The Semi-Final of the Louis Vuitton Cup (Challenger Selection Series) began with two back-to-back wins in impressive style for INEOS Britannia.
The British Challenger of Record, racing for the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd in the 37th America’s Cup, finished both races against Alinghi Red Bull Racing with a lead of more than 1300m. The Brits had two races against the Swiss, after choosing them as their opponent. Ben Ainslie’s British crew won the right to select who they faced in the Semi-Finals after coming top of the Round Robin group stage. The selection meant the other Semi-Final pairing was Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) v New York Yacht Club American Magic (USA). The first team to win five races in each pairing will progress to the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.
INEOS Britannia Co-Helm Dylan Fletcher said: “It’s great to get a couple of wins on the board on the first day of the Semi-Final, but we know we can’t rest on our laurels, we have to keep working hard and extracting more performance out of Britannia. The shore team has put in so much work to keep making gains and we feel like we are gaining momentum so we’re looking forward to getting more racing in and hopefully continuing on an upwards trajectory.”
In their first race, the Swiss had the advantage across the start line, but INEOS Britannia was hot on their heels and just 40m behind. In the second leg, the Swiss felt the effects of INEOS Britannia’s impressive downwind speed as the Brits managed to claw back 120m to overtake and get to the second gate with a 30m lead. This then increased at the third gate, and after a slow maneuver caused Alinghi Red Bull Racing to fall off their foils on the fourth leg, INEOS Britannia powered even further ahead. With the lighter winds, Ainslie and the crew worked hard to sail fast and clean and managed to cross the finish line with a 1300m and 2min 05secs lead.
The second race had a dramatic pre-start, with Alinghi falling off their foils and then drifting off the course and incurring a penalty. The Swiss tried to redeem their 15-minute delay card, which each team can use once in each stage of the competition, but as the race was already declared live by the race committee the request was turned down. Alinghi were then dealt another blow, with a second penalty for a late entry into the pre-start.
INEOS Britannia also had a tricky moment in the light air, with them almost falling off their foils too but managing to recover and build speed in the approach to the start line. The Brits then dominated the race, with an 840m lead at the first gate which extended to a 1370m lead at the finish line.
INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie said: “We didn’t have the best of starts in that first race. It went a bit light for us, so the Swiss did a nice job of getting the jump on us off the line, but the guys dug in and we got past nicely. It was tricky, puffy, shifty conditions out there and the team did a solid job sailing the boat well in that. There’s plenty of jeopardy out there, but the entire team has worked hard developing the boat to keep us improving. We will go back out there tomorrow and focus on taking it one race at a time.”
The crew on-board Britannia was Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher as Co-Helms, Leigh McMillan and Bleddyn Mon as Trimmers and then Cyclors Ben Cornish, David ‘Freddie’ Carr, Matt Gotrel and Matt Rossiter for the first race, and Neil Hunter, Harry Leask, Luke Parkinson and Ryan Todhunter for the second.
The Italians and the Americans faced off in the first race of the day on Saturday, which got off to a later start after American Magic played its 15-minute delay card due to a suspected cyclor issue. The USA team managed to resolve the issue to nail the start and lead the way across the line. The Italians were hunting them down though and managed to steal the lead on the penultimate leg, which they maintained until the end to take the first win. The next race between the pair ended with the same result, although the Americans did take control early on in the race, they fell behind after a maneuver error, leaving the Italians to secure their second win of the day.
The second day of the Semi-Final takes place on Sunday from 13:00 BST (14:00 CEST) with a further two races scheduled for each pairing. UK viewers can watch all the action live on TNT Sports.
