Luna Rossa continues to beat the odds in the America’s Cup. While sailing enthusiasts thought that defending champion Team New Zealand would make short work of it, the Italian challenge is still neck and neck with its opponent, after the third and fourth rounds of the Cup on Friday in Auckland.
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Luna Rossa first won the first of two races on Friday by 37 seconds to take the 2-1 advantage in the best-of-13 series. But in the next round, the Italian challenge suffered from technical problems, and could not prevent Team New Zealand from coming back and finally winning with a 1’03 ” lead, putting the two boats even, with two wins each.
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“We produced a perfect race”
Francesco Bruni (Luna Rossa), after the third inning
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The wind was light Friday in Auckland Bay, favoring neither of the two competitors, which made Peter Burling, the skipper of Team New Zealand, say that the success of each was to the credit of the talent of the crews. ” The room for maneuver is really very thin and we feel like we have to improve all the time., he added. (The Italians) really set the bar very high and force us to work hard. »
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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, while a large fleet of boats accompanied in mer the two adversaries. This also caused a ten-minute delay at the start of the first round, with a few amateur boats having entered the course.
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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 that was not the case in the first of today’s two races. ” We produced a perfect race ”Pointed out Francesco Bruni, Luna Rossa’s co-helmsman.
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Foil problem for Luna Rossa
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 had to do a few extra maneuvers, which wasted too much time to then hope to catch up “, he said.
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In the fourth round, Team New Zealand took the lead from the start. While the Kiwi crew controlled the race, Luna Rossa this time was in technical difficulty, with one of her foils not deploying, allowing the defending champion to claim a big victory. The fifth and sixth rounds of the America’s Cup take place on Saturday.
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