LIVE UPDATES: THE PRADA CUP

On-The-Ground Updates and Highlights from Auckland

With the PRADA Cup, the 36th America’s Cup is underway. It’s exciting for our sport and North as three of the four teams competing in this Cup cycle use North Sails, and our NTG family brands Southern Spars, and Future Fibres to power their engine above deck. Our group has also supplied design talent and software to support the teams’ quest for the Cup. And for those of you who want to dress the part, North Sails is an official partner for event branded clothing.

Racing begins January 15th at 1500 NZL time. Make sure to check your time zone if you’re watching remotely. North Sails will also be covering the PRADA Cup on this live blog and on our social channels throughout the next few weeks.

Race Schedule

January 30, 2021, 13:30 GMT

Winners are grinners in the PRADA Cup semi-finals

Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli sailed confidently onto Course A in a light north-easterly that blew in smoothly from the sea. Two wins for the Italians would take them to the PRADA Cup finals to sail against INEOS TEAM UK, and eliminate American Magic.

Both races started evenly, and it seemed we finally had a boat race. Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli had a slight speed advantage and the Spithill/Bruni team was taking nothing for granted. “Let’s keep the foot on the throat,” Spithill told his crew as they tacked to cover, despite a comfortable lead. Classic match-racing; classic Spithill.

But Luna Rossa was also pointing higher. Pointing higher meant fewer tacks, fewer tacks meant less distance sailed, less distance sailed meant two (seemingly) effortless wins. Over race one, Luna Rossa sailed 200 meters less distance and did two fewer tacks – enough for a decisive win.

Race 4, was match point– the do or die moment. Spithill applied pressure in the pre-start and gradually built a lead. Halfway through the race, PATRIOT suffered electronic gremlins with its foiling arms and gave Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli the crucial fourth win.

Spithill credits the semi-final races for providing the team with valuable preparation for the PRADA Cup finals. “It was an advantage to do that series and we are the stronger for it,” he said. “The boat is going better and better,” Bruni added.

There is definitely new confidence in the Italian team. In the past week, in training sessions with their sailing coaches, they have found an estimated 10 percent improvement. That may include heightened confidence in the team-generated software that gives critical time-on-distance information to the startline and electronic boundaries.

And there was a definite swagger in Spithill’s voice as he crossed the finish line for the second time. “Nice one,” he said. “Now, INEOS boys.”

It was as though he knew they were watching…

January 29, 2021, 17:15 GMT

Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli Pick Up Two Wins on Day 1 of the Semi-Finals

On day one of the PRADA Cup semi-finals, Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli came into the start box with a game plan to own the start, and then pulled no punches for their recently repaired opposition, Patriot before leading them to the start line. Yes, it was an aggressive kick-off to the semi-finals of the PRADA Cup, a best-of-seven series, but it did just the trick– American Magic was knocked off their game and didn’t manage to get it back.

Once they were racing, the Italians held their lead and extended it around the eight-leg course, ending on with a generous delta. Then, they did it again in race two. Ouch. If Luna Rossa does that again on race day #2, they will sail straight into the finals to take on INEOS TEAM UK.

But, if we’ve learned anything about this America’s Cup, there is no such thing as a comfortable lead for an AC75 foiling monohull. Among the many new challenges of racing these boats, it’s easy to forget that optimum sail selection is still critical – especially when there’s no option to change sails mid-race. One could say, it’s a bit old school. The day was a day of shifty breezes, and the wind speeds ran up and down between the mid-teens and gusts in the 20s like quick little mice on a treadmill. To manage the shifty wind, Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli went for a bigger mainsail and jib than its opposition, deciding to sail on the edge rather than being underpowered.

AC75 sails regularly operate in apparent wind speeds ranging from 10 to 70 knots in a race. Their sails can take immense loads, and can flatten, or depower, through that range. On day one of the PRADA Cup Semi-Finals Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli got it right: go big, get plenty of power and then manage the control over that power. It’s risky, in theory, but it was a no brainer.

