In the full glare of the world’s media spotlight, in a race sandwiched between the opening two races of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match, Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli beat Britain’s Athena Pathway to win the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup after an impressive demonstration of cool, calm, and collected match-racing of the highest order.

This was a titanic tussle between the two outstanding competitors to emerge from a super-competitive Qualification and Semi-Final series that signaled and signposted the very future of the America’s Cup. The Final was set to be a classic with Athena Pathway coming in with momentum whilst Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli knew that they had inherent speed if they could keep their nerve and deliver when it mattered.

A nervy start from the Italians saw them enter the box late and it was decision time for Athena Pathway on starboard whether to get aggressive or gybe away and lead. The British elected the latter and then set up for their final approach to windward – hoping for the speed advantage that they had enjoyed in previous races.

However, from the very outset, it was Giulia Conti, skipper of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and starboard helm, who eked out crucial meters off the line, to tack at the left boundary to gain the early control. From there she and her Italian crew – co-helm Margherita Porro, with trimmers Maria Giubilei and Giulia Fava – kept calm despite intense pressure from the British to never relinquish the lead over the next six legs.

Athena Pathway – led by Great Britain’s most decorated female Olympic sailor Hannah Mills, alongside Tash Bryant, and trimmers Saskia Clark and Hannah Diamond – were always a threat as they refused to give up and kept the deltas super tight all the way around the course. At times they closed up, but the Italians covered tenaciously and despite splitting tactics all over the course to get out of phase with their opponent, there were simply no passing lanes for Athena Pathway and no possibilities to capitalise on any leverage.

By the final upwind leg, the Italian team were sailing supremely after Conti had called for calm on the preceding downwind leg where the ride height in the increasing chop briefly got out of kilter and caused the boat to punch-through a wave. With the wind speed at a steady 11 knots, the Italian team could sail conservatively, pick their shifts and headed for home around the final gate with a 19-second lead.

Athena Pathway were anything but done and threw everything they could at the leaders down the final run to the finish line. But a slick gybe at the port layline brought Luna Rossa across the line to secure an eight-second victory and a place in the history books as the first ever winners of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup.

Cue wild scenes of celebration onboard the Italian AC40 and also back ashore as the Italian team celebrated ecstatically the fact that they had added the Puig Women’s America’s Cup to the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup won earlier by the Luna Rossa Youth Team.

To celebrate this landmark moment in Italian sailing the victorious Youth Team, led by skipper Marco Gradoni, jumped aboard to join the celebrations as the Juvé & Camps Cava was sprayed around with abandon.

Later, ashore, Maria Giubilei trimmer aboard Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli said she was struggling to take in the womens’ achievement. “I don’t know how to describe how this feels. I’m super super happy and proud of the team – this is just a wonderful feeling. I’m not sure we really can understand it yet. Maybe in the coming days we will understand properly that this is a really big thing that we have done and how important it is for girls everywhere. I hope this will inspire people to follow their dreams and live the life they want to lead.”

Asked if this is the first step along the way to having female sailors racing aboard AC75s in the future America’s Cups, she answered: “I hope so. I think that would be a good thing – especially because I really want to go on the Luna Rossa boat one day. I think it would be great for women at some point if there was not a race just for us but we were mixed in with all the other sailors.”

Understandably disappointed, but still smiling, Hannah Mills – Skipper of Athena Pathway – came ashore and said: “It’s just tough. We couldn’t quite get back at the Italians. They did a really great job of defending and it really came down to the wire on that last run, but we couldn’t quite get past them.

“I guess bigger-picture-wise, Ben and I set up this programe, Athena Pathway, to try inspire, particularly, young girls coming through the sport of sailing – or ones who might want to try sailing – to showcase that there is much more opportunity coming, whether it’s on the water, racing, or off the water in shoreside roles. We’ve really delivered on that in terms of what we’ve created here, so that for me is everything. I’m so proud of everyone in this team and the wider team for helping us to achieve that.”

In a stunning win – and a notable marker of both present brilliance and future intent – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli faced down an enormous challenge from Athena Pathway to come out victorious as the very worthy winners of the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup – an achievement that bodes well for the future of Italian sailing.

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After waiting all day, having initially sent the Group A teams out for a 1000 CET start, finally – just after 1630 CET – enough breeze was found to complete a single late afternoon do-or-die race to decide the Group A Qualification Series.

This was followed quickly after by an evening series of four quick-fire races between the top three crews from Groups A and B (the Invited Teams) to decide the inaugural event’s Semi-Final stage, where Britain’s Athena Pathway and Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Women’s Team finished on top, tied on 27 points.

These two crews move on to compete head-to-head in the Puig Women’s America’s Cup Match Race Final, which has been scheduled for tomorrow – Saturday October 12 – in between the opening two races of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match.

In the marginal conditions that prevailed for the Group A race, success was dependent on staying airborne, whilst the math around making the podium was something that third placed Alinghi Red Bull Racing and fourth placed Emirates Team New Zealand were keenly aware of.

The Swiss crew made a glamor dream start to round the top gate in the lead ahead of Athena Pathway before going gybe-for-gybe with the British team all the way down the first run – all the time also being chased hard by the Kiwis. Then came drama. Athena Pathway rounded the leeward gate in first place, but just behind Alinghi Red Bull Racing was struggling, as they dropped off their foils on an attempted tack around and opened the door for Emirates Team New Zealand to steal into second.

