America's Cup: Surprising Kiwi comeback after crane accident, "Patriot" wins doldrums duel

Light winds paralysed the second day of the challenger round of the 37th America's Cup. The only duel of the day between the US yacht "Patriot" and Alinghi Red Bull Racing's "BoatOne" could only be sent out onto the course off Barcelona after a delay. While the Swiss fell off the foils in the starting box and didn't get back on their feet for what felt like an eternity, "Patriot" initially sailed away with some ease. Alinghi Red Bull Racing's "BoatOne" only crossed the start line three minutes later.

Railway shortening in series

However, this was not the end of the nerve poker. After all, "Patriot" also fell off the foils several times during the race, but had built up a cushion of more than half a kilometre at the start. It was sometimes pitiful to watch as the crews struggled in vain for minutes to get their disenchanted foilers going again. The race organisers repeatedly shortened the course until it no longer measured a nautical mile and was reduced from six to four legs - also in order not to exceed the time limit of 45 minutes.

The gradual shortening of the course meant that Alinghi Red Bull Racing lost all chances of turning the duel around after all. Not only the usually very moderate Sailing Team Manager of the Swiss team was annoyed by this. America's Cup winner Rodney Ardern said after the race: "The biggest frustration today was that the race committee shortened the race to achieve a 34-minute race while we were still trying to catch up with the other boat. The rules stipulate a maximum duration of 45 minutes. That's why it's difficult for us to understand what the urgency was to shorten the race while we were still underway."

Ardern continued: "Basically, we understand that you can shorten lanes during the race - the distance and the direction to the marks - but today several lanes were shortened even though the boats were already on that lane. A course that was getting shorter and shorter, making it practically impossible to catch up, that's super frustrating."

When foilers involuntarily become displacers

The Ocean Race and America's Cup veteran summarised: "We are all here to sail against each other. Unfortunately, we both had to contend with challenging conditions today. Congratulations to American Magic, who managed it better than us. They had the same problems, they were also on the foils at times and then again not. In this respect it was a game of chance, a lottery. We are hoping for good, fair racing and good conditions over the next few days. Hopefully all the races can take place and the athletes and spectators can experience high-quality racing."

The Americans won the battle of nerves and their first victory point in the Louis Vuitton Cup of Challengers. Their co-pilot Tom Slingsby also said: "It wasn't pretty at all, it was really hard work." The 2013 America's Cup winner, three-time SailGP season winner and Laser Olympic champion took a realistic look at the stressful race: "We had a bit of wind at the start and we had taken her off the foils. So we thought, 'okay, we should be able to just sail the course'."

Even though we won today, you're always on the edge of the abyss." Tom Slingsby

But it wasn't that easy, as Tom Slingsby also reported: "The wind got weaker and weaker, dropping from 7.5 to 6.5 knots. Then we only had five knots at times. When we fell off the foils on the last section, I tried to visualise it like this: If I'm sailing 10 knots at 120 degrees and he's now on the foils, how long will it take him to catch up with us? These conditions are so exhausting and I'm glad we had enough of a lead to collect the point. If you make one small mistake, the race can be over."

"Britannia" wins without a fight

Ineos Britannia won the second race of the day without any opponents and with a successful start. The race committee then cancelled the race programme due to light winds. The duel between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and NYYC American Magic had to be postponed until Saturday.

The America's Cup defenders from Emirates Team New Zealand were also unable to compete against France's Orient Express on day two of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Without the postponement of the duel to the next day, the French would have dusted off the winning point. The previous evening, the New Zealand Cup yacht "Taihoro" had fallen six metres onto its bearing block while being craned out of the water.

Team boss Grant Dalton had initially said the following morning: "The repairs have already started. We were lucky that the boat fell into the bearing block. The guys have cut away a piece of the boat that looks a bit like the Titanic at the moment. They were already rebuilding the piece this morning." The timing of the defenders' return to racing had initially remained uncertain. Everything had pointed to the possibility that "Taihoro" had suffered more serious structural damage and could be out of action for longer.

"Taihoro" less badly damaged than feared

The turnaround came with a new statement from the Kiwis on Friday evening. It said: "Emirates Team New Zealand's design and shore team have been working non-stop since yesterday's incident when craning out the AC75 yacht 'Taihoro'. After a thorough investigation, the team was relieved that the damage was not as severe as initially expected." The surprising message: "The team has set itself the goal of returning to its next races tomorrow, Saturday 31 August."

The Louis Vuitton Cup will continue until 8 September, when the four semi-finalists will be determined from five challengers. Following the postponements on Saturday, the programme for day three has an XL format with a total of six matches. The race day will open with the catch-up duels between Italy and the USA and New Zealand against France's "Orient Express". This will be followed by the matches between Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Ineos Britannia, France and NYYC American Magic, "Britannia" against "Luna Rossa" and Switzerland against New Zealand. This means that each of the five challengers and the defenders will be challenged twice.

Click here for the results. It should be noted that in order to determine the four semi-finalists from the two results lists for the Louis Vuitton Cup, the match record of the challengers must be taken into account. without is relevant for the New Zealand defenders. Ineos Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli lead the challenger classification with one win each and no defeats. The Americans and the French follow with one win and one defeat each. At the bottom of the table at this early stage of the double round robin round with a total of 30 matches and two defeats is Alinghi Red Bull Racing, who were so unluckily beaten on Friday.

Louis Vuitton Cup, Day 2, Race 5 - NYYC American Magic vs. Alinghi Red Bull Racing:

Grant Dalton - the determined, edgy and creative team boss of the Kiwis and conductor of the 37th America's Cup edition in conversation: