New Zealand give up its second victory over Italy
DrThe Europeans keep the race open: After a convincing victory for the New Zealanders in the first round of the 36th American Cup off Auckland, Luna Rossa scored the victory in the second race of the day by a narrow margin. Nothing could be seen from the New Zealand’s anticipated high speed advantage Te Rehutai, at least in the light winds on the E Outer Corridor at Hauraki Golf. Both victories were decided by captain Peter Burling for the New Zealand team, and Australian Jimmy Spethyl in favor of Luna Rossa, due to their mistakes seconds before the start.
Christoph Heine
Business reporter for South Asia / Pacific based in Singapore.
However, the New Zealanders were just seven seconds behind the Italians in the second race compared to the 39 seconds the New Zealanders took from Luna Rossa in the first round. Burling, who brought the world’s oldest athlete’s trophy to New Zealand in 2017 at just 26 years old, caught up with him in the second round of the day.
“If we had a track that would have been the length of our leg, we might have been able to get it,” he immediately encouraged himself after the losing race. For a long time, Spithill previously showed why, as a two-time Copa America winner, he is successfully sailing match-races with canoe against boat: he bites an opponent and covers him at every turn rather than driving his own race. .
This claustrophobic grip on the regatta track doesn’t look good, but it is very successful. The New Zealand team was very different: instead of covering Luna Rossa in the first round over the course of three laps of the short course, Berling, Tok, Ashby & Company sailed their own race. They increased the Luna Rossa lead from 14 seconds at the first buoy to 31 seconds at the end:
“Some mistakes in turns”
It remains unclear if the New Zealanders really have the expected speed advantage – because the statistics show a roughly balanced boat speed, at least in light winds of good 14 knots. In the second round, it became clear that the kiwis were slower in maneuvering than the Europeans.
Burling also spoke of “some cornering mistakes” right after the loss. If they can sail freely, the AC75 appears to be marginally faster than the Luna Rossa. This is why the Italians were not disappointed after the first race: “We have pretty much equal boat speed,” said captain Francesco Bruni, who almost felt relieved despite the defeat.
Teammate Bruni practically ignored the lost start to Spethyl. His Australian captain tried to force the Kiwi away from the runner in the last few seconds before the start by lifting it hard, but Berling fired past Luna Rossi by meters higher by boat and crossed the starting line at full speed. Captain Luna Rossa is actually a cold ice player, and he actually bought the edge from British Sir Ben Ainslie in regatta. In the first cup race, he showed his nerves and let himself drift in an attack he lost.
The start of the second round was different: Burling miscalculated himself, almost fell asleep, and had no opportunity to endanger the next command of the Australian Corps in the Italian service to the wind barrel. “It’s a good sign of our strength that we’re back,” said Spethyl after winning the first race in the second race today.
On the other hand, Burling said the New Zealand team was “a bit rusty” – Luna Rossa had just finished sixteen qualifying boat races, while the New Zealanders, defending the Cup, only had to sail six rounds in December. Looking at training in the past few weeks, Berling was still happy after the first win: “Better to finally sail against a real sailboat than a speedboat we have to chase.”
Friday afternoon, local New Zealand time, if conditions are right, he will be able to enjoy the feeling of goodness again during the next two races. The team that scores seven first wins the Copa America.