Agonizingly for the Swiss, they stayed in displacement long enough for both NYYC American Magic and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to overtake and by the time they recovered, it was too much to come back from and Emirates Team New Zealand had snatched the final qualifying podium position that secured their Semi-Final spot.

The evening clouds were now coming in fast but with the wind filling in to the most it had been all day the Race Committee were set on running four Semi-Final races. They got the first away at 1730 CET with the Group B qualifiers, Swedish Challenge powered by Artemis Technologies, JAJO DutchSail and Sail Team BCN, joining Athena Pathway, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Emirates Team New Zealand.

What unfolded over the next hour and a half was some of the tightest AC40 racing ever seen. From the outset two teams showed excellent consistency and pace, with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Athena Pathway always looking strong across all four races. That said, the pair did not have it completely all their own way and race wins in the first and fourth races by Sail Team BCN delighted the home fans and kept the Italians and British on their toes.

In the second race, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli squeezed inside Athena Pathway at a crowded top gate to snatch the lead and then never looked back, sailing off to a commanding victory with the British finishing as comfortable runners-up.

Consistency was starting to pay off and in the third race, Athena Pathway started uncontested at the starboard end of the line and sailed away to a dominant race win. Crucially it was Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli who secured second place and these two could only now be challenged on points going into the final race by third-placed Sail Team BCN.

And what a final race it was. Four boats including Athena Pathway and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were over at the start, enabling Sail Team BCN and Emirates Team New Zealand to lead up a first windward leg as the wind began to drop as sunset approached. Luna Rossa, after swiftly expunging their OCS penalty, headed far right on the course and came out ahead, whilst Athena Pathway sailed hard to close the gap on the leaders and got up to third at the windward gate.

By the end of the first run, Luna Rossa were still leading with Sail Team BCN pushing them hard. With the wind fading further the Italians came off their foils on the second beat and the Spanish went on to record a brilliant second win of the day. Athena Pathway held their nerve to cross the line in third to secure their Match Race Final spot.

Giulia Conti, Skipper of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli came ashore shattered but delighted saying: “I’m exhausted but extremely happy. It’s a joy that I’ve never felt before because I can share it with the people that are not just teammates, but also very good friends and who I love deeply and this makes it way beyond my expectations.

“It was hard to stay focused the whole day because we were on the water in the morning from 0915 but we were able to really keep it together, also our coach a really good job in keeping us focused the whole time and we just knew we needed to keep things simple and to keep the boat fast and that’s what we did.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s Match Race Final against Athena Pathway, Conti added: “I’m looking forward to the final. I can’t wait to sail against Athena Pathway. I think they did a great job also, and with the project that Hannah Mills has developed I think they really deserve to be in the final. I’ve been racing against Hannah for a very long time in dinghies so it’s great to be sharing this final with her.”

Tash Bryant, port helmswoman on Athena Pathway stepped ashore pleased but very much focused on completing the job saying: “I think we’re pretty excited and obviously it’s a relief to be following in the footsteps of the INEOS Britannia team and we can’t wait to give it our best shot tomorrow. Obviously, we’re super competitive on board so we really want to win the race – with the first one being really special – and we can’t wait to get on the start line.”

Talking about today’s racing and the team’s never-say-die approach, Bryant added: “We’ve been working really hard trying to stay collected, no matter what happens in the racing, especially today when it was going to be unpredictable and we weren’t 100 percent sure what the wind was going to do. We just had to take each race with a clean slate and go out there and just do our best in the moment.

“We’ve been working hard on the resets. If we have a little touchdown or something happens that we didn’t predict we’ve been working hard as a team to just reset as best we can and lock in on the boat in real time. I think today we went out and did ourselves proud because we had some amazing comebacks and came out of the situations that we really didn’t want to be in.”

So, it’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli against Athena Pathway in the Puig Women’s America’s Cup Final where these two outstanding teams are sure to serve up a match-racing masterclass with absolutely nothing to separate them on the water.

It’s one of the highlights of this magnificent summer of sailing in Barcelona and as the sun sets on an epic penultimate day of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup this inaugural competition looks set for a stunning climax tomorrow.

Whichever of these two top class teams ultimately lifts the trophy, crafted by the Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola, they will certainly have earned the honor of becoming the first ever winners of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup.

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Two races down and facing prompt elimination with a win for INEOS Britannia, expectations were high for more pre-start aggression from the Italians of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the 11th and decisive match of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. Yet, as they have many times in the Final, the Italians ceded control of the Match before the start, allowing the British to dictate the outcome of the final approach, and from there, the entire race.

Onto the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match go the British to face Emirates Team New Zealand, who have been licking their chops and sharpening their knives on the sidelines since the Louis Vuitton Cup’s Round Robins. Six decades have passed since a British team has sailed in the Cup Match, and it’s been 173 years since they first lost it, so the pressure is indeed now on the INEOS Britannia camp to finish to deliver and right the wrong of long ago. Oh, how the Royal Yacht Squadron would love to have the Cup returned to Cowes.

