For America’s Cup defender Team New Zealand, it will be their last day of racing before they compete in the Cup match in October. For two of the teams hoping to challenge the defender in that match, it will be their last chance to survive the first elimination of the regatta.
This morning, the Kiwi crew sailed a mostly clean match to beat Alinghi Red Bull Racing by 38 seconds in their lone race of the day.
“We’d happily keep racing,” Team New Zealand port helmsman Nathan Outteridge said, on the broadcast, of tomorrow being their last race for a month.
“We’ve got to gear up for tomorrow. It’s going to be a big one against American Magic. It’ll be a bit sad to be in the last race for a little while, but it’s great to see the conditions turning it on and getting some good racing in today.”
Team New Zealand continue to show they know how to best sail their boat in various conditions, with a choppy sea state and steady winds providing a slightly different look for the sailors than has been seen in the regatta so far.
With the crews battling to get the best position to control owning the right-hand side of the course today, Alinghi Red Bull Racing got the better of the start and were well-positioned to cover when Team New Zealand tacked early in the leg.
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Alinghi Red Bull Racing on day seven of the Louis Vuitton Cup round-robins. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
But by the time the two crossed for the first time, it was the Kiwi crew who were in front.
While a sticky moment when rounding the second gate saw them touchdown and lose a lot of speed, Team New Zealand recovered quickly and continued to forge ahead.
The second half saw the Kiwis extend their lead in the race, which was ultimately won by a fairly comfortable margin.
“We just were a little late on our final trigger pull off the start so gave up a bit of space to windward to Alinghi, so we’ll have to review that one and work out how we can do that a bit better,” Outteridge said.
“It was really good to get the pass on the upwind [leg], and with these waves out here today it’s pretty hard to control the leeway at times when you’re going around the bottom mark. A little skid keeps it interesting.”
Alinghi go into the final day of racing as one of the two teams trying to ward off elimination, but in the box seat to do so.
The Swiss go into the final day of the round-robins with two points, one ahead of French syndicate Orient Express Racing Team. Each team will have just one race tomorrow, and with Orient Express against Ineos Britannia in the first race of the day, Alinghi will know what they have to do before their race begins.
Should the French beat the British, Alinghi will need to beat Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Should both teams finish on two points, they will have a one-off tiebreaker race which will send the loser home. Luna Rossa, Ineos Britannia and American Magic have all secured a place in the semifinals.
The Italians dropped their first race against a fellow challenger in the last match of the day this morning, beaten by the steadily improving Ineos Britannia crew.
In the day’s other races, the Italians beat American Magic, Ineos Britannia beat Alinghi, and American Magic beat Orient Express.
Day seven results
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy) beat American Magic (US) by 22sec
