It’s the same Challenger Series final series as seen in Auckland in 2021, where Luna Rossa won 7-1
Professor Mark Orams is a former NZ and world champion sailor, Team New Zealand member, author, environmentalist and Professor of Sport and Recreation at the Auckland University Technology.
OPINION
In a repeat of the America’s Cup Challenger Series in Auckland in 2021, the final of href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/sailing/americas-cup/americas-cup-the-kiwi-providing-weather-data-for-the-barcelona-regatta/BKOZGOJ5WBFP3OIGZX4ECU25KE/">this edition pits the same two challengers against each other.
In that series, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli outclassed Ineos Britannia, dumping the Brits out of the cup with a 7-1 victory. This extended a decades-long frustrating struggle for the British, who have not been the actual challenger for the America’s Cup since 1964, 13 years before current skipper Sir Ben Ainslie was even born.
That’s a long time between spraying the champagne around.
This upcoming Challenger Series final presents their best opportunity in the intervening 60-plus years. Ineos Britannia, nicknamed “Rita” by the Brits, has shown rapid improvement through the challenger regatta and finished top of the round-robins. They dispatched the Swiss challenger Alinghi Red Bull Racing 5-2 in the semifinals and earned the right to go into the finals with their tails up.
The other semifinal between Luna Rossa and American Magic was a much more evenly matched contest. Luna Rossa prevailed 5-3 but the races were all extremely close, with many lead changes and finishing margins as close as two seconds.
The Kiwi sailing community have long memories and there will be little sympathy in seeing Alinghi’s campaign end. Alinghi’s success in winning the America’s Cup in 2003 and 2007 pitted the Team New Zealand “A team” - who were recruited to form the nucleus of the Alinghi sailing crew - against the less experienced Dean Barker-skippered team.
These two losses, with Kiwi sailors beating Kiwi sailors, still stings for some even 20 years later. Alinghi’s campaign for this tilt at winning the America’s Cup was crewed by Swiss nationals and, for a first-time challenger in this new AC75 foiling monohull class, the result probably is a pass mark.
Ineos Britannia won their semifinal series against Alinghi Red Bull Racing 5-2. Photo / Ian Roman, America's Cup
Alinghi going out in this semifinal reflects that their boat was simply not fast enough. Their two wins came in scenarios of extremely light winds and marginal foiling, conditions in which Ineos Britannia is most vulnerable. In wind strengths of more than nine knots when foiling was reliable, they were comfortably beaten by the Brits.
In contrast to the lack of sympathy for the Swiss outfit, the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic team has a lot of support here in NZ. They had that devastating capsize and near sinking in Auckland in 2021 and showed remarkable resilience to recover, with help from other teams.
This time around their co-helm, Paul Goodison, fell down a hatch when packing sails away, resulting in five broken ribs and his inability to continue sailing through the semifinals. Replacement helm Lucas Calabrese is a talented sailor but it was impossible to build the partnership needed to compete at the highest level in these hugely difficult-to-sail boats.
Tom Slingsby admirably took on greater responsibilities for decision-making on board so Calabrese could focus on sailing the boat as fast as possible. He did a great job but it was not a coincidence that the small touchdowns and untidy mark roundings occurred on port tack when Calabrese was the active helmsman. In a close contest, the margins are small and in the end the 5-3 score in Luna Rossa’s favour was a fair reflection of the relative performances of both teams.
Slingsby was impressive both on and off the water with his strong leadership, clear communication and sound decision-making. His gracious interviews after the disappointment of his team being eliminated were honest and filled with class; a great sailor and a great leader of his team.
American Magic lost 5-3 to Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in their semifinal series. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
We now look forward to the Ineos Britannia – Luna Rossa final. This is a difficult one to pick and could come down to the wind conditions.
The semifinals showed the British are vulnerable in light winds. They appear to have prioritised a foil package that is optimised for the higher boat speeds created by wind strengths above 12 knots, when they are very fast – this shows especially in their downwind speed advantage, with boat speeds of more than 45 knots.
The trade-off is they have sacrificed low-speed lift and stability. When the wind strength is less than 10 knots, their foils lose flow earlier than Luna Rossa. This is not only a vulnerability for falling off the foils, it also means their tacking and gybing angles on exit need to be much wider, resulting in their sailing further away from the mark and giving up distance to their opponent.
If the wind strength is less than 10 knots in the finals, advantage Luna Rossa.
The Italians have a solid all-around package, competitive across a wide range of conditions. They have been sailing very well, especially notable is their ability to make good decisions in close racing situations. The one notable exception is when they unsuccessfully tried to impose a penalty at a bottom-mark rounding, which handed the race to the Americans.
Emirates Team New Zealand will be keeping a close eye on the action over the coming weeks. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni are the most experienced pairing in this cup; all of the other co-helms are new combinations this time around. In addition, Luna Rossa is the only team that ran with the co-helming approach in the last America’s Cup. This matters because as the finals progress, these combinations and the ability to make critical decisions under pressure will make a difference.
Luna Rossa will be looking at how they can mode their boat for better speeds in higher wind strengths, while retaining the likely advantage they have in lighter winds. They can potentially do this with adjustments to a range of key areas such as foil flap movement, foil arm cant angles, their sail settings and rudder pitch angles. The key is not to change too much at once.
Ineos Britannia will be doing the same. It will be a fascinating final series and I expect it to be close.
Meanwhile, Emirates Team New Zealand will be watching very closely, poring over the data, video and communications recordings and trying to gain as much information as possible on their potential opponent for the 37th America’s Cup.
This information will be used to assess potential strengths and weaknesses, and to continue to develop Taihoro to retain any advantages it has and to reduce any potential weaknesses.
Whichever team emerges from the Challenger Series finals will be battle-hardened after two hard-fought series of semifinals and finals. The Kiwis will need to negate this advantage with boat speed and developing a well-thought-through tactical playbook to ensure they are ready to respond to whatever is thrown at them.