An America’s Cup Worthy Performance

It is said that the America’s Cup is a long march of progress toward perfection, and today on the waters off Barcelona INEOS Britannia took a giant stride forward. With winds holding in the 15-knot range, which was believed to be the sweet spot for Luna Rossa, port helmsman Dylan Fletcher kicked off the Race 11 with a high-speed port entry and a familiar approach of sailing high in the starting box, looping around and pursuing the Italians as they, once again, straight-lined to the right-hand start box boundary before jibing back.

After jibing around the bow of Luna Rossa and setting up comfortably ahead and to leeward, the final wind up was put into the hands of master Ben Ainslie who knew he was safe from any late charges. At 15 seconds, he put his foot on the accelerator, paralleled the line and turned up to start with a good 3-knot advantage and the ability to transition between high modes and speed modes until the Italians were forced to tack away 20 seconds later.

Following the Italians across the course, it was then Fletcher’s turn to show why he earned the starting helm opposite Ainslie. With a marginal cross and hardly a boatlength between them, Fletcher and the foil trimmers turned the boat and completed tack right where they needed to be positioned. Luna Rossa starboard helmsman, Jimmy Spithill, attempted to dive to leeward and get a hook but failed, and tacking away put the Italians promptly in a gaping 100-meter hole that was impossible to dig themselves out of.

INEOS Britannia, now having proved throughout the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals that they could preserve a lead when they had it, were then surgical with their defense, herding the Italians when they wanted and shutting down any and all passing opportunities. Leaning on their cyclors through every covering tack and jibe, bear away and turn up, the British boathandling was crisp for most of the race (but not perfect).

INEOS had essentially locked down the race until mid-way through Leg 4, when a split at the leeward gate gave Luna Rossa one final shot at making a pass. There was only a boatlength between them when INEOS crossed on port near the top course and rather than cover their opponents the British continued to the right boundary, allowing the Italians their first bit of real leverage.

Approaching the windward gate on starboard tack was the play they wanted, however, hedging on more wind in the top-right corner of the course. And in a show of confidence in their boat handling, Ainslie called for a tack-bear away around the right gate mark, a high-risk move given the wind was only 13 knots at the top of the course. But they pulled off the maneuver with Italians being able to bear away, less than a boatlength behind.

Jibe-for-jibe the British covered the Italians down the run, extending with each turn until leading through the final leeward gate with a 9-second lead. Another split for the Italians wasn’t enough, however, and over the course of the next two and final legs, INEOS would do no wrong to win the race by 17 seconds and let the celebrations begin.

The common theme of post-race interviews from both sides was that INEOS Britannia had made the biggest improvements since August. Ainslie had been saying all along that they would be bringing more improvements to their AC75, and the result was a reliable platform free of major breakages, and a sharper chemistry within the sailing team. Momentum begets momentum, and that had been advancing the British all along.

Did they have a faster boat? Impossible to say, but it wasn’t slow in the Final. Did they sail better?

Spithill says so. “The British out-learned the rest of the challenger fleet,” he said once ashore and amongst family and friends, goggles off and revealing the red-eyed sting of Luna Rossa’s 7-4 loss. “They took a bigger step than anyone else and peaked at the right time. We were beaten by a better team.”

It was a solemn interview for Spithill, who shared that he was “at the end of the line,” with his America’s Cup career, ready to pass the mantle to the next generation of Italian sailors that had won the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup a week ago. “That’s it for me,” he said.

Luna Rossa Team Director Max Sirena suggested that the team would continue with the blessing of its patriarch and patron Patrizio Bertelli. “The positive thing is that we keep going,” he said, with or without him. And his only hope was, should INEOS prevail against Emirates Team New Zealand, that they continue to improve the event and get more teams for the next edition, which will certainly remain in Europe with another cycle with the AC75s.

Bringing the Louis Vuitton Cup to eleven incredibly close races against the Italians has given the British squad a level of race preparation they require to meet the defenders on October 12, and that is the point, but concluding it before going all the way to 13 races also gives INEOS a larger window to reset and get on with the larger task at hand.

“We’re under no illusions of how hard it will be against the Kiwis,” Ainslie said. It’s back to work on Monday, added INEOS’s Luke Parkinson.

As Fletcher was concerned, “the pressure is high and we’re loving it all,” but more tellingly, he’s “looking forward to getting into the developments for the Cup and even bringing more speed there.”

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There’s perhaps no more astute observer of the America’s Cup currently than Grant Dalton. The Emirates Team New Zealand boss is even quite complimentary toward Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team and INEOS Britannia, which are staging a heavyweight fight for the right to face his two-time defending champion Kiwis in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup match starting Oct. 12.

Maybe Dalton is softening just a little bit or perhaps he’s just enjoying how the plot line has unfolded off Barcelona, where he moved the regatta for what he said was the financial survival of ETNZ. Since sailing in the Preliminary Regatta and the Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robins, the Kiwis have been training on their own while keenly watching as the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals have progressed.

A few weeks ago, “Dalts” said the Kiwis feared Luna Rossa, which is co-helmed by Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni. Whether that was sailing’s version of coach speak or his renewed respect for Max Sirena, you certainly wouldn’t have heard Dalton say that three years ago. Back in 2021, there was a rift between the Kiwis and Italians that was as hot off the water as it was on the water, where ETNZ prevailed 7-3 in the 36th America’s Cup match.

