Decisive victory for the Swiss on the 6th day of the Louis Vuitton Cup

After yesterday’s races were cancelled due to poor weather conditions, the Louis Vuitton Cup programme resumed as normal with five races sailed in a 6-10 knot southerly thermal wind that put the sailors to the test. The big story of the day was Alinghi Red Bull Racing, a team that by its own admission did a ‘reset’, taking its second win of the regatta and leaving the bottom step of the standings with the very real prospect of a safe passage to the semi-final.

Today, against NYYC American Magic, the Swiss were sublime. Capitalizing on a few uncharacteristic maneuver execution errors and a pre-start penalty for the Americans, Alinghi Red Bull Racing raced a super clean race, showing pace and courage to never be overtaken after the start. Such was the confidence in their speed that the Swiss were able to use every ounce of their tactical sense and wind sense to dominate, in a classic match race.

Arnaud Psarofaghis arrived ashore relieved and focused on the next races to close this leg of the Louis Vuitton Cup. About his day, Arnaud said with a smile: “I think today we combined everything we know how to do and what we have learned. The conditions were really difficult and, to be honest, just before the start they were marginal. We were not on the right jib and just before the start a new pressure line fell and we got caught in a kind of gust of wind. We managed to get it back and leave on time, then we had a bit of luck with American Magic who got a penalty on the entry. The wind was really shifting and strange and the guys did a fantastic job on board to put us in the right place in the breeze. The guys on the bikes were incredible, we could have tacked 20 more times so it was pretty good.” We really managed the race and it’s good to have this point on the board and we always want to go for more wins.”

Asked about the changes in the team, Arnaud commented on the growing confidence: “We feel like we can just steer the boat and put it where we need to go. I think we just have to have confidence in what we’re doing and go for it, and we saw today that anyone can win a race.”

A different set of emotions emanated from the NYYC American Magic camp, with Paul Goodison clearly not happy with the performance on the water, despite the narrow win over INEOS Britannia, saying: “I literally feel like I’ve gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. I feel like we lost the seventh bell, but the good news is we got another point on the board and we’ve learned a lot of lessons from the day to move forward. But it was a frustrating day, we didn’t play as well as we usually do, and the worst part was we couldn’t put our finger on how to fix it. We stayed out for a bit afterwards and collected more data and it’s going to be a long night analysing it to try and understand what was different today. We just have to learn those lessons and move forward.”

Elsewhere, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli put in professional performances, with the Kiwis securing an impressive win over INEOS Britannia and a not-quite-their-best win over Orient Express Racing Team, despite a considerable margin of victory at the end. For Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, it was a quick and precise win over Orient Express Racing Team in the only Italian race of the day, with the Frenchmen finishing just over a minute behind.

Francesco Bruni, Luna Rossa’s port helmsman, stayed on course: “It was very complicated. The French are not slow, especially in light winds, and that was not a surprise. We try to be very critical of our performances. We want to improve more and more and we know that in the America’s Cup this phase is the most important to know how fast you are and to progress, so it’s a never-ending story for us. We keep looking at all the mistakes we made, because we made a few today, and we don’t want to make the same mistake twice.”

After two resounding wins today by wide margins, Emirates Team New Zealand enjoyed a comfortable day on the water. For Nathan Outteridge, Taihoro’s port helmsman, it’s all about looking to the end of this second Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin and keeping the team out of contention until the 37th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup match in October, as he explained: “There’s a few more races here and then we’re back to a development phase with a few things coming up, so for us it’s about getting our racing technique right, getting going and making sure we’re racing the boat really well. We’ve got the weekend to finish now and then we’ll start a development phase for a few more weeks and see how the Challenger races go.” We saw some fantastic racing between the other teams today, and I thought Alinghi Red Bull Racing did a great job against American Magic when the opportunity presented itself, so it shows that any team can win if they get a good start and go for it.”

For INEOS Britannia, the Challenger of Record, it was a tough day after losing a very close battle with NYYC American Magic which went down to the final tack, and a heavy defeat to Emirates Team New Zealand who were ruthless in their execution.

Sir Ben Ainslie was brave but realistic in his prediction of today’s performance: “It’s tough coming out of the water after two defeats, nobody likes that. But at the same time we have to take the positives from these races and we are certainly getting closer to other teams in terms of our performance in these light airs and in some areas where we struggled a bit. Certainly coming back against the Americans was good for us and we are kicking ourselves for that finish where it was difficult to choose which side to defend and then do a tough job on that last gybe to the finish. We will look at it and analyse it and we will no doubt learn from it, but for me I feel that we are progressing, overall, in the right direction.”

At the back of the pack, Orient Express Racing Team are facing a fight for survival but Quentin Delapierre, the team’s enigmatic skipper, sees the weekend’s races and the matches against INEOS Britannia and NYYC American Magic as key: “Nothing is decided yet, there are a lot of things to do on Saturday and Sunday. There are a lot of things to sort out to be in a winning frame of mind on Saturday but if Alinghi Red Bull Racing can beat American Magic then we can. I just want to be in a strong frame of mind on Saturday to be able to beat American Magic and draw level, after that on Sunday against the Brits anything is possible.”

After completing the five races scheduled for today, the Louis Vuitton Cup will take a break on Friday before concluding the second Round Robin of the weekend with a thrilling crescendo. Five more races are scheduled for Saturday and three more races are scheduled for Sunday as Barcelona welcomes the world to this “jewel in the sun.”

The weather forecast is good for both days and there is sure to be an electric atmosphere in the Race Village and Fanzones, which are free to enter, while on the water it will be a pure battle for survival as one team heads home on Sunday with their dream of winning the 37th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup over. The toughest competition to win in international sports is a cruel sporting calender.

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