Louis Vuitton Cup, Luna Rossa loses 2 more races: now thrilling final with American Magic
It went from an impressive 4-0 on Sunday evening to a skimpy 4-3, leaving the final result open on the final day
3' min read
3' min read
Looking out the window it didn't even look like Barcelona: black clouds laden with rain, high waves and that wind that doesn't tell you anything good, that air that teases you and never declares its intentions. It turned out that on the day when they had to bring home access to the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup the opponent American Magic instead beat the Italian crew twice, leaving a bad taste in the mouth for how it happened. The team went from an impressive 4 to zero on Sunday night to a skimpy 4 to 3 leaving the final result open on the final day. The Americans have already shown they can come back in 2013 and one of the protagonists was Tom Slingsby, who now steers the boat with Lucas Calabrese.
A bit of chronicle: the first race started very well, with Checco Bruni and Jimmy Spithill slaloming through the patches of wind, managing to keep the boat in the air as much as possible until a decisive crossroads with their opponent, who after losing the flight had managed to come back strongly. To tell the truth, the race was so irregular that perhaps it should not have been done at all. Instead the Committee decided to keep it alive and shorten it to four sides, of the planned six, just when American Magic was leading. It had already become a draw race, decided not by skill but by the clouds. It happens often, but in club racing it should not happen for the America's Cup, where an important, even economic, game is being played. Having lost the second match point Luna Rossa played all her cards to the full in the second race but, just when she was in the lead, the mainsail traveller, i.e. the carriage on which one end of the largest sail moves, broke. "The trolley tore," said Andrea Tesei, "it's all repairable and we have the spare fools. The Americans took us back some points but we are still the ones who beat all the teams and we are not in awe. We want to bring home this last point'.
Life was easier for the British team where Sir Ben Ainslie with Ineos Britannia secured the final by beating Alinghi Red Bull Racing. Alinghi won the first of the two races by keeping the game open in marginal conditions, proving that they have been able to grow well. It is the team that has spent the most, an estimated 140 million, however we must also consider that the intentions, not yet explicit but almost certain because many guys have a contract that binds them for two editions, are to participate a second time and then many assets become reusable. Pietro Sibello who is one of the Alinghi coaches says: "We knew we were not favourites only two years ago we were learning to fly with boat zero, tonight we relax with a nice party and tomorrow we will start thinking about the future. Our goal is nevertheless achieved, having learnt". Says Ben Ainslie "meeting Alinghi helped us to understand what to do in moderate wind conditions, which is our weak point.
Good news comes from the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli youth team led by Marco Gradoni and Gianluigi Ugolini, who are firmly in the lead at the Unicredit Youth America's Cup on a day when not all teams went out to sea due to weather conditions.