Dalton has also been hyper focused on the Brits as Sir Ben Ainslie’s crew has come on strong since finishing fourth in the Preliminary Regatta. Dalton lauded the significant contributions the British team has gotten from its partnership with Formula One team Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team.

But first, the Italians. There’s a long history between Dalton and Sirena, Luna Rossa’s team director and skipper; most of it good but in the last regatta, not so good. Dalton said a tiff between ETNZ as the defender and Luna Rossa as the Challenger of Record was so heated that his once-close relationship with Sirena became seriously damaged.

“I know that their game has lifted a lot and they’re a completely different mindset team than they were in Auckland,” Dalton says. “You know, that was just a combative bloody street fight, which they pretty much lost every time they tried to street fight. This time has been quite different. And frankly, the relationship, which was just burned, has completely reversed back to the way it used to be.”

Dalton, who is always straightforward and can be salty, said the “street fight” mostly concerned issues surrounding the protocol, rules and venue.

“In my opinion, it was just trying to use the influence of being major sponsor and Challenger of Record to re-tilt the deck, if you like,” Dalton said. “It is not like that anymore. It’s great. So, I think that makes them more dangerous. They’ve learned a lot, they’re quiet, they’re steady, they’re just getting on with their work. So, for that reason I think they’re very, very strong.”

After Luna Rossa withdrew from the 2017 America’s Cup, Sirena joined Team New Zealand in a management role. Dalton is pleased that their relationship has been patched up.

“As for INEOS, Dalton applauded team principal Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ainslie for going “so deep” in having the Mercedes F1 team design their yacht. Dalton says INEOS Britannia is more of a threat than it was early on because of the “incredibly good” analytical tools provided by Mercedes have allowed it to improve and change as needed to speed up the boat.”

“It’s just happened,” says Dalton, 67. “We’ve known each other for a hell of a long time. And it’s just come back together again. We used to ride bikes together, etc., etc. I’m just pleased that it has gotten that way. As I walk into the Twilight Zone, you know, it’s nice to not leave enemies behind.”

So, will they ever ride bikes together again?

“I don’t know. If he beats us, I won’t want to ride bikes with him,” says Dalton with a chuckle.

Luna Rossa and INEOS had gone toe-to-toe until the British boat took a 6-4 lead in the first-to-7 series on October 2. The Italians had to retire from two races due to damage to their silver-hulled yacht, handing the points to the British.

As for INEOS, Dalton applauded team principal Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ainslie for going “so deep” in having the Mercedes F1 team design their yacht. Dalton says INEOS Britannia is more of a threat than it was early on because of the “incredibly good” analytical tools provided by Mercedes have allowed it to improve and change as needed to speed up the boat.

“I also think that the team is sailing it a hell of a lot better. You know, if you have a fast car, but if you can’t drive it, it doesn’t make much difference,” Dalton says.

Dalton also says he’s felt for some time that INEOS Britannia partnering with Mercedes was the right approach. Ratcliffe is also a principal with the Mercedes F1 team.

“It’s 100 percent an F1 product. That boat was designed inside the Mercedes F1 team. There’s no naval architects buzzing around there,” Dalton says. INEOS had to start from scratch in developing its analytical tools, “So if they’ve made it that far in this cycle, they can go a long way in another cycle. If you can harness that into a yacht race, it’s going to be potent. And I think you’re starting to see that. So, win, lose or draw, the future is that way.”

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Back in August when the Louis Vuitton Cup got underway with the Preliminary Regatta and the early semis, the general consensus was that to get to the America’s Cup Match, the challengers would have to get through Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. And while that may well still be true, today on the waters off Barcelona, the helms, trimmers and cyclors of INEOS Britannia saw it a different way: To get to the Defender, you just have to get in front of the Italians.

After five days and eight races, the series was tied with four apiece, the pattern of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final being that each team would win one of the two races, and each new day was essentially a new start to the series. That all changed today on the sixth day with INEOS Britannia posting two impressive wins, swinging the momentum firmly toward the Brits.

Having survived the over-range conditions of the previous day with two white-knuckle races testing the limits of the platforms, today’s races presented a far greater challenge with strong easterly winds pushing white caps and waves against and off Barcelona’s sea wall. This was the sort of sea state that earns the foil trimmers their paychecks and tests the power of the complete foil and hull package.

INEOS Sets The Stage in Race 9

Race 9, started in 15 to 17 knots with Luna Rossa on port entry with INEOS entering, jibing and following the Italians to the right side of the box. Once the Italians did their turn to run down the boundary INEOS set up the Italians right and at first denied Ainslie his attempt at a hook, and then pushed them deeper into the box before allowing them to turn up and make their run for the start. From behind, the Brits had 30 seconds to push the Italians to the line before they ultimately tacked away for a split start, the Brits jumping to an immediate 17-meter advantage and 8-knots better VMG.

From opposite boundaries they returned, the Italians having executed a better tack to own the first cross by a half-boat length. INEOS’s Ben Ainslie was happy to duck and get to the advantaged right side of the course. This time, off the boundaries, INEOS had the better of the tacks and crossed by the same boat length.

