The Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final started today, Saturday 14 September, in Barcelona as the four remaining America’s Cup Challengers took to the water for the opening races in their best of nine head-to-head series. The competition will determine the two teams who will meet in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final for the chance to race Emirates Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup itself.

Having won the Round Robin series, Ben Ainslie’s INEOS Britannia were afforded the right to pick their opponent for the Semi-Final and whether they want their first race to be first up or second up on the first day. They picked Alinghi Red Bull Racing – widely seen as the weakest of the three other teams – and also choose to race second, when the thermally enhanced breeze should be at its best, so avoiding the light conditions that were predicted for the early part of the day.

Co-skipper of American Magic, Paul Goodison is still recovering from an injury – which has now been revealed to be broken ribs as has been widely rumoured – and, having missed the final day of the Round Robin, he remains in recovery-mode. Once again, he was replaced by the young Lucas Calabrese, who has trained extensively with the team.

Key takeaways from the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Day 1

• INEOS are clear favourites to make the Louis Vuitton Final
• Luna Rossa are likely to be in the Louis Vuitton Final, but it will be a tougher match against American Magic
• Manoeuvrability continues to look a weakness of American Magic

Race 1 American Magic Vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers
American Magic: Lucas Calabrese & Tom Slingsby
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

Despite a disappointing end to the Louis Vuitton Round Robin series, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have looked the fastest of the Challengers and with the loss of Goodison on American Magic, they are the bookies favourite to take the win in this Semi-Final.

The race was delayed by American Magic asking for a 15 minute delay – each team can do this once per series – as they sorted out, what Slingsby later described as a ‘systems error’.

When racing did get underway in around 12 knots of wind, it was first blood to the American flagged boat in the pre-start as Slingsby and Calabrese looked to lead back to the start and aim for the favoured pin end of the line. Spithill and Bruni decided to gybe around in front of American Magic so they could lead back to the favoured pin end. But they made the decision a little too late and as they gybed through their own dirty air, they got a bit slow and American Magic pounced to roll over the top of the Italians. 

“We didn’t have a great start, so we were a little bit on the back foot at the beginning,” said Bruni of the start after the racing.

That gave the start to American Magic, who hit the pin end of the line at pace, while Luna Rossa was forced to tack at the gun and head out to the right of the course. American Magic tacked to follow and did a good job of keeping a lose cover on the Italians.

Spithill and Bruni threw in a few short tacks on the right hand boundary looking to draw American Magic into a tacking duel – something that had worked well for Alinghi in their win over the US boat. But Slingsby and Calabrese did an excellent job of keeping a lose cover on their opponent and making sure they out them in dirty air at the key moments of the leg. 

Luna Rossa spent much of the next lap keeping very close to American Magic looking for a mistake and it finally came at the second windward gate when American Magic touched down off the foils after the rounding. There was plenty of breeze to allow them to pop striagh back up on the foils but it was enough of a speed loss to allow the Italians a sniff of a chance. 

At the leeward gate rounding, Luna Ross came around right on the stern of the Americans and immediately tacked. With some decent wind out on the right of the course and demonstrating some decent pace, the Italians had the advantage at the next cross, as the port tacked Americans needed to duck their stern.

Spithill and Bruni had done and excellent job of getting in phase with the shifts and by the next cross they were well clear, rounding the windward mark with a decent lead.

American Magic did manage to catch them a little donwwind, but it was never enough to overhaul the Italians.

What did We learn from the Louis Vuitton Semi-Final Race 1?

Another mistake at the start will be disappointing for Spithill and Bruni, who have made more errors so far in the racing than you’d expect from this polished team.

But what was most noticeable – and concerning for those wanting to see a good competition – was how well Luna Rossa managed to hang onto American Magic when behind and then how much they were able to stretch away once in front. It was pretty clear they had a bit of speed in hand over the Americans in these conditions and with these setups.

Race 2 INEOS Britannia Vs Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

With INEOS wining the Round Robin and Alinghi Red Bull Racing being the lowest ranked of the qualifying teams, the Brits are the favourite to win this Semi-Final. But like the first race of the day it was not the favourite who won the start.

Ainslie and Fletcher elected to lead back to the line, but were pretty early heading back. Alinghi were happy to let the Brits have the pin end and set up to start gapped well off to windward. As the gun fired, the Brits were still scrubbing off some speed, while the Swiss-flagged Alinghi reached into the windward end and were able to start at pace, with a decent gap to the Brits to leeward.

The Brits tacked onto port and Alinghi tried to tack right on top of INEOS, but Ainslie and Fletcher were able to foot a little bit as the Swiss tacked and keep their air clean. Psarofaghis and Bachelin did a good job keeping a cover on the Brits, who were looking quick in these 12 knot wind conditions. Alinghi managed to do one less tack than the Brits upwind, which gave them an 11 second lead at the first windward gate rounding. 

