Alinghi Red Bull Racing suffered a mast failure on the eve of the final America's Cup preliminary regatta. Video / America's Cup
Team New Zealand’s debut race in Barcelona was short-lived.
In their opening race of this week’s preliminary regatta - their first official race aboard their new AC75 Taihoro - the defender was gifted a win as Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were forced to retire early.
The most anticipated contest of the day came to a deflating end midway through, after the Italians splashed down on the first leg of the race. The crew onboard appeared helpless to prevent it, as they could be heard exclaiming they had “lost the boat” before it hit the water and parked up.
The Italians were able to get their vessel up and running again, but retired from the race shortly after.
“Very hard starting the day like this but luckily that’s why we have these preliminary events,” Luna Rossa helmsman Francesco Bruni said.
“It must’ve been an electrical issue. I’m 99% sure it was an electrical problem. Basically, we had no functions on the boat working for something like 20 seconds after the tack. It was not ideal, and a little bit scary as well when you have zero control of the boat. Luckily it happened in a moment where we could get control again.”
Coming into this week’s regatta, Team NZ and Luna Rossa looked to be the fastest boats, and they looked well-matched in what little of the race they did complete.
The pair, who competed in the Cup match in Auckland in 2021, duelled in a tense pre-start, which saw Team NZ ever-so-slightly get the better of things across the starting line. Luna Rossa were hot on their tail, but were forced to tack away in order to try to find some clear air.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were forced to retire early in their race against Team New Zealand during the preliminary regatta in Barcelona. Photo / Ian Roman, America's Cup
Team NZ didn’t let them get too far away before matching their tack in what was shaping up to be a tight and exciting match race. It was on the next manoeuvre that the race was effectively brought to a close.
While the point for the win goes on the board for the Kiwi crew, with the two top teams at the end of the round-robin contesting the regatta final, it was a lost opportunity to race.
Team NZ have time to work with in this campaign, given they are sailing in the round-robin stage of the challenger series as well, but a good race against Luna Rossa would have been a terrific way to lay down a benchmark of how they are tracking in terms of performance.
They now potentially won’t race against Luna Rossa again until the challenger series round-robins, with each team only meeting each other once before the final of the preliminary regatta.
Luna Rossa were able to get back on track later in the day for their second race of the regatta, against French newcomers Orient Express Racing Team.
The French opened the regatta against fellow newcomers Alinghi Red Bull Racing, with the Swiss making their French counterparts pay for a poor start and ultimately winning by more than 30sec.
It was a similar story for the French in their race against Luna Rossa, coming off the foils after hitting a spot of light breeze in their approach to the starting box. That allowed the Italians to control the race, and they didn’t waste the opportunity to sail in front and put a point on the board.
In the other race of the day, American Magic put paid to Ineos Britannia, with a strong sailing performance and handling of the conditions seeing them sail around the Brits and turn what was a close race early into a comfortable win.
Preliminary regatta day one results
Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland) beat Orient Express Racing Team (France)
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy)