Bow-to-bow as they converged at the top of the course, both boats tacked and split, and here is where the British padded their lead with a smoother, deeper bearaway, a perfectly executed jibe at the boundary and consistently better VMG at the top the leg. At their next intersection, INEOS had stretched its lead to 100 meters and hooked into puff that shot them down the run and into the leeward gate with a 205-meter lead.

The Italians threw everything they could at Ainslie and his co-helmsman Dylan Fletcher, trying to bring the race to the middle of the course at times and creating wide leverages, but the wind shifts were subtle and, as Francesco Bruni would lament after the race, they were under range with their jib selection, which making the boat difficult and cranky to sail in the conditions.

Were it not for one anxious moment on the downwind Leg 6 when Ainslie lost control of the rudder, INEOS Britannia put up a stellar performance to take first blood for the day.

Race 10 Reboot For Luna Rossa

With a regroup and a jib change, INEOS had port entry for Race 10 and was well across the box before the Italians entered late, circling to leeward as the Brits sailed high, tacked and lazily circled behind the Italians to follow them to the bottom corner of the box. Jibing just to windward of Luna Rossa, INEOS was slow out of the jibe and Luna Rossa went for the hook but couldn’t make it stick, so instead, turned up to set up to windward of the British and push them down the line with 38 seconds remaining.

Once again, INEOS had the better of the starts, a knot faster and all the room in the world to sail whatever mode they wanted: building speed, then climbing and then doing it again until they were able to shed the Italians off their hip.

At the first intersection, less than 2 minutes into the race, INEOS crossed and faced the Italians, bouncing them to the right, while they smoked off to the left corner and into the next shift, a leftie that had them into the first gate with a 75-meter lead.

Jibing boundary to boundary with a downwind boatspeed advantage that appears to be their strength, the British more than doubled their lead into the next gate and essentially locked down the race from there, transitioning between sailing the course and covering when they needed to upwind, but sailing away on the runs.

“It was a fantastic performance by the team today,” said Dylan Fletcher after racing. “It’s been frustrating with this stalemate each day, and it feels like so many of the races were close to ours, so to break it today and have a nice solid performance against them feels good. The sea-state picked up quite a lot from the warm-up with the mistral blowing the swell in with waves that were really short, and quite breezy again so it was certainly a hard day for the pilots.”

Now facing a one-race elimination, Bruni told the media on shore that he was relaxed and focused on the next opportunity to even the score, which will come Friday afternoon, after a welcome chance to reboot, study their opponent, and prepare a strategy for lighter winds.

“We know the position very well. It’s not something that we like but sport is sport, and you have to accept it when you lose. Today we lost in the field, no breakdowns, nothing, we just didn’t execute a couple of things and then also didn’t sail very well. It was very close racing, really tough conditions but for me we still have a good chance of doing it and we definitely are not feeling the pressure. We know that we can do it and that we have to just sail the best we can now.”

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With the Louis Vuitton Cup Final tied at three wins apiece on the morning of the fourth day of racing off Barcelona, and with the wind forecast at or above 20 knots, the riveting race to elimination between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS Britannia had all the makings of a monumental moving day, but after two more races, the series remains deadlocked once again. But a pattern is emerging: the Italians are unflinching and the British imperfect.

There’s also a pattern emerging in the pre-starts. INEOS Britannia appears to prefer to play at the top of the box with the flexibility to either jump or lead on the final approach. In the first race of the day, No. 7 of the series, with INEOS entering on port and Luna Rossa quite late for its starboard entry, the British tacked in the middle of the box as Luna Rossa jibed behind and angled off to the top-right corner of the box. From a windward position, INEOS pursued the Italians from high until Luna Rossa abruptly turned up toward the start. It seemed to catch the British off guard and left them set up to leeward for the final approach. 

INEOS has shown in recent races that they can hold a high angle for much longer and more effectively than they could early on during the Preliminary Regattas, which were sailed in much lighter winds. Matching relative speed and height with the Italians, INEOS had momentary control of the race off the left boundary and was able to live on the hip of Luna Rossa as they drag raced to the middle of the course where the Italians were finally able to shed them.

A slight left shift at the top of the course and foil-drop delay on Luna Rossa put the Brits back in front and first through the windward gate by mere seconds as they split to opposite sides. After a heart-racing 51-knot bearaway for INEOS and 41 knots for the Italians, the race for Luna Rossa came to abrupt halt when they lost control of the boat and nosedived. 

The impact of water across the deck sheared multiple fairings away, exposing the innards of the jib-sheet system. Unsure of collateral damage, the Italians stopped racing and eventually retired. The British safely delivered their boat around the course to add another to the win column. 

Luna Rossa’s technical team was on the boat immediately to inspect and repair, reapplying the fairings with tape and adhesive carbon sheets in a harried 30-minute effort against the clock to get the boat in raceable shape. 

Once again, momentum had swung the way of the Brits, but Luna Rossa is resilient if anything, knocking curveballs out the park as they’re known to do. With barely enough time for the cyclors to warm up their legs and reset the boat, the Italians were ready for the next battle like it was no big deal. A pre-start wind delay, caused by a spike that put the wind well above the 21-knot threshold, gave them a few minutes to get sorted, but once the countdown was on, it was business as usual for Jimmy Spithill and his opposite Francesco Bruni.

