Yeah, not quite. Conditions in the Mediterranean have been tricky through the regatta so far, with plentyof light, shifty days testing the sailors’ handling of their AC75s, their eyes for the conditions and their decision-making.
So often after racing through the semifinals, we heard helmsmen note how difficult it was to navigate around the course and find the wind consistently – and the “Barcelona bump” on the water adds another variable.
It’s so often said that the America’s Cup is a design race and whichever team has the fastest boat will ultimately win the regatta. That’s not to say a team could just throw anyone old punter onboard and still win it, but not all boats are created equally – such is the challenge of the Cup.
That’s probably still going to be true, but it feels like the sailing itself and how the crew navigate their way around the course could be that deciding factor.
Throughout the semifinals, we saw teams pay for poor decisions and execution that they weren’t able to recover from.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli went aggressive to try and force a penalty when rounding a marker in their fifth race against American magic. They didn’t execute and that handed the race to American Magic. American Magic had a down speed tack in the second half of their eighth race against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli which saw a tight race become a big win for the Italians to wrap up the series 5-3. Ineos Britannia made an error when tacking on the third leg of their fifth race against Alinghi Red Bull Racing which saw them fall off the foils and struggle to get going again as the Swiss posted their first win in a series the British ultimately won 5-2.
We have also saw several lead changes through the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals; mostly from the Luna Rossa v American Magic series, but some in the Ineos Britannia v Alinghi series too. In Auckland in 2021, passes were few and far between out on the racecourse and the start was even more critical.
Perhaps we’re in for more twists and turns this time around.
Emirates Team New Zealand have been keeping a close eye on the competition. Photo / Ian Roman, America's Cup
Everything can change in a moment
One thing that was made abundantly clear in the semifinal series’ was the importance of experience.
American Magic were again struck by misfortune ahead of the semifinals; in Auckland their boat almost sank, this time around, they lost one of their helmsmen to five broken ribs after he fell through a hatch when packing the sails down. Would Paul Goodison’s availability have changed the result for the Americans? It’s hard to say; they were a mixed bag in the round-robins. But it did mean Lucas Calabrese only had about a week to establish clear comms with his co-helm Tom Slingsby and the rest of the crew.
As pointed out by the Sailing Professor Mark Orams, it appeared Slingsby shouldered more responsibility to allow the Cup rookie to focus on simply sailing the boat fast, but with AC75s so difficult to sail, it was a tall task for the Americans against the slick, polished Italian unit who came up with the dual-helming system in the first place.
Luna Rossa weren’t without their issues, though. The Italians suffered damage to their mainsail traveller track in their seventh race against American Magic which required an overnight fix. That was what they got - co-helm Jimmy Spithill commenting the shore team were like “zombies” the following morning after working all night to get the boat back in order. There were no lingering signs of damage when they got their AC75 back on the water, and the closed out the series in the next race.
Experience on the boats again showed in the other semifinal as Ineos Britannia were simply too good for their Swiss counterparts. Alinghi showed some positive signs, though, and will be a genuine contender should they choose to go again for the 38th edition.
Luna Rossa co-helm Francesco Bruni celebrates after beating American Magic 5-3 in the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinal. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
What to make of it all moving forward?
Ineos Britannia got the benefit of selecting their opponent for the semifinals as they finished top of the round-robins. They chose the Swiss, who were the lowest-seeded qualifier, and dispatched them as expected.
That left the two teams that many had tipped as the favourites to go on to the Cup match against Team NZ – Luna Rossa and American Magic – to battle in the other series.
It will be interesting to see which team took more away from their respective tussle. Ineos Britannia largely dominated their contest against Alinghi. While they did drop two races, their shortest margin of victory was 48sec.
Compare that to the tense battle between the Italians and Americans, when four of Luna Rossa’s five wins came by a margin of less than 30s – including 2s and 7s wins – and the Italians come into the semifinal as the more battle-hardened of the two.
Ineos Britannia have looked fast and for the most part have sailed well, though their performance at the lowest end of the wind range should be a concern to address before the final starts. However, they haven’t had quite the same sort of measuring stick as the Italians, who look like a strong outfit across the wind range.
Both will be bringing in updated boats to the final as they try to squeeze every potential drop of performance they can out of their vessel to give them the best chance of earning a spot in the Cup match.
A rematch of the 2021 challenger series final when Luna Rossa blew the British out of the water to the tune of a 7-1 scoreline, expect this best-of-13 series to be a much more competitive affair.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
