ETNZ begin the Louis Vuitton preliminary regatta with a win over Luna Rossa

With an ideal 12-14 knots of breeze in a lumpy sea state in front of the iconic Barcelona backdrop, Emirates Team New Zealand began as they left off with a win in their first race against long time adversarys Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, with clear signs that the close battle from AC36 is set to continue each time these teams meet.

AMERICA’S CUP RACE REPORT

Two teams with a history, this was the blockbuster, with much revealed around both the starting tactics and overall game-plans of these ultra-competitive teams. Nathan Outteridge drove ‘Taihoro’ over the start line at the port gate for Emirates Team New Zealand whilst Jimmy Spithill brought Luna Rossa in from starboard for the pre-start fireworks.

Outteridge was almost bang on the button at the entry and headed swiftly to the right side of the box with the Italians giving chase. Both boats dialled deep but at the turn back to the line, it’s the Kiwis who swapped places and lined up to leeward, holding the Italians high and then dialling away to the pin end of the line with Luna Rossa gassed to windward and forced to tack.

Emirates Team New Zealand tacked immediately to cover and it became a smart drag race out to the right-hand side of the course. The Kiwis executed a lee-bow tack to force the Italians off again and then cover.

It was the makings of a tight tacking duel before Luna Rossa appeared to have a systems issue onboard and after a tack back onto starboard, the boat nosedived with the comms revealing that the team “had lost the boat”. Francesco Bruni confirmed a shut down for some 20 seconds in interview afterwards.

Emirates Team New Zealand left to effectively sail a practice race from there on, but after rounding the windward mark, Luna Rossa were back and running, albeit rather gingerly and made chase before retiring on advice from their Chase Boat.

Emirates Team New Zealand sailed on to record their first victory of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta.

Flight controller Andy Maloney said: “In the pre start we were leading back towards the line and they were pushing at us, we were both on two boards finding the limit there. The trigger pull off the line was the main thing which was good and the first few exchanges on the upwind were a pretty close tacking duel. In those conditions you know you can keep the battle close and we're going to see some epic racing.

We are really happy with how we executed that first part of the race and we're looking forward to a good battle there. We will go debrief that race and start seeing what we can learn from there.”

Every point is treasured in the America’s Cup, no matter how it comes or who it is against. For Emirates Team New Zealand there are two more points on offer tomorrow up against INEOS Britannia in the second race of the day and Orient Express Racing Team in the 4th flight of the day.