This time, the British jibed after their starboard entry and chased the Italians toward the top of the starting box. As Luna Rossa began its jibe to its final approach there was a moment of uncertainty on the British boat whether to jibe and follow or tack and set up high. A delayed decision to tack resulted in a rushed maneuver against the start box boundary, and during the tack, INEOS slid across the boundary, earning them a 75-meter penalty to burn.

“We just had an issue which kind of put us out of position for the start,” Ainslie said after racing. “We weren’t where we wanted to be, but in that amount of breeze you can’t just throw the boat around or you’re going to wipe out or break something—so it really put us on the back foot. But we tried really hard, they had a great race and did a good job defending and I thought the performance was pretty similar today with both boats ramping up in that top end.”

With Luna Rossa comfortably enough out front and dictating the race, the no-pass trend continued despite both teams clocking top-mark exits upwards of 55 knots. INEOS made incremental gains at certain points of the race, but once the Italians opened up a sizable lead on Leg 5 of 8, there was nothing they could do to change the outcome.

As the pattern repeats, the Italians continue to rebound from race-ending issues (traveler failure, broken battens, and one heck of a high-speed pearl), and as result, the daily headline rings familiar. It’s all even again, but it’s now at 4-to-4. The Louis Vuitton Cup Final is no longer a race to seven, but a race to three.

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Just when spectators and fans thought the Louis Vuitton Cup Final matches were thrilling enough to make for compelling television after Sunday’s races, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS Britannia returned to the waters off Barcelona for racing today on what was supposed to be a reserve day. After getting skunked on Saturday, Race Director Iain Murray and his team no doubt looked at the forecast and seized the opportunity to get back on schedule and deliver two more action-packed races.

With winds averaging just below the upper wind limit of 21 knots, there was no delay and INEOS Britannia wasted no time taking the gloves off in the pre-start as they did the previous day. In this, the fifth match of the Finals, Luna Rossa had a port entry and shot straight to the right side of the starting box with INEOS promptly on the hunt.

In a similar scenario to the previous match, Luna Rossa jibed in the bottom right corner of the start box to take its final approach and INEOS was lying in wait, but this time jibing too far forward to block the Italians from the line. As the British boat sailed over the top of the Italians to claim the leeward position, Luna Rossa’s Jimmy Spithill turned up hard through INEOS’s bad air and lost grip of the rudder. The jib luffed and the silver boat was momentarily off the foils, handing a wire-to-wire win to the British squad which delivered a textbook match racing cover performance from start to finish.

Spithill and his opposite Francesco Bruni shrugged off the day’s first loss and were ready to get right back to the business of keeping the racing entertaining for the spectators. “We are getting famous for it,” Bruni said in his post-race interview with the broadcast team when asked about the team’s penchant for comebacks. “All good.”

Louis Vuitton Cup Match 6: Luna Rossa’s Comeback

And they were all good in the pre-start of Race 6. This time, with INEOS starting with port entry. Luna Rossa went straight to the chase, but INEOS tacked high and circled back. The British went on the chase and aimed at the Italians on starboard. INEOS jibed to windward of Italians, attempting to jump them again, but this time, Spithill turned up early and cleaved plenty of space between the two of them for a fast run to an even start.

INEOS, however, was slightly forward and able to hold a high mode to force the Italians to tack away first. Ainslie soon followed and the two AC75s drag raced to the right boundary matching speed and angle. The Italians, however, had a boatlength advantage to work with and knew they would be strong out of the boundary tack.

As soon as they were on starboard tack and the windward board coming up, Bruni could be heard saying, “definitely a piece.” The British tacked to leeward in a marginally controlling position, but the Italians were already at full pace, sailing faster and higher, and simply sailed over the top of the INEOS, pinning them to leeward and carrying them to the left boundary. At the top of the course, INEOS tacked simultaneously and followed through the first gate only 4 seconds behind.

The Italians were quicker out of the exit, which is where they seem to be making consistent gains in the series, and their lead immediately jumped to 100 meters. Luna Rossa was too quick and flawless for INEOS to make a pass on the run, and a wind shift gave them no option to split.

Still, they kept it close and followed the Italians through next gate only 6 seconds behind. As INEOS had done to them in the first race of the day, the Italians returned the favor, covering INEOS’s every move and bouncing them off the right boundary. There was 12 seconds between them at the next gate, but the British had a tack-and-bear away to the Italians’ straight carry which stretched their lead to 300 meters. With no passing lanes for the British and a flawlessly executed race for the Italians, the 17-second finish delta hardly mattered: the series is now locked at 3-3.

“It was a pity that little mistake in the first race,” Bruni said in his post-race interview. “I think we could have had that point as well.”

When prompted about the Italian team’s comebacks, he said jokingly, “We are going to keep it like that for a good show on TV and then smash them in the end.”

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If you can’t out run them, take them out at the knees.

