Herald sports reporter Michael Burgess backgrounds the Ineos Britannia challenge from Barcelona.
Video / NZ Herald
Advantage Ineos Britannia.
It has taken 10 races but, for the first time in the Louis Vuitton Cup best-of-13 final series, a team have ended the day with a two-point buffer, with the British leading Italian crew Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli 6-4 after two wins this morning.
Not only did it see a team pick up two wins in one day for the first time – on a day where the sea state might have been at its bumpiest of the regatta so far at that – but it saw Ineos Britannia move to match point in the challenger series final.
“That was a good effort from the team. It’s bloody hard to sail these boats in these waves. It’s hard to explain to people just how tough it is, but the team did a great job and it’s obviously great to get the two wins,” Ineos Britannia starboard helmsman Sir Ben Ainslie said.
“There’s still a long way to go. We still have to get to seven.”
There was a bit of emotion on board the British boat after they crossed the finish line to win the second race of the day and take a two-win advantage on the scoreboard, with Ainslie heard telling his crew there was nothing lucky about their performance.
He explained there had been some chat “from certain sections of the Italian media” that his crew couldn’t win a race without assistance from Luna Rossa’s misfortunes.
Ineos Britannia won races nine and 10 of the Louis Vuitton Cup final against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
Statistically, there was very little to separate the two teams in either race. In the first contest, Luna Rossa had a slightly faster average speed, however Ineos Britannia sailed less distance and had a better average velocity made good (VMG), which measures the speed at which the team is making progress directly upwind or directly downwind.
The second race was equally as tight, but Ineos Britannia were a fraction ahead of Luna Rossa in almost every category and those small margins ultimately culminated in an important win.
With both teams looking to lead back towards the line in the pre-start, the British just got the better of both starts but were able to convert those small margins into leads down the first leg and to the top gate.
Throughout the regatta so far, the team leading at the first gate has gone on to win the race more often than not, and the Brits were able to consolidate their lead on the first downwind leg both times.
A small splashdown by Luna Rossa on the third leg of the first race of the day saw them lose speed and allow the British to build a more comfortable lead, and Ineos Britannia did just that.
The British managed the bumpy conditions well and sailed on to win by 23s in the first race of the day.
The second was a much smaller margin of victory, but the Brits will take the 8s win and run with it into the next race day where they will look to close out the series. The teams will get a day off tomorrow, with racing resuming on Saturday.
Speaking after the day’s racing, Luna Rossa port helmsman Francesco Bruni said it wasn’t an ideal scenario for his team now as they had to win the final three races on the schedule, but he credited Ineos Britannia on their performance and remained confident in his own team.
“It’s really on the edge. Any bigger waves or more wind would be, I would say, almost catastrophic,” Bruni said.
“But today was raceable, it was nice and windy and wavy, and Ineos did a better job than us so I’m looking forward to speaking to our coaches and coming back stronger tomorrow.”
