still the light wind to decide the only America’s Cup regatta run on that mined race course that the Hauraki Gulf: on the home ground, which he knows by heart and manages with skill, the defender Team New Zealand beat the challenger Luna Rossa by 30 ”in the ninth regatta of the 36 America’s Cup, securing an advantage that brings the kiwis to the first match point: 6-3. The moment of perfect balance in which the two teams were at 3-3 it seems light years away. Now Te Rehutai and his crew of black sailors are one step away from final victory: everything will be decided on Wednesday morning (at 4 am Italian time). The second regatta of the day, race 10, was canceled: the wind dropped further, dropping below the 6.5 knots necessary to kick off the flying boats. Not finished, but now Luna Rossa needs a miracle – or rather four – to overturn the prediction and bring the old silver jug to Italy for the first time in 170 years of history.
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Bitter mouthful
The wind, the only thing together with the weather that cannot be bought in the America’s Cup, rises up to 15 knots and then collapses: little, it jumps like a cricket, but enough to race. The race course C, positioned with some difficulty in reading the direction of the breeze, there is a postponement then off we go. And the usual excellent start of Luna Rossa’s two-pronged attack, Bruni-Spithill: the Italian Ac75 engages Te Rehutai entered the box from the left, he places himself in a high and windward position. Team New Zealand seems happy with the left, the even start, perfectly punctual on the line. From there, the tightest regatta of the whole series begins: an exhausting melee, at very close range, a challenge to those who catch the right gust to not lose meters of water, a duel of turns and jibes with the excellence of world sailing committed to playing a game of tilting chess.
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Upwind and downwind are exciting, with Luna Rossa sailing high to control the opponent and New Zealand confirming a speed of a few more knots and not losing ground, remaining attached to the blues tooth and nail. The turns around the buoys are also decided for a gluing: 1 “advantage for the Moon at the first gate, 8” at the second, 9 “at the third, 3” at the fourth. Not sailing, wrestling.
The fifth decisive side. Luna Rossa seems to prefer the left side of the field giving up to cover New Zealand – fatal mistake -, that instead on the right fishes the needle in the haystack: a substantial wind shift of 15 degrees that takes her to the head. Skill and luck, it takes a mix of ingredients to win this America’s Cup. Once in the lead, Te Rehutai frees all the horsepower in the engine, exploits its speed while Luna Rossa in the distressed wind drop. The situation has now been reversed: the kiwis at the gate have an advantage of 18 ”which becomes 30” on the finish line.
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Bruni announces redemption
After an excellent regatta, the Italian disappointment was great. Francesco Bruni retains the will to fight: a result that we do not like, but we remain with our heads held high and continue to fight! We are fighting hard: I am very proud of the guys on our crew. We weren’t able to make the most of every wind shift, we lost this opportunity, but we have to think about the next race, we can still win. At the first aft gate we had a match race, we chose to block Team New Zealand’s way, they had not yet engaged and therefore could not jibe. From Jimmy Spithill there was a big call on the choice of the board drop, so that we could reach the nearest mark with the best angle, in that moment we made a lot of money. We had a fantastic race, with no big regrets. Now no change in our battle plan: we still have to fight and take all the opportunities that are given to us.
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