After a dramatic drift off between INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, the two battling challengers of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, was called off on Saturday when the time limit expired, the AC75s returned to the racecourse the following day with the wind in full anger, for two top-of-the-range races. While there have been more than enough races at the opposite end of the range to show the AC75s can race at 6.5 knots it was finally time to show what they could do at 21—or more.

As the teams paced back and forth through consecutive delayed race starts, there was an ominous clue something was amiss on Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli with the crew craning their necks aloft. With less than 10 minutes remaining to the start, starboard helmsman Jimmy Spithill climbed out of his cockpit, walking around the front of the mast and looking upward, it then obvious there was a major issue—broken top battens poking through the mainsail skin.

Minutes later, with the chase boat aside, and the mainsail strip underway on the Italian’s silver AC75, the race committee finally passed the “wind test” and the race was a go. For the Italians, it was simply of race of time to get a backup mainsail bent on for the next race, and the British of INEOS Britannia, it was an easy point when the race committee handed the Italians their disqualification (for receiving outside assistance once the race went live).

The breakage was a serious let down for race fans hoping for another high-speed, high action race, but the patient spectator was then treated to the most compelling race of Barcelona yet.

Match 4, A Match Racing Sizzler

With the wait finally over, the Italians entered with port entry and were immediately targeted by the INEOS Britannia, entering at 44 knots. Luna Rossa jibed to starboard as the two came together and helmsman Ben Ainslie was quick to fire the protest button—a hint of more to come and a more aggressive strategy for dealing with the Italians: Luna Rossa has yet to be passed once ahead, so take the gloves off in the starting box.

The umpires, ashore and watching on an array of screens with copious streams of data, were quick to green flag that one, but the British continued their attacks, pushing the Italians to the left-end of the starting line and matching tacks back to the right. Trailing the Italians at 45 knots, the setup for the next moved had been practiced in the simulator hundreds of times. A tack for Luna Rossa would have the set up above the layline to the starting line, and a jibe made them an easy target for the British.

As Luna Rossa slowly jibed and came across INEOS’s bow it looked as though the British had them exactly where they wanted, they triggered the protest button again, certain they had the Italians copping a penalty. Green-flagged again with a precision call from the umpire booth that Luna Rossa had completed its jibe in the nick of time.  With 15 seconds to the start, the Italians were strong to leeward, doing 35 knots to the British 28, and as they simultaneously struck the line, the Italians were a knot faster and able to flick the INEOS off to the right.

As Britannia charged away to the right Ainslie was still fuming about the no-call penalty, but the match was about to get spicy again.

Off the right boundary, Luna Ross had the cross and tacked ahead of the Brits, which had just enough pace to dive to leeward and try a hook and another shot at the protest button. That one too was denied and INEOS tacked away again to the right boundary. Luna Rossa let them go and crossed ahead to get through the first gate with a 4-second advantage.

With a split the race was on again, both boats streaming down the course at nearly 50 knots—cavitation speeds. Luna Rossa had the first downwind cross by a slim 135-meter lead, but through the next gate, the lead was up to 6 seconds.

Split again at the gate, with Luna Rossa going right and INEOS Britannia left briefly, they intersected again minutes later with the Italians defending with another slam-dunk tack. INEOS port helmsman Dylan Fletcher said he thought he had a chance at a hook and went for it. With Ainslie goading him on from his starboard cockpit, “Keep going Dylan, keep going!” Fletcher tried a few luffs, but was denied the penalty again. His frustration with the calls was for all to hear: “This is a joke, umpires.”

Coming out of the exchange, the unflappable Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni, locked down the race with a series of perfect covering tacks, pinning the British to the right boundary and leading through the third gate with a 5-second lead. A prompt jibe after the gate created another split. Luna Rossa added another 6-seconds by the time both boats were through the next gate, and at the next intersection were a whopping 300-meters ahead. Their lead was up to 19 seconds and 400-plus meters at the next gate, and then 20.

Swapping sides of the course as both boats went boundary to boundary on the final upwind leg the British hooked into one final shift at the top of the course to reduce the Italian lead to less than three boatlengths and a 6-second delta through the mark. With a long drag race down the run, the INEOS brought the match back to the middle of the course to set up a high-velocity jibing duel, but the Luna Rossa had just enough breathing room to nail its final jibe and lead the British through the finish line—by 4 seconds.

With a win for each team the Louis Vuitton Cup Final’s second day wrapped where it began—a tied series at 2 points apiece. To quote the race commentary team, as the Finals come closer to first-to-seven, there is literally, “Nothing in it.” 

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The 37th America’s Cup Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia, and arch rivals Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli rolled their AC75s from their garages early this morning in Barcelona to face one another again, each having advanced through the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Finals last week with strong performances. And as the wind whistled off the Mediterranean and through their respective team bases at 20 knots and waves pounded the seawall there was a real and heightened sense that the Louis Vuitton Cup Final would deliver some of the fastest and most compelling races yet.

And when the two teams met, with the wind hovering near the top of the allowable wind range, it was INEOS Britannia entering on starboard and Luna Rossa on port, two-boards down, and commencing the dance. Luna Rossa went hell bent to the bottom right corner of the starting box for a well-paced run at the starting line, with INEOS charging from behind, but too late to engage. As the two charged for the start, INEOS was pinned to leeward and wasted no time bailing out to start on port, essentially handing the Italians the start and an immediate control of the race.

