America’s Cup: Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa still neck and neck

Luna Rossa continues to beat all odds: While sailing enthusiasts thought America’s Cup title holders Team New Zealand would make short work of it, the Italian challenge still looms large. elbow with his opponent, after the 3rd and 4th innings on Friday in Auckland.

While the scenario of an easy victory for the New Zealand favorites seemed already written, Luna Rossa won the first of two races on Friday by 37 seconds to take the 2-1 advantage in the best-of-breed series. 13 rounds.

But in the 4th round, the Italian challenge suffered from technical problems, and could not prevent Team New Zealand from coming back and finally winning with 1 minute and 3 seconds in advance, putting the two yachts tied for two wins. each.

The wind was light Friday in Auckland Bay, favoring neither boat, which made Team New Zealand skipper Peter Burling say that everyone’s success was to the credit of crew talent.

“The room for maneuver is really very thin and we feel like we have to improve all the time,” he explained.

The Italians “really set the bar very high and force us to work hard,” added the skipper.

With restrictions on gatherings intended to combat the Covid-19 pandemic having been lifted in Auckland on Friday morning, huge crowds flocked to Waitemata Harbor to watch the regattas, as a vast fleet of boats escorted out to sea the two adversaries.

What moreover caused a delay of ten minutes at the start of the first round, some amateur boats having interfered on the course.

– Foil problem –

Rumors had reported before the race of problems suffered by Luna Rossa on her foils, these lateral appendages which allow the boat to be lifted and, by reducing the resistance of the water, to carry it well beyond the speed of the boat. wind.

But the Italians silenced them by winning the third round.

“We produced a perfect race,” said Luna Rossa co-helmsman Francesco Bruni.

Peter Burling for his part said the New Zealand crew felt frustrated on this round because being in Luna Rossa’s wake hampered the Kiwis’ ability to make the most of the available winds.

“We really had a hard time figuring out how to take advantage (of the wind) to get back into the race,” he explained.

This is why, he added, “we had to make a few more maneuvers in the first round, which wasted too much time to then hope to catch up.”

In the fourth round, Team New Zealand took the lead from the start. While the Kiwi crew controlled the race, one of Luna Rossa’s foils failed to deploy, allowing the defending champion to claim a big victory.

The 5th and 6th rounds of this 36th edition will take place on Saturday.

Long the preserve of the Americans (28 victories out of 29 possible between 1851 and 1992), the America’s Cup has only truly globalized in the last three decades.

Since then, the Kiwis have been six times out of seven in the final, lifting the silver ewer three times (1995, 2000 and 2017).

In 170 years, only one European team has won the Cup, the Swiss union Alinghi in 2003 and 2007.

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