But although they had the lead, the extra manoeuvre also meant the Brits could split away from the Swiss on the first downwind. INEOS has looked quick downwind all series and here, she once again displayed her pace. And with Ainslie and Fletcher doing a great job of picking the puffs and were full 28 seconds ahead by the first leeward gate.

“It was a tight first beat and the Swiss has the better of us that’s for sure, but we got a nice bit of pressure for us at the top right of the course,” said INEOS’ coach, Rob Wilson.

In an ominous display, from there INEOS really put the hammer down and won by an impressive 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

What did We learn from the Louis Vuitton Semi-Final Race 2?

Everyone expects this Semi-Final to be the least competitive as the Round Robin winner takes on the lowest ranked qualifier. And so it proved to be with the Brits annihilating their competition. Ainslie and Fletcher will be disappointed by their poor start but other than that, it was a pretty faultless display.

The biggest lesson from this race was just how much quicker the Brits were than their Swiss competition. It’s only the first race of their best-of-nine series, but all signs are pointing to a 5-0 scoreline if this pace differential remains.

Race 3 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Vs American Magic

Skippers
American Magic: Lucas Calabrese & Tom Slingsby
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Jimmy Spithill & Francesco Bruni

The wind had started to fade by the third race of the day and had dropped back into single figures over the course, with 7 knot winds at the bottom end and 10 knots in the puffs.

The start was almost a carbon copy of the first match between these teams with Luna Rossa looking to gybe round in front of American Magic to lead back. However, as the Italians went through their gybe they picked up a bit of ventilation on their rudder foil, lost steerage and had a big skid to leeward.

This once again allowed Slingsby and Calabrese to roll over the top of them and lead back to the favoured pin end. Spithill and Bruni managed to do a good job of building a gap between them and the Americans, so they hit the startline with a bit space to leeward. But American Magic got into a nice high mode and forced the Italians to tack away. 

At the first cross American Magic were just ahead of the starboard tack Italians, and Slingsby and Calabrese chose to tack right in front of the Italian team. From there American Magic once again kept a lose cover on their opponents to lead around the windward gate 10 seconds in the lead.

The gap remained pretty close on the first downwind, but it was disaster for American Magic at the leeward gate as they gybed to get around the left hand gate mark and take the favoured left hand side of the beat, but through the gybe they fell off their foils and were forced to do a big re-build of speed once around the gate. “It was really tricky at that bottom end. The wind got super light and we just couldn’t quite lay in,” explained Calabrese after the race. 

To be fair to Slingsby and Calabrese, the left was clearly significantly favoured and by the first cross, Luna Rossa did have the lead but only thanks to having the starboard tack advantage. At the next cross it was the US-flagged team who were on starboard and took the lead. 

But Spithill and Bruni had done a great job of figuring out the course, and at the next cross, Luna Rossa was on starboard and were laying into the gate, while American Magic, on port, was not on a layline and needed to do an additional tack to get through the gate.

From there Luna Rossa held onto their lead but did not romp away in these lighter conditions in the way they had on their first race. Indeed, American Magic managed to keep things so close that picking up a puff on the final downwind saw Slingsby and Calabrese threatening to grab the lead. Butb Luna Rossa just managed to hold on, parking their boat between their opposition and the finish. “It was brutal for the guys on the bikes and we really had to work hard in order to hang on down that last downwind,” said Spithill

What did We learn from the Louis Vuitton Semi-Final Race 3?

In the slightly lighter conditions these two boats looked a bit more evenly matched in terms of straightline speed and the Italians were not able to step away once they had grabbed the lead. Not that, that will be of any comfort to Slingsby and Calabrese who, but for some better manoeuvres, could have walked away from the day 2-0 up instead of 2-0 down.

Race 4 Alinghi Red Bull Racing Vs INEOS Britannia

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainlsie & Dylan Fletcher
Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

There was a short delay to the start of the final race of the day as the dying breeze dropped below the mandated minimum average of 6.5 knots. But the breeze did pick up enough to get the race run after only a short delay.

However, with the light winds making things difficult for the teams, Alinghi dropped off their foils and were struggling to get foiling once again in the pre-start and, while they tried to get their AC75 back up on the foils they picked up a boundary penalty.

Psarofaghis and Bachelin did eventually get the boat foiling just before the start, but with a boundary penalty already, they needed to drop back behind Ainslie and Fletcher straight out of the start. The Brits continued their form from their earlier race and just pulled away from the Swiss at every mark and won again by 1 minute 37 seconds.

“It’s pretty light out here and you could see the Swiss had a few problems coming off the foil,” said Ainslie after the racing. “It’s been tricky today as the wind has been really shifty and puffy.”

What did We learn from the Louis Vuitton Semi-Final Race 4?

Given the relative performance differential between these two boats it’s always going to be a tough ask for Alinghi to overtake the Brits, so the penalty in the pre-start ended this race before it began. Nothing much new to learn from this one, other than to confirm the INEOS is quicker and more manoeuvrable than Alinghi Red Bull Racing, who look like they are going to be on the wrong end of some pretty significant win margins this regatta.

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