The second day of the Louis Vuitton Cup final also brought an exhibition race. The New Zealanders, who were once again in a commanding lead, had to let the Italians pass them due to an electronic defect in the hydraulics and watch as the inferior team sailed the race unchallenged and thus scored the point to equalise the score in the meantime. Technicians quickly got the ailing Kiwi ship back on the water, but it was not allowed back into the race.
Embarrassing for a regatta that is specially tailored to live TV broadcasts: the second race had to be postponed on both days because there was already more wind at the start than the organisers wanted. Two races were therefore scheduled for today's rest day. However, by lowering the wind limit, which varies depending on the direction and speed of the current, this event is making a mockery of itself, because from 2 p.m. local time onwards it is usually very fresh in San Francisco in summer, i.e. 20 knots or significantly more. It remains to be seen what effect the changing tide will have on the sailing programme.
The AC72 cats were originally designed for a wind limit of 33 knots, it was said. But after the capsizes of Oracle and Artemis and the death of Andrew Simpson, it was clear that not all teams were capable of sailing fast in such winds with these high-powered boats.and to sail safely. Incidentally, the officially measured wind peak in the Saturday race was a gentle 16.8 knots, which is wind force 4+. And on Sunday, an average of 15.4 knots was measured, with peaks of up to 19.9 knots, i.e. 5 Beaufort. This is actually the best sailing wind, but according to the organisers, it was too much for these foiling catamarans.
"We came in with good pressure," reported skipper Dean Barker after the spectacular plug, in which the two sailors were washed overboard. "We actually always accelerate quite strongly during the gybes. We could certainly have done better."
The incident, in which the boat fell forwards off the foils, was fairly minor, not least because the New Zealanders had deliberately opted for a lot of hull volume when designing the boat. Whether the Oracle cats, which are significantly less voluminous in the bow and are also likely to be less torsion-resistant than the New Zealand boat, would have come out of such a situation unscathed is a hypothetical but interesting question.
Capital plug from the Kiwis
If the New Zealand cat had rolled over, it would have been tantamount to a free ticket to the America's Cup for Luna Rossa. Provided the Kiwis can solve their technical problems, however, the Italians will still have their work cut out for them. "Whatever we can get is a bonus," said helmsman Chris Draper. He felt that his team was a little closer to Team New Zealand in terms of speed than in the previous rounds. But even the Italian cat is not completely fit. The pit crew had to deal with a problem with the wing yesterday.
The rest of the programme:
Monday, 19 August, 3rd race (12:10/21:10 CEST), 4th race (13:10/22:10)
Wednesday, 21 August, 5th race (13:10/22:10), 6th race (14:10/23:10)
Saturday, 24 August: 7th race (13:10/22:10), 8th race (14:10/23:10)
