Luna Rossa overcame a penalty incurred before the start of the race to beat AmericaOne and grab the first, vital, point in the Louis Vuitton Cup yachting finals on the Hauraki Gulf here today.

Italy’s Prada challenge won the match by 24 seconds after holding off a furious gybing attack from AmericaOne skipper Paul Cayard on the final run. AmericaOne had snatched an early advantage in the 18.5 nautical mile race, by forcing a mistake early on from Prada skipper Francesco de Angelis.

Despite having the right of way, de Angelis failed to give Cayard enough room to tack away in the tight pre-start jousting, with the two boats crashing into each other and Luna Rossa copping the penalty. But de Angelis and his tactician Torben Grael snared the favoured left hand side of the start line and dominated the first beat, in the steady 14 knot southerly breeze. Those wind conditions were ideal for Luna Rossa, and on the next two legs the Italians stretched their advantage to one minute, enabling them to complete the penalty turn and still round the third mark 25 seconds clear.

That lead was maintained for the next two legs, but as the breeze died AmericaOne showed her speed in under 10 knots and the final downwind run became a classic match-racing gybing duel. Cayard put de Angelis under extreme pressure, cutting a 130m lead down to just 15m before AmericaOne just let Luna Rossa slip off the hook a couple of minutes short of the finish line. A poor final gybe by AmericaOne’s crew saw Luna Rossa cross the line clear, and win the first of the best-of-nine finals series. The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup races Team New Zealand for the America’s Cup next month.