Luna Rossa and INEOS Britannia Dominate Semi Final Opener

American Magic started the Semi Finals with a strong start against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Ricardo Pinto/America’s Cup

Emirates Team New Zealand boss and maestro of the current America’s Cup was blunt with his predictions this morning in Barcelona hours before the start of the first races of the Louis Vuitton Cup’s Semi Final races: INEOS Britannia would sweep their rivals on Alinghi Red Bull Racing, he said. American Magic and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team would have good races, but ultimately the American’s cede the wins. Alinghi’s boat and its foil package is slow, Dalton added, and American Magic’s run of bad luck would continue.

After four races on a sun-kissed and 10-knot day, good ‘ol Dalts was spot on.

The afternoon’s matches got underway with American Magic and Luna Rossa sailing into the ring first. American Magic’s starboard entry set them up to eventually roll over the top of Luna Rossa inside 30 seconds to the start, but cool-hand Jimmy Spithill was no-nonplussed, tacked, started on port and set the split. American Magic helms Tom Slingsby and Lucas Calabrese successfully herded the Italians to and against the right-hand boundary and were promptly in full control of the race, loose covering the silver boat up the first beat.

It was a solid opening leg for American Magic but they led through the first gate with only 3 seconds between them. That’s never enough against the Italians. They’re boat is fast and their helmsmen unflappable. With another split at the top and a 100-meter lead on the first cross downwind American Magic extended its lead nearly 300 meters.

Twenty seconds was the delta through the leeward gate with the Italian’s following American Magic around the mark. Despite American Magic’s textbook match-racing cover play, the Italians were consistently faster through maneuvers. There was a sense that Luna Rossa’s helms, Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni knew their moment would come.

American Magic ducks Luna Rossa on the fourth leg, one final lead surrender in a match that enjoyed a few lead changes. Ricardo Pinto/America’s Cup

And come it did with American Magic exiting the mark with a touchdown that bled most of the speed they had.

Luna Rossa jumped seized upon the slipup and narrowed the lead with a low and fast mode that essentially brought the race even, and gave the Italians all the breathing room they needed to keep it close.

Through the next gate, there was only 4 seconds between the two. The Italians split right and owned the race on the next cross with American Magic making its first duck of the race.

Spithill was happy to let them go, they nailed the layline into the top mark and put an end to the race. The final delta was a slim 7 seconds, and no doubt American Magic knows exactly where they left that on the racecourse.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing takes the first cross in its match against INEOS Britannia. Ian Roman/America’s Cup

The crews of Alinghi Red Bull Racing and INEOS, who had been watching from the sidelines, entered on time and after some loose pre-start interaction Alinghi nailed the start at full speed and in control of the British as they exited from the left boundary. The Swiss owned the first cross and tacked to cover the Brits, but INEOS was able to live beneath in a narrow lane as both boats sped to the right-hand boundary.

Much as American Magic controlled the first leg, Alinghi kept its cover fast and loose to saunter through the first gate with an 11 second lead. INEOS Britannia’s reputation as a fast downwind boat was on display again as they chewed into Alinghi’s lead and sailed through the Swiss boat’s lee as they attempted to cover. The British team took the lead through the next gate and continued to pile on the hurt.

A botched jibe on Leg 4 for Alinghi brought the race to an anticlimactic end. The British lead exploded and the final delta was a deflating 2m:5s.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s foil package, says ETNZ’s Grant Dalton, and as the winds lightened through the day the Swiss did struggle with manuevers. Ricardo Pinto/America’s Cup

American Magic and Luna Rossa were back on it again for the third race of the day, and with Patriot entering on port. The Italians wasted no time hunting their rivals, chasing them to the corner of the starting box. Luna Rossa momentarily lost grip of the rudder through its jibe back to the line, but once again the cyclors of the silver bullet got them out of trouble as they were able to power up the sails and recover quickly.

American Magic won this start too, holding a high mode to the boundary and trying to shed the Italians who were just able to live in a thin lane long enough to tack away into an open course.

Off the next boundary, American Magic tried to face the Italians, but once again they were able to sail through the lee, live and tack away when they wanted. Rather than stick with their rivals, American Magic continued to the left boundary to minimize a maneuver. It was the right move at the moment, as they cruised through the gate with a 10-second lead.

INEOS Britannia put two wins on the board on the opening day of the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Finals, extending their winning streak from the Round Robins. Ian Roman/America’s Cup

With a split down the run, the Italians sailed into a favorable shift to keep the race close, but at the bottom of the run American Magic’s long loping jibe to round the right gate mark had them dropping off the foils and coughing up time and distance to the Italians. While Slingsby and Co. were able to get Patriot back up to speed quickly, Spithill smelled blood on the water and had all the advantage he needed as the Italians split sides. American Magic managed to regain the lead halfway up Leg 3, but the Luna Rossa picked up a shift, crossed and led through the next gate with a 14-second delta.

It was 13 seconds through the final windward gate, with American Magic managing to keep the race close, but the final delta was 18 seconds. It was the most riveting race of the day, another hint at the potential of American Magic, but the confident and patient sailing of the Italians was their undoing.

American Magic’s Tom Slingsby was frustrated with the teams peformance after two strong starts. Their races were close, but mistakes against the Italians of Luna Rossa continue to haunt the American challenger. Ricardo Pinto/America’s Cup

The day ended with a dud of a match after Alinghi Red Bull Racing fell off its foils before the start. INEOS Britannia entered into an empty start box and was flawless throughout the race to deliver a painful 1m:37s loss to the Swiss.

Dalton was right. So far sweep for both of the Round Robins top teams. And if the racing remains to form, we could very well be looking at an early end to the semis and a right old battle in the finals between two old rivals.

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