America's Cup: Luna Rossa youngsters work their magic, Swiss capsize
Another capsize caused a scare on the second of three days of racing in the first pre-regatta of the 38th Louis Vuitton America's Cup. This time, after the British women's and youth team Athena Pathway the day before, it was Tudor Team Alinghi, who fortunately were able to quickly ensure that all four sailors were "safe". It was not a good day for the Swiss, but rather an instructive one.
Furious and fearless: Gradoni, Porro, Santi and Giubilei
While well-known Cup heroes and experienced players struggled from time to time, Italy's talented youngsters put the pressure on. like the day before the accelerator pedal. With their 4th and 2nd places and the race win late on Saturday afternoon, helmsmen Marco Gradoni, just 22 years old, and Margherita Porro (27) with their trimmers Maria Giubilei (27) and Giovanni Santi (21) showed that they fear nothing and no one on the America's Cup stage.
It was no problem for the young "red moons" if they fell off the foils in the pre-start phase - as in race four, the first on Saturday - and also had to deal with software problems. They were up to 700 metres behind. After a successful race to catch up in this race, they still managed to finish fourth in the decimated field of seven AC40-Foilers.
The tragic loser of this regatta is the British senior team GB1. Plagued by hydraulic problems for the second day in a row, Dylan Fletcher and his crew were unable to compete in any of the races on Saturday after only one of three races the day before. What remains is the one second place from Friday and the frustration.
First time on the America's Cup stage, first race win for British women and young talent
After capsizing the day before, the women and the youngsters from Team Athena Pathway brought more joy to the British Challenger of Record. Double Olympic champion Hannah Mills and her crew showed how fast they can be when everything goes right on the course with a victory in race five. After six races, however, Athena Pathway has only managed sixth place so far - one place ahead of the Swiss Tudor Team Alinghi.
The Swiss team still needs to grow together. The quality and experience of the individual athletes are well known. There is still some room for improvement when it comes to teamwork and handling the AC40-Foiler. The capsize in race five on Saturday hurt less physically than mentally. "Learning the hard way" was the message from the Swiss in the evening, summarising their day.
Skipper Paul Goodison, Olympic champion, SailGP ace and experienced Cup sailor, said in Cagliari: "It was a tough day. We made some big changes overnight, went out again today and had big problems. The boat wasn't quite running as it should. So we spent the whole day solving problems and improving it. At the beginning it was almost impossible to steer. We really struggled to get the boat under control."
More than a year before the 38th America's Cup, it's all about crew work
At the same time, the recently reorganised French team La Roche-Posay Racing ended the day on an upward trend with 5th, 5th and 4th places. "It was a good day for us and a frustrating one at the same time," said 49er Olympic champion and helmsman Diego Botin, summarising Saturday's events from his perspective. "We had some really good moments, but we also made mistakes in every race. For Flo (ed.: Florian Trittel) and me in particular, it's the first time we've sailed a regatta with these boats and opponents around us."
The classification in this first test of strength, in which - unlike in the America's Cup design competition - it is primarily the sailing performance and the interaction of the crews that are tested, clearly showed the balance of power at this early stage in the new America's Cup cycle.
After six races, the leaders are Italy's young guns (Luna Rossa 1) with 55 points ahead of New Zealand's "seniors" from Emirates Team New Zealand (47 points) with Nathan Outteridge and the newly crowned 49er World Champion Seb Menzies, who is also only 21 years old, at the helm of the A-Team. In third place came Luna Rossa 2 (44 points), the Azzurri seniors with three-time Cup winner Peter Burling and Nacra 17 double Olympic champion Ruggero Tita. In fourth place on Saturday evening was the next generation of Kiwis (39 points) with Jake Pye and Erica Dawson at the helm.
Italians and New Zealanders dominate after two thirds of the opening regatta
This means that the top half of the table is currently occupied by Italy and New Zealand. There is not much time left to catch up. The last two of the eight fleet races start on Sunday, before the final duel between the top two teams follows.
Overnight, all teams will be asking themselves the question: Can anyone catch Luna Rossa's youngster on Sunday in this first pre-regatta for the America's Cup? For that to happen, the others would have to put right the mistakes that kept creeping in on Saturday. Such as the Kiwis' poorly executed tack on the left-hand side of the course in the power finale of the sixth and final race on Saturday. They could - and should - have won the race after their excellent preparatory work.
Instead, the young Italians, who were coming up very quickly, were given the chance to overtake. Gradoni, Porro and their crew very resolutely turned this into an 11-second lead at the finish line, which they reached first for the third time this weekend. The two fleet races and the final can also be watched live here on the YouTube channel on Sunday (24 May, from 3 pm).
Looking back! That was day two in Cagliari:
