Unexpected winners: what we learned from the Louis Vuitton Cup Day 1

Light winds greeted the America's Cup challengers for the first day of Louis Vuitton Cup racing in Barcelona, as the competition properly starts

It was not the start that anyone hoped for, for the opening day of racing at the America’s Cup challenger selection series, the Louis Vuitton Cup. Racing was due to get underway today, Thursday 29 August at 14:00 local in Barcelona but the wind stubbornly sat just under the 6.5 knots needed to get a start procedure underway and the first race was delayed by around 35 minutes.

When racing did finally get underway it was in very light 6-7 knot south easterly conditions initially, though the wind did build after the first race up into the low double digits but it was patchy and did not hold at that lever throughout. This relatively light weather put a premium on boathandling skills. As teams needed to get towed up onto the foils before starts, falling off the foils during racing would be catastrophic.

Even though the wind did increase the conditions remained puffy all day so it was a day of linking up the gusts that were running down the course. As such information about boat speed was harder to discern than in more stable conditions.

Key takeaways from Louis Vuitton Day 1

• Good day for the French with a win in their opening race
• Kiwi’s manoeuvrability at slow speed continues to impress
• Luna Rossa continue to impress of the chalengers
• Mistakes mount up for American Magic
• Pace of INEOS Britannia still a concern

Race 1 Orient Express Racing Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

With both boats pulled up onto the foils ahead of the start you may expect a relatively cagey and conservative start as both teams look to stay on the foils. But as Alinghi Red Bull Racing chose to lead back to the start, Orient Express Racing Team were looking pretty aggressive, looking to bear away behind the Swiss-flagged Alinghi and get a hook on them to leeward.

The French team didn’t manage to fully get underneath the Swiss, but they push them back enough that Alinghi’s only real option was to tack away or be early to the startline and end up over the line. Alinghi tacked off and started the race on port at the windward end of the startline with the French team on starboard at the port end.

It was quickly clear just why Delapierre and Pepponet had been quite so aggressive out of the start as the left hand side of the beat was clearly favoured. At the first cross Orient Express Racing Team had pulled out a 150m lead and, protecting the left at each cross this lead grew throughout the first beat.

For a time during the first downwind it looked as through Alinghi might be able to make a pass as they picked up a decent puff and started taking metres out of the French team. And as the French gybed in front of them at the boundary, things sounded very tense onboard Orient Express, as they got a bit wobbly in the gybe, but they held on and that was about as close as it got.

Orient Express did a good job of protecting the favoured left side and took the win by 24 seconds.

“It’s a really good feeling. It’s just the first match but it’s good for this team,” said a pleased Delapierre after the finish. “Well done to the cyclors, they’ve done an amazing job, they pushed so hard and they delivered this race for us.”

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 1?

The Round Robin portion of the Louis Vuitton Cup will see one team knocked out with the remaining four challengers going into the Louis Vuitton Semi Final matches. Although they have bought a design package from Emirates Team New Zealand, so their boat can be referred to as a sistership of the Defender, many believed the French were the most likely to be the first boat knocked out of the series.

Although the French boat is something of a sistership, the relative size of this team plus the (comparative) lack of funding makes developing the boat difficult for them, so it’s perhaps better to think if this as a Generation 3 AC75, but many of the other teams have developed their boats to a generation 3.5. Plus the French getting their boat last means they are the least prepared team in terms of manouvers.

All that being said, this race showed what we saw in the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta – this can be a quick boat in a straight line and it’s not a given they will be knocked out.

For their part Alinghi will be happy to have stayed in touch on a one-sided race course, but losing the first race is far from ideal – especially against a team that they are likely to be fighting against to avoid elimination.

Race 2 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni
Emirates Team New Zealand: Pete Burling & Nathan Outteridge

Straight out of the gate it looked as though Luna Rossa and New Zealand were not keen on engaging with each other in the start, with the Kiwis staying gauged well off to windward while Luna Rossa led back to the start. It was only with a handful of seconds to go did New Zealand bear away and head down to the start. Their late move essentially allowed Luna Ross to own the port end of the line and at the gun it was the Italian team to leeward with a touch more speed off the line.

It might have been a decent start for the Kiwis but the Italians had remained close enough to squeeze up to the Kiwis and force them to tack away well before the left hand boundary. From then on it looked as though neither team was interested in engaging at all with both boats happy to bounce off opposite boundaries on the first upwind and first downwind.

However, come the second beat, Spithill and Bruni were looking to protect the right and they performed a successful lee bow tack to force the kiwis back to the left. When the boats came to cross again, the Italians tried the same thing, but the Kiwis had gained a little and managed to go into a high mode and live off the Italian windward hip until both boats needed to tack back for the windward gate.

Both boats tacked simultaneously and Luna Rossa got a slight slide on their rudder which scrubbed a little speed through the manoeuvre and the Kiwis managed to pop out ahead and lead into the windward gate. “We are constantly fighting those slides with smaller and smaller foils, it happens,” said Bruni after the race.

