Athena Pathway and Luna Rossa move forward to the final match

With the racing schedule condensed after yesterday’s postponements, it was another difficult day for the Race Committee at the Puig Women’s America’s Cup who had to remain patient as light airs thwarted their efforts to complete the Group A America’s Cup Teams Qualification Series.

After waiting all day, having initially sent the Group A teams out for a 1000 CET start, finally – just after 1630 CET – enough breeze was found to complete a single late afternoon do-or-die race to decide the Group A Qualification Series.

This was followed quickly after by an evening series of four quick-fire races between the top three crews from Groups A and B (the Invited Teams) to decide the inaugural event’s Semi-Final stage, where Britain’s Athena Pathway and Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Women’s Team finished on top, tied on 27 points.

These two crews move on to compete head-to-head in the Puig Women’s America’s Cup Match Race Final, which has been scheduled for tomorrow – Saturday October 12 – in between the opening two races of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match.

In the marginal conditions that prevailed for the Group A race, success was dependent on staying airborne, whilst the maths around making the podium was something that third placed Alinghi Red Bull Racing and fourth placed Emirates Team New Zealand were keenly aware of.

The Swiss crew made a glamour, dream start to round the top gate in the lead ahead of Athena Pathway before going gybe-for-gybe with the British team all the way down the first run – all the time also being chased hard by the Kiwis. Then came drama. Athena Pathway rounded the leeward gate in first place, but just behind Alinghi Red Bull Racing was struggling, as they dropped off their foils on an attempted tack around and opened the door for Emirates Team New Zealand to steal into second.

Agonisingly for the Swiss, they stayed in displacement long enough for both NYYC American Magic and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to overtake and by the time they recovered, it was too much to come back from and Emirates Team New Zealand had snatched the final qualifying podium position that secured their Semi-Final spot.

The evening clouds were now coming in fast but with the wind filling in to the most it had been all day, the Race Committee were set on running four Semi-Final races. They got the first away at 1730 CET with the Group B qualifiers, Swedish Challenge powered by Artemis Technologies, JAJO Team DutchSail and Sail Team BCN, joining Athena Pathway, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Emirates Team New Zealand.

What unfolded over the next hour and a half was some of the tightest AC40 racing ever seen. From the outset two teams showed excellent consistency and pace, with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Athena Pathway always looking strong across all four races. That said, the pair did not have it completely all their own way and race wins in the first and fourth races by Sail Team BCN delighted the home fans and kept the Italians and British on their toes.

In the second race, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli squeezed inside Athena Pathway at a crowded top gate to snatch the lead and then never looked back, sailing off to a commanding victory with the British finishing as comfortable runners-up.

Consistency was starting to pay off and in the third race, Athena Pathway started uncontested at the starboard end of the line and sailed away to a dominant race win. Crucially it was Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli who secured second place and these two could only now be challenged on points going into the final race by third-placed Sail Team BCN.

And what a final race it was. Four boats including Athena Pathway and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were over at the start, enabling Sail Team BCN and Emirates Team New Zealand to lead up a first windward leg as the wind began to drop as sunset approached. Luna Rossa, after swiftly expunging their OCS penalty, headed far right on the course and came out ahead, whilst Athena Pathway sailed hard to close the gap on the leaders and got up to third at the windward gate.

By the end of the first run, Luna Rossa were still leading with Sail Team BCN pushing them hard. With the wind fading further the Italians came off their foils on the second beat and the Spanish went on to record a brilliant second win of the day. Athena Pathway held their nerve to cross the line in third to secure their Match Race Final spot.

Giulia Conti, Skipper of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli came ashore shattered but delighted saying: “I'm exhausted but extremely happy. It's a joy that I've never felt before because I can share it with the people that are not just teammates, but also very good friends and who I love deeply and this makes it way beyond my expectations.

"It was hard to stay focused the whole day because we were on the water in the morning from 0915 but we were able to really keep it together, also our coach a really good job in keeping us focused the whole time and we just knew we needed to keep things simple and to keep the boat fast and that’s what we did."

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s Match Race Final against Athena Pathway, Conti added: “I'm looking forward to the final. I can't wait to sail against Athena Pathway. I think they did a great job also, and with the project that Hannah Mills has developed I think they really deserve to be in the final. I've been racing against Hannah for a very long time in dinghies so it's great to be sharing this final with her.”

Tash Bryant, port helmswoman on Athena Pathway stepped ashore pleased but very much focused on completing the job saying: “I think we're pretty excited and obviously it's a relief to be following in the footsteps of the INEOS Britannia team and we can't wait to give it our best shot tomorrow. Obviously, we're super competitive on board so we really want to win the race – with the first one being really special – and we can't wait to get on the start line.”

Talking about today’s racing and the team’s never-say-die approach, Bryant added: “We've been working really hard trying to stay collected, no matter what happens in the racing, especially today when it was going to be unpredictable and we weren’t 100 per cent sure what the wind was going to do. We just had to take each race with a clean slate and go out there and just do our best in the moment. We've been working hard on the resets. If we have a little touchdown or something happens that we didn't predict we've been working hard as a team to just reset as best we can and lock in on the boat in real time. I think today we went out and did ourselves proud on that because we had some amazing comebacks and came out of the situations that we really didn't want to be in.”

So it’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli against Athena Pathway in the Puig Women’s America’s Cup Final where these two outstanding teams are sure to serve up a match-racing masterclass with absolutely nothing to separate them on the water.

It’s one of the highlights of this magnificent summer of sailing in Barcelona and as the sun sets on an epic penultimate day of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup this inaugural competition looks set for a stunning climax tomorrow.

Whichever of these two top class teams ultimately lifts the trophy, crafted by the Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola, they will certainly have earned the honour of becoming the first ever winners of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup.