Cup Spy: Louis Vuitton Cup - Day 5 - Lightning display ends a bizarre day in Barcelona
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 4 Sep 05:33 NZST
3 September 2024
Luna Rossa and ETNZ - Race 17 - Day 5 - Round Robin 2 - Louis Vuitton Cup - September 3, 2024 - Barcelona © Ian Roman / America's Cup
Four races were scheduled today. Two were sailed. The race winner only crossed the finish line in one.
The lyrics of the greatest America's Cup anthem was surely playing in the minds of the sailors contesting Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
"Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover"
A steadily worsening weather system moved across the race course of Barcelona, with gray skies and murk turning to solid rain, and then the lightning flashes and cracking thunder took over and the crews took off.
The decision to call off all racing for the rest of the day came as no surprise. The sailors had voted with their feet.
Tuesday was a day that promised much but delivered little. The weather forecasts for the day were mixed, but most had a bob each way with thunder and lightning forecast for today or tomorrow. While there was some activity on the water, the thunderstorm strike maps inland from the racecourse showed plenty of activity.
The first match between Orient Express (FRA) and Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI) was, as they say in football, a bottom of the table clash.
There were two likely outcomes - the French could win their second race of the series and go two up on Alinghi - meaning that the Swiss had to win two of their remaining four matches, just to stay equal with the Orient Express. That being the case, both and any other on 2 wins/points would go into an end of series sail-off to decide who would be packing out come September 9.
Already in just five race days, we've seen boats dropped, system shutdowns, start-line brain explosions - with the expectation that there is more to come. So there's no point in speculating on possible points table outcomes, with 13 races left to sail.
Both today's races were virtually over before the boats even got halfway up the first leg.
In the first match, the Swiss had the French tucked away as they sailed into a leaden white-out, as the grey sea merged seamlessly with the grey sky, accompanied by solid rain and a gusty, shifting breeze. The French on starboard tack and not far from the port boundary, got on the wrong side of a gust and lifted off, crashing back into the water and stopped racing while they had a quick system check. The Swiss raced away like a robber's dog with a bone to a lead of between 1000-1200metres. They sailed a good race in difficult conditions beating Orient Express by 70secs, and record their first win.
The second race was delayed a twice, in heavy rain, by the race committee, presumably waiting for the breeze to settle.
The prestart was quite aggressive with the Kiwis trying to control the race from leeward and slightly astern of the Italians. It appeared that the game plan was to get close and underneath Luna Rossa co-skipper Jimmy Spithill who got control of the start a few seconds before the starting signal, getting across the kiwi's bow and getting a near perfect start.
Emirates Team NZ bailed immediately to split tacks with Luna Rossa, but looked to suffer a wash out on both foils and the rudder. At the bottom of the tack their speed dropped to 11kts, recovering after a few seconds to be back foiling at 22kts, but with the Italians sailing at 39kts throughout the incident a 300 metre was quickly established. A minute later Luna Rossa also got a flick of rogue breeze, and briefly flew high on their foils, with their rudder coming close to breaking the surface. But with very quick reactions from the Italian crew, they averted disaster. From there on the race was the Italians to lose.
Nature intervened on the final leg. A serious crack of lightning resulted in Emirates Team New Zealand decide to preserve their boat, given there were no points on the table. They were disqualified by the Chief Umpire for sailing 100metres outside a course boundary, and the race was awarded to Luna Rossa. A few seconds later all racing was called off for the rest of the day.
A decision to race tomorrow will be confirmed at approximately 0900hrs CET on Wednesday morning.
If racing does proceed the order will be:
- Match 18 USA vs GBR
- Match 19 ITA vs FRA
- Match 20 SUI vs USA
- Match 21 GBR vs NZL
Replay Day 5
Race Summaries:
Race 16: Alinghi Red Bull Racing vs Orient Express
FRA was over the line at the start, but ducked back on the pre-start side, they were shown as having a penalty but they were behind at the start and the penalty was soon removed. Half way up the first leg, the French blew out with no confirmation as to what happened, however it looked like a rudder issue. The boat was stooped for a short period while the crew checked systems, they then gingerly got foiling in the 13.5kt breeze and chased the Swiss around the course being over 1200metres behind at times.
Mark 1: 3m 19sec SUI led FRA
Mark 2: 6m 17sec Sui led FRA
Mark 3: 10m 50sec SUI led FRA
Mark 4: 14m 10sec SUI led FRA
Mark 5: 18m 29sec SUI led FRA
Finish: 21m 42sec SUI won
Race 17: Luna Rossa vs Emirates Team NZ
Luna Rossa tried overrunning ETNZ at the starboard end. ETNZ couldn't quite get into leeward. Just after the start the Kiwis looked like they were going into a tack, the foils and rudder washed out in spectacular fashion and the Kiwis came to a stop, sorted themselves out and continued - but about 400metres behind. Luna Rossa came close to a blowout, with the AC75 just flying high, but the rudder stayed immersed.
Mark 1: 3m 15sec ITA led NZL by 16sec Kiwis hit 50kts briefly in the bearaway
Mark 2: 6m 06sec ITA led NZL by 17sec
Mark 3: 10m 30sec ITA led NZL by 23sec Margin 600 metres reduced to 400metres at the end of the leg.
Mark 4: 14m 30sec ITA led NZL by 31sec Margin 350 metres going to 600metrs at top. Breeze fading and shifting, heavy rain - visibility difficult.
Mark 5: 20m 21sec ITA led NZL by 59sec
ETNZ pulled out after lightning near boats. Umpires DSQ'd ETNZ for sailing more than 100m past boundary.
The Race was awarded to Luna Rossa, and all racing was called off for the day on safety grounds.
Dockout in Barcelona
Virtual Eye
After the racing you can replay the key points, or the whole race using Virtual Eye from ARL by clicking here and click on "Watch Previous" then select the race you wish to view. This s 3D viewer so you can zoom in, out, around and up and down just like you could in a helicopter.
Louis Vuitton Cup Points and Leaderboard after Day 5
Series format
There are two phases of Round Robin racing, four races are scheduled to be sailed, with six teams competing and two of those will be sailing twice. The day's pairings can reread from the graphic below.
Weather Prognosis:
America's Cup Weather Partner PredictWind has provided a dedicated Race Weather Center offering fans access to detailed daily weather breakdowns, live webcams and historical weather data to daily weather breakdowns written by meteorologists.
Forecast Race Day 5:
Tuesday 3rd Sept
A high level trough with cold air in altitude will bring instability with agitated weather over Barcelona for the next days. Tuesday may see a chance of showers around mid-day. The afternoon will be dry and cloudy with some uncertainty on the wind forecast. For the racing, most models forecast a weak Easterly around 4 to 7 knots, but a few high-resolution models see a bit more wind ranging 8 to 12 knots coming more from the East-North-East. Sea state will remain calm. Temperatures will be few degrees colder with a maximum of 28°C over land and 26°C over the water.
Wednesday 4th Sept
The weather will deteriorate and we expect rain with a risk of heavy rain and thunderstorm for the day. A strong Northerly wind in the Med will weaken and turn right before reaching Barcelona, bringing waves to the race course just shy of 1 meter with 4 second period. In the afternoon, the wind forecast is a bit uncertain and we expect a North-East wind 5 to 10 knots in average, but stronger under the convective cells.
Course Location:
Crew Lists:
Additional Images: