Photographs by Ricardo Pinto and Ian Roman / America’s Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand arrived in Naples as the Defenders of the America’s Cup. After two days of the Preliminary Regatta, the only Kiwi race win belongs to their Women & Youth crew.
Jake Pye, Erica Dawson, Serena Woodall and Josh Armit won Race 5 on the Bay of Naples on Saturday, in one of four races sailed on the second day of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta. The senior team, second overall, is still waiting for its first.
“We haven’t actually won a race yet, so that hunger in the belly is more than ever to try and get out there and win the next three races,” said senior team trimmer Andy Maloney.
A Race Decided on the Final Gybe
Race 5 looked settled long before the finish. La Roche-Posay Racing Team, with Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín at the helm, bore away first at the windward gate while others fell off the foils, infringed in the boundary zone and came close to contact. Chief Umpire Richard Slater handed out penalties, and the French stretched their lead to 300 meters after two laps of the 1.4 nautical mile course.
At the final windward gate, the Kiwi Women & Youth crew was second. On the last gybe onto the layline, one of the strongest gusts of the day hit the right side of the course. The French AC40 rode high on its foils, ventilated and slowly capsized.
The New Zealanders kept calm, gybed inside and nailed the final layline to take the win. Luna Rossa 1 passed the Emirates Team New Zealand senior crew on the final downwind leg to finish second.
Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup
“I think as a team, we know we’ve got the potential and it’s just all about having a clear lane off the start, keeping it simple, and really knowing our roles,” said trimmer Serena Woodall. “In that race, we really put it all together, it was up-range, and we just had to keep it close because with the French, that race we were with them on that downwind. And then, yeah, a bit of fortune for us, I guess, when they capsized.”
Ian Roman / America’s Cup
Skipper Jake Pye said the win came from patience. “So, it really was a really well-constructed race, I think, from us as a team. We’ve really been trying to put it together as best as we can, and we feel like it’s taken us about as long as it has to figure out the racecourse, and it felt good to be able to put it all together. It really is, for us, just keeping it simple and making sure we can get the craft across the line. But throughout the race, as it opens up, you take the opportunities where they present themselves, and we did just that.”
Luna Rossa 1 Sets the Pace
The day opened with Luna Rossa 1. Peter Burling and Marco Gradoni led Race 3 from start to finish, reaching more than 47 knots on the bear-aways in winds close to the 21-knot upper limit.
“We’re trying to learn and improve as much as we can,” Burling said. “We definitely made some massive mistakes today, but I think the way we can just reset is great and try and get the next shift. It just shows you that it’s so shifty and dynamic out there that any of these boats can put together an amazing race and any of the boats can have big problems as well.”
Two Wins for the French
La Roche-Posay Racing Team won Race 4, leading around every mark after edging ahead at the first windward gate. Emirates Team New Zealand’s senior crew fought through to second, just ahead of Tudor Team Alinghi.
After the capsize in Race 5, the French answered in Race 6. Delapierre and Botín worked the right side of the first beat, tacked back to cross the fleet and read the final windward leg to bear away with a lead of more than 250 meters. Emirates Team New Zealand finished second.
“Shame about the capsize, it obviously wasn’t ideal, but look, overall, we are very happy with the day and confident, which is important,” said Botín.
Starboard trimmer Jason Saunders called it “probably one of the most fun days I’ve had in racing.”
A Difficult Day for Others
Margherita Porro, skipper of the Luna Rossa Women & Youth crew, said her new team struggled but took positives. “For sure it was tight racing, especially at the top gate. We had some marginal situations. But yeah, we are a new team, and we struggled a little bit today. I think we were fast, but it’s hard to take everything together to connect all the points. But we did some good starts. We were in the pack, so it’s a good starting point.”
GB1 co-helm Ellie Aldridge called it a frustrating day. “At the end of the day, it’s really easy to be frustrated with days like today but actually we are still learning from this event. Like, yes, we want to do well but the end goal isn’t this event, it’s next year.”
Skipper Dylan Fletcher added: “It was really tough, close racing. Obviously a number of key teams had some good wheels, unfortunately we weren’t one of them. But I thought it was a fantastic day to showcase the AC40s.”
[PHOTO 4: Andy Maloney]
Ian Roman / America’s Cup
Sunday Decides the Final
Two fleet races remain on Sunday. After eight races, the top two crews meet in a winner-takes-all match race final.
Standings After Day Two
- Luna Rossa 1, leader
- Emirates Team New Zealand, 43 points
- Tudor Team Alinghi, 38 points
- Luna Rossa Women & Youth, 35 points
