Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA), helmed by Jimmy Spithill, came into Tuesday’s action and Race 7 buoyed by their win in the second race on Monday and winds pushing the upper limit of 21 knots again for their Louis Vuitton Cup Final series against INEOS Britannia that stood at 3-3.
The British boat started on port entry and the Italians on starboard as the two boats struggled to get the upper hand early on. Luna Rossa, though, forced INEOS Britannia to tack back towards the left boundary to get a slender lead as they both bore away at speeds in excess of 50 knots.
Unfortunately, Luna Rossa suddenly came to a halt after a nosedive with issues around their jib track area and pieces of combing coming off as the crew inspected their damage. The British boat continued on in an effort to secure a point with the Italians officially retiring halfway up the fifth leg to ensure that occurred to give INEOS Britannia a 4-3 series lead.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli port helm Francesco Bruni reported onboard that it was caused by the “balance between the sails and foils” with the team repairing the jib track fairing and then executing a test run for Race 8.
In Race 8, INEOS Britannia went for a tack on the boundary to incur a penalty which meant that, after the start, they needed to get behind by 75 metres. The Italians soon extended that to 150 metres after a long starboard tack along the boundary to the middle of the course and, by the port marker, they possessed a 12-second lead which was cut down to eight seconds at the first leeward gate by Sir Ben Ainslie’s crew.
Spithill and his crew decided not to engage their opponents too much to round the starboard marker with a seven-second lead at a thrilling 55 knots. The two boats continued to gybe and tack around each other with the Italians protecting the right side of the course into the final windward gate to lead by 16 seconds as both boats went to alternate boundaries.
Luna Rossa made no mistake on the first gybe to stretch their lead to over 350 metres with one final gybe on the port layline seeing them home into the finish with two boards down to record a 16-second win that levelled the dramatic series to 4-4 as worldwide fans enjoyed another thriller.
Uncover the stories behind America’s Cup, from High-Speed Thrills of the AC75s Boats to Intense Rivalries Between Teams, Experience the Passion and Dedication of Sailors Vying for Ultimate Glory on ‘Flying on Water’ on Red Bull TV HERE.
Words and Images courtesy of Red Bull
