Changing fortunes on day three of Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta

Another glamour day in Barcelona with four tantalising match-ups on the penultimate day of action at the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta. No change at the top of the leaderboard overnight with Emirates Team New Zealand holding firm after a win against the Swiss whilst the charging Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli kept the pressure on and secured the second podium spot with a clean win against INEOS Britannia.

For the British and French teams though, there were plenty of positives to take away with both securing their first points of the regatta. INEOS Britannia enjoyed an impressive opening win against Alinghi Red Bull Racing where the potential of ‘Britannia’ was stunningly revealed. Looking fast both upwind and downwind, Sir Ben Ainslie’s team secured the lead in the closing stages of the first windward leg and romped home, never headed again, to a resounding 33 second victory.

Ainslie was pleased with that performance saying: “It was a much better day. I felt like we were finding our groove a bit with how we were sailing the boat. It’s very small differences as expected at this level, but, a good race against Alinghi Red Bull Racing but a shame against the race with Luna Rossa with the pre-start entry – it was a nice pre-start – other than that I think it would've been quite an interesting race without the penalty as there was a difference in sail plan decisions. So yes, a good day, a positive day, every day we’re out there we’re learning more about how to sail the boat and improving on that which is a good feeling.”

For Orient Express Racing Team, the French bounced back from their Foil Cant System issues of yesterday and looked super-positive on the water. Their win against NYYC American Magic was awarded soon after they started as NYYC American Magic were forced to retire with a rudder rake cylinder issue that brought ‘Patriot’ to a halt before they could start. 

Quentin Delapierre was pleased to score their first point and praised his outstanding shore team, saying: “It was good to be back on the water and good for the team’s confidence. I really appreciate the teamwork the guys did last night, and I think the boat worked pretty well today and we could do our normal boat handling. We were ready to race against the Americans but unfortunately, they had a big issue.”

Tom Slingsby, helmsman for NYYC American Magic talked through the rudder-rake issue they faced in the pre-start with Orient Express saying: “There was a loud bang and we had a failure in the rudder system. It’s frustrating because it’s a completely new issue. We have sailed around here for six months now and never had a problem. We were sailing around for an hour prior to the race, doing all sorts of manoeuvres with no issues. Then we enter the start-box, cross the French, go into a tack and ‘bang.’ You hope this never happens but the points in this event don’t count – and it would have been hard for us to progress to the final, even with a win – so it doesn’t really matter. But we lost a chance to get some more practice in, which is disappointing.”

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli kept their relentless pressure on, with a win against INEOS Britannia in the third race of the day after the British scored two penalties on themselves in the pre-start with a marginally early entry at the starting line and a boundary infringement. The resultant 150 metre forfeit was enough to give the Italians an early lead from which they built and were never headed, recording a 46 second victory and reaching the final.

Speaking afterwards, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli helmsman Jimmy Spithill said he was looking forward to the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta final against Emirates Team New Zealand with clear objectives: “It’s really just to learn as much as we can, and really just another great opportunity to have a shot at the Kiwis. I haven't seen the forecast yet but yeah, just another good opportunity to line-up against the top team.”

For Alinghi Red Bull Racing it was a tough day on the water, succumbing to two losses – against INEOS Britannia and Emirates Team New Zealand. Maxime Bachelin, port helm, was looking to the future and taking as many positives out of the day as possible, saying: “It was a tough day. We worked a lot on the pre-start in the simulator yesterday because of the start with American Magic yesterday was not that good. Today our two pre-starts were pretty good, we managed the boat-handling quite well so this was nice, but afterwards we made mistakes on the racecourse on the first cross, and so it's there where we just lost the boatlengths and after that they kept extending. But still, very happy with the day. It's a very good practice to have two races in the day.”

The final race of the day saw Emirates Team New Zealand take on Alinghi Red Bull Racing and for the first time we saw a split tack start with the Kiwis taking the right and the Swiss going left. When the two boats came back together, it was advantage Emirates Team New Zealand and they capitalised on every leg, winning by some 1 minute and 15 seconds. A 100 percent record from the Defenders of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, they go into Sunday's match against NYYC American Magic having already sealed their place in the final.

Speaking afterwards Peter Burling, Skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand was eyeing the racing tomorrow saying: “Everything to play for, we’re very much here to try and improve the performance and just check in across the range of conditions. It’s obviously going to be completely different conditions tomorrow so that'll be exciting, and just trying to figure out a plan overnight.”

Asked if he saw Luna Rossa as the closest competitor, Peter responded: “I’m still going to stand by that teams are good in different wind strengths - we haven't seen Magic in too much breeze yet, and Ben (Ainslie, INEOS Britannia) in some conditions seems pretty fast as well, so yeah we have to wait to and see, it just seems like whoever puts their best foot forward in a race and gets off the line well seems to win them so it’s all going to be about that tomorrow.”

All is now set for a super-Sunday of outstanding AC75 racing with three more matches followed by the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta final between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Their race on the opening day of the regatta ended prematurely with a breakdown on the Italian yacht on the first windward leg so it will be a fascinating tussle between these two impressive teams for early momentum and team morale.

With it too close to call, this one could see fireworks on the water. Tune in at 14:00 CET tomorrow to catch all the action.