Clearly there was a little issue for Luna Rossa in the tack but the Kiwis also seemed to glide through their tack for a long time, with the boat fairly downspeed. We’ve seen this from the Defender before during the pre-start when up against INEOS Britannia in the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta, it’s a very impressive little down-speed mode that allows them to be very dangerous in close quarters tacking.

From there the Kiwis stepped away a little and were never really troubled by the Italians to the finish, taking a 12 second win.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 2?

Given that the races against Emirates Team New Zealand do not count in this series – only wins / loses over other challengers will count towards progress in the series – it’s hard to take too much from these races. Clearly both teams were not really going for each other too aggressively.

As mentioned the downspeed manoeuvrability of Emirates Team New Zealand is starting to be a clear strength. Luna Rossa still looks plenty fast too. There’s nothing in this race to dissuade me of my view that these two are probably the two form teams.

Race 3 INEOS Britannia Vs American Magic

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
American Magic: Paul Goodison & Tom Slingsby

At the end of the second race of the day both Fancesco Bruni from Luna Rossa and Peter Burling from Emirates Team New Zealand talked about the wind being a little over range for the biggest sails that they had on “It was a tricky race to be honest. We thought it would be a bit lighter than it was and so we were a bit over range for the gear,” Burling said.

So when American Magic came out to the start of their race against Ainslie’s team it was, perhaps, not a huge surprise to see what looked like a smaller jib up – Tom Burton the American Magic coach, said they were not out of range with their sails although they “definitely don’t have our biggest sails up.”

However, the wind had been fluctuating all day and with it down to around 6-8 knots in the startbox it was quickly a disaster for the American-flagged team as they dropped off the foils with over a minute to go until the start.

It took them all that time and more to get foiling again and with the race underway by a few seconds, they finally got foiling and managed to cross the startline fully 700m behind the Brits.

Both teams had moments of struggle staying on the foils and looked wobbly at times and it was a tense old affair. Throughout the course of the race Slingsby and Goodison managed to hunt down the Brits hauling them in metre by metre. By the final downwind American Magic were within a couple of hundred metres of the Brits and, picking up a decent puff on the last downwind, looked like they could possibly threaten for the lead.

But the Brits held on and crossed the finish line a couple of seconds to the good.  “It’s good and time to get points on the board, but the American’s did well to get back into the race, there’s certainly plenty to work on,” said Ainslie after the racing.

“It was really frustrating as in the start area it was really light airs and nothing like at the top of the course. We almost got back into it there, but ran out of time,” concluded Slingsby.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 3?

Realistically this race was over a full minute before the start… or at least it should have been. Starting 700m adrift and getting back to be in the fight by the finish will be about the most positive loss American Magic could imagine. This team still looks quick but increasingly the feeling is they are a little prone to mistakes.

This race might not show the total lack of pace you might think for the Brits. With that size of a lead, tactically you just want to stop the team behind getting any separation and you’re typically happy to throw away metres in order to stay between your opponent and the next mark or finish. With that in mind, the performance difference here is probably much enhanced. But still, I don’t get the impression that Luna Rossa or the Kiwis would get hauled in in that manner.

Race 4 Orient Express Racing Team Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
Orient Express Racing Team: Quentin Delapierre & Kevin Pepponet
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

Having got a race win under their belts the French would take on the might of Luna Rossa for their second race of the day. And Delapierre and Pepponet showed their naivety in the pre-start. It was very light once again and the French chose to lead back to the startline very, very early, quickly putting themselves in a very difficult position with a large gap to windward and needing to scrub a bit of time to not be over the line.

It was a pretty simple job for Spithill and Bruni to gauge well off the windward and hold the gap until the right moment to bear away and accelerate to the line at the start. Orient Express did manage to build speed reasonably well, but starting to leeward, without any chance to squeeze up to Luna Rossa and force them to tack off, was not a great place to be. As both teams got to the left hand boundary for the first time, Luna Rossa was able to tack right on the face of the French, who then had no option but to sit in the dirty air of the Italians.

By the time the French were able to tack away they were fully 200m behind already. From there it all looked pretty easy for the Italians to hold their gap and walk away with the win. “It’s good to get the win on the board. The French are very dangerous in those conditions so we’re pleased to get the win,” said Spithill after the finish.

There was a moment on the penultimate downwind where Luna Rossa got a bit of ventilation on their rudder that may have caused an issue but the team quickly got things back under control. “The guys did a fantastic job to get the boat back under control. These boats are pushed to the limit so mistakes are easy,” explained Bruni.

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Race 4?

The French had a poor start and really it was all over from there. We did see a couple of manoeuvring errors from the French, including not getting the mast properly rotated during a gybe. These are the sort of things they’ll want to get ironed out but leaving the day with a win and a loss is not too bad for this young team. They’ll be happy that they managed to stop the gap to the Italians completely blowing up, which once again firms up their inherent striaghtline boat speed.

“It’s a good day today,” concluded Delapierre. “Against the Italians it was way better than it has been, so that’s really encouraging.”

The ventilation issue for Luna Rossa was the result of getting a little too high in the gybe. But that coupled with the rudder skid they had in race one against the Kiwis might be a bit of a concern. Obviously smaller foils are quicker but less stable. But the Italians continue to look fast, and walk away from the day having won the only race that matters for them today.

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