Luna Rossa owned the first cross by two boatlengths and set themselves in a position to control the remainder of the race. In the big sea state, however, controlling the AC75s at their limits was an obvious challenge for both teams fighting foil cavitation and rudder grip. Still, Luna Rossa closed the race with a nearly 800-meter and 47-second win over 27 minutes of racing.

The Louis Vuitton Cup Final races are eight legs—two more than the races sailed in the challenger series thus far—and with 40-knot averages upwind and downwind—the demands of the power teams to keep the boats in balance were incredible.

“The windiest we’ve ever raced,” said Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s port helmsman Francesco Bruni after racing. “We were solid in the start and recovering from little mistakes.”

The most notable handling challenge for the Italians was on the downwind Leg 4 where Bruni’s opposite, Jimmy Spithill, warned over the onboard communications of a “bad one here on the bow.”  The boat got loose and Spithill reported that he was “getting some big slides” and stalling on the rudder. Bruni responded with a suggestion to fly lower, which comes at a greater risk of touching down, but with a quick reset the Italian’s silver rocket was on rails the remainder of the race and a good knot faster on average.

INEOS Britannia’s starboard helmsman Ben Ainslie was frank with his assessment of the loss, admitting they’d “made a mess of the start,” and were struggling with cavitation issues as well. But his plan for the day’s second race was obvious even before conferring with the coaches: “We gotta get in front and stay in front.”

And that’s exactly what they did for the day’s second match, which finally got underway when the wind limit dipped below 21 knots long enough to satisfy the race committee.

This time, with an on-time port entry, INEOS Britannia circled high in the start box while Luna Rossa circled low, allowing the British to come push from above and dive to leeward on the final approach with better speed. While it was an even start, Ainslie had just enough pace and angle to get to the left boundary in control.

Simultaneous tacks had the British in a strong position to windward as both boats straight-lined to the middle of the course. Luna Rossa’s next tack was perfectly matched and covered and the Italians were forced to break away, freeing INEOS to transition from defense to offense with the wind shifts and opening up a 130-meter and 7-second lead through the first gate.

With both teams more settled into the conditions, INEOS’s Dylan Fletcher and Ainslie executed a strong race that had them in rhythm with the wind shifts and making big gains on the downwind legs, at times sailing deeper and faster pad its comfort margin. But the Italians were never far behind and the final delta was only 18 seconds, bringing the first-to-seven series to one-all and a reset for racing to resume on Saturday following a reserve day.

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Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s young guns, generational talent, dominated the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup Final with a comprehensive victory over NYYC American Magic in a high-adrenaline, six-leg, race sailed in winds up to 18 knots and big waves.

Led by the mercurial Marco Gradoni, undoubtedly a name for the future of America’s Cup racing for Italy, and with the outstanding talents of co-helmsman Gianluigi Ugolini, and trimmers Rocco Falcone and Federico Colaninno, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were simply a class apart, leading from start to finish, showing consistent and conservative front-running, after capitalizing on an early entry penalty for NYYC American Magic.

After coming in seconds early at the port end of the line, the umpires penalized the Americans with a 75-meter get-behind penalty and despite starting well, after the first tack, the team were forced to give away the leverage to the Italians. Seventy-five meters quickly became 100 as Luna Rossa covered the American team tenaciously over by the right boundary and then offered no passing lanes over the next six legs.

Sailing smartly, Luna Rossa made no mistakes, rounding the leeward gates with two-boards down in the 18-knot breeze and bearing away steadily at the top gates—albeit at speeds in excess of 46 knots. It was a masterclass of front-running and the clipped, concise communications onboard the Italian boat were worthy of the very best in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.

For the NYYC America’s Cup youth team led by Harry Melges, with co-helmsman Kyle Navin, and trimmers Severin Gramm and Finn Rowe, their dream was extinguished, and the sailors were left ruing the starting error as well as some minor splashdown errors that eventually resulted in a 36-second deficit to the Italian crew. These talented young sailors will bounce-back for sure and they were magnanimous in defeat, taking it as a lesson and moving on, but disappointment was nevertheless etched on their faces. So near, yet so far.

Winning the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup, after surviving a small final jibe scare on the last leg into the finish line, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have laid down a serious marker, a signpost for the future of this passionate country’s involvement at the elite apex of sailing.

The next generation of talent coming from Italy is at the very top level, and winning the UniCredit Youth America’s Cup at a canter after dominant and consistent performances all week, is confirmation of what looks like an unstoppable force in world sailing.

A delighted Marco Gradoni, the figurehead not only of the Youth team but of Italian youth sailing, spoke onboard saying: “This moment is important because we worked a lot for this and now we have achieved our goal. I really want to thank everyone, the coach, the shore team, the tech team, everyone really because it was super hard to get here at this level. But we did it and it’s an amazing feeling.”

American Magic’s starboard Harry Melges IV, in his post-race interview, acknowledged that the starting penalty was tough to come back from. It only a made a formidable challenge even tougher. “This one stings,” Melges said, while also accepting the opportunity the Youth America’s Cup presented to the young team. “We knew they would be tough to beat going into this. We have to step back and say how lucky we are to be able to do this.”

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