in the pre-start, and a further fall off again on the penultimate leg of the course by the Americans, the Defenders sailed off to a flattering two minutes and 37 seconds victory and finished the Round Robin stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup topping the overall six-team standings (with their results included). The next time we will see Emirates Team New Zealand racing will be in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match on October 12 and all eyes will be on the technology they may deploy in the coming weeks.
Speaking afterwards, Nathan Outteridge, port helm on ‘Taihoro’ teased when asked about what’s coming saying: “Hopefully you won’t be able to spot the difference, but yes, now we've got some upgrades coming to the boat which should be ready to start testing later this week. Obviously without being able to do any racing, we can't really do much more race practice now, so it will all be internal simulator stuff. Hopefully there is a bit of performance still on the table still with the boat – which you'll have to keep your eye out for.”
Terry Hutchinson, Skipper and President of Sailing Operations for NYYC American Magic was clearly bemused at the team’s performance on the water and spoke of the momentum in the team and how they can regain their form, saying: “I think we always kind of operate the mindset of strengths and weaknesses, so we’ve got to have a good hard look at ourselves and understand where we don't think we're strong and how we can just reset the baseline there.
"The boat has pace, all the boats have their moments, so we have to just continue to identify ours. I'm confident that we have the right piece of equipment, confident that we have great people, where I get a little bit rattled is seeing so many positive signs and then steps back backwards or lateral steps, and how to stop that. It's a difficult sport and everybody's good, so we have to sail within ourselves, race within ourselves, and identify the times we're doing things well and conversely when we're not.”
With palpable tension in the air, the race-off for top spot between INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli for the top spot in the standings going into next weekend's Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Fnals was a thriller, sailed in marginal conditions just above the wind-limit with both boats avoiding each other’s wing-wash in the pre-start dance. Ben Ainslie brought Britannia into the starboard end of the line bang on the starting gun to control both the windward position and starboard advantage and never looked back. Gaining on almost every leg of the course to record the British team’s second win in as many races against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, it was a dominant performance and a serious marker of intent for the rest of the tournament.
Speaking dockside, a clearly delighted Ainslie spoke on behalf of the whole INEOS Britannia set-up saying: “It's another great step forward for the team. We had a really good day the other day in some breeze, so to up the performance in the lighter stuff is an area where we've been struggling a little bit, and the team have been doing a really good job trying to figure that out, the set-up of the boat and how we're sailing and operating it. It feels like we’ve got some really good momentum and I'm delighted for the whole team again - not just us as sailors but the shore team, the designers and engineers, both here and back in the UK – so a big day for the team.”
Orient Express Racing Team bowed out with grace and style from the Louis Vuitton Cup today and will be sorely missed. What the team have achieved in a very short time is nothing short of miraculous and speaking afterwards Bruno Dubois, co-Chief Executive (with Stefan Kandler) gave a vision for the future saying: “I think overall we have done a good job. Stephan and I put this campaign together in a short time and I think in the end we were quite competitive. We've done some good things with this campaign, but we need more time, more money, more everything. The good news is that the team will stay together with a few projects we're going to work on to make sure the sailors, the technical team, everybody, will stay together. We have the base, we have the boat, so we are not starting from zero.”
Kandler further added: “We started from scratch, we caught up, but not enough. So, it's really disappointing, but at the same time I’m very proud of the team and the great effort we all put into it. We are building a platform for the future, for sure. We know we have fantastic technology to work on for future campaigns, if as planned the boat keeps on going in the America’s Cup. We are a sponsored team. We have no big private backer, so it is important for our sponsors to know where the Cup is going next. They were happy to come to Barcelona to support a young team. They know we are a good team with lots of potential, but we need to wait for the winner to decide when and where. The America’s Cup is the hardest sporting trophy in the world to win. I'm proud of what the guys did on the water. It's a super complex boat and yeah, I hope we'll be there in the next one.”
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli helmsman Francesco Bruni really captured the sympathetic mood amongst the other teams at the news of the departure of the French saying: “I am super sorry for them because they did a late campaign in a very good way. I think they made some very good decisions – taking the design package from New Zealand and not trying to take any shortcuts. On the water they were difficult, not easy at all to race against. I'm really hoping to see them back again in the America’s Cup in the future.”
Peter Burling, skipper for Emirates Team New Zealand, further added: “Incredibly sad to lose the French today, I felt they were on such a steep trajectory and learning so quickly and it's pretty impressive to see how close they got to taking a few more wins. I guess it’s a reminder of ‘sport’ when you see a really good team like them getting knocked out early, but the level is so high, you've got to be right on top of your game.”
American Magic skipper Tom Slingsby also paid tribute – in a typically pragmatic way: "The French have been amazing and, honestly from a competitive standpoint I'm happy they're eliminated now, because of their projection. They're improving so quickly and it's good for the rest of the Challengers that we got them out early because you wouldn't want to be facing him in a couple of weeks time. Hats off to them, with the limited training and the limited budget, to be able to put together such a very competitive and impressive campaign."
As the Round Robin stage concludes and Emirates Team New Zealand – who finnished atop the overall standings – make their exit, for the remaining four Challengers the Louis Vuitton Cup now moves on to the semi-final stage.
For INEOS Britannia, by finishing top amongst the Challengers, they now hold all the aces and can select both their opponent and the side of entry for their first race. Who they pick, be it the Italians, Americans or Swiss, they can be sure of a blockbuster battle where the first to win five races will secure a spot in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.