The shifty conditions might have offered some passing lanes, but Luna Rossa did not come under attack and had an almost perfect day, although their supporters let out a frantic gasp as Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli bounced off their foils just after the windward gate in race two. With a comfortable lead, from then on, the team pulled out their training wheels and took the corner safely on both foils.

Going into races three and four we may well see this series wrapped up.

January 23, 2021, 13:30 GMT

Nerves on a Knifes Edge

Heading into this weekend’s race with race 2 Round Robin 3 the question on everyone’s mind was would this be the race that would send Sir Ben Ainslie direct to the finals of the PRADA Cup with five wins straight, or would it give Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni a big morale boost and a chance to fight again tomorrow.

As if scripted by Spielberg, it started on time. And stopped. And started. The wind shifts were messing with the race committee, there was an issue with the cunningham onboard INEOS TEAM UK, and by the time both boats charged across the line, the race was already a master class in suspense. The race would then go on to become the style of racing we’re all missing– nail-biting. Reflecting now, it was more like a tennis match or Le Mans endurance race, with something exciting happening every five seconds. If you weren’t on the edge of your seat, you were probably asleep.

On the first beat, Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli attacked, luffing INEOS TEAM UK in a move that is high-drama for displacement boats with foiling arms not sticking out their sides. It worked! INEOS TEAM UK, in the windward position, had to tack away and fell off its foils. Luna Rossa was looking good as they took the lead. In earlier America’s Cup racing, PRADA would have taken off and it would have been game over for INEOS once they fell off their foils, but, like we mentioned earlier, Spithill-Bruni were not going down without a fight.

But the British team was nailing the shifts, so by the time the boats reached the top gate, the lead was nothing (a mere nine seconds!). Italy screamed in on port and tacked on top of UK, but in the shifty conditions, the maneuver was clumsy. The wakes of both boats drew a perfect half-donut in the water around the mark, but INEOS TEAM UK had the inside and the lead.

In a race that would see nine lead changes and more than 50 knots boat speed, the wind shifts put Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli ahead. No wait, INEOS was ahead. No, PRADA. At gate four, INEOS TEAM UK pulled one of its signature slick moves and escaped– leaving PRADA almost in the dust.

Heading into the finish, Italy had one option left. On the final cross, it dialed down, tacked on to starboard, all with to hope a penalty as UK crossed ahead on port, but the umpire didn’t agree and let Britannia head for the line.

The race was awarded to INEOS TEAM UK. The scriptwriter got promoted. Sir Ben Ainslie and his underdog team remained unbeaten, clinched first place in the finals of the PRADA Cup, and made the last race of the Round Robins a box office hit. The British team will now have nearly three weeks to work on their boat and further develop it, whereas Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli will have to continue heading to the start line next weekend.

January, 22, 2021, 22:15 GMT

Revised Round Robin Explained

Round Robins 3 and 4 have undergone a major rethink following the withdrawal of a challenger due to last Sunday’s near-sinking.

The revamped schedule canceled racing on Friday and has Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS TEAM UK racing each other just once on Saturday and Sunday. That means it’s an all-out, head-to-head for the Brits and the Italians.

In the 2013 America’s Cup, Spithill came back from -2 to beat Team New Zealand and win the race in what’s easily considered the best sporting comeback of all time, but only after Ainslie had come onboard to help reverse the losing streak. In this lead-up to the America’s Cup, Ainslie is so far the comeback kid, after losing the ACWS in December; now, Spithill is running out of runway to overtake him.

No doubt, Spithill has done the math. INEOS TEAM UK has four wins from four starts. One win this weekend will take them straight to the final of the Prada Cup in February, and leave Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to battle it out for the remaining spot next weekend.

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli has two points, so if they win both Saturday and Sunday, they will be tied with INEOS TEAM UK at four points. As the winner of the most recent race, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, would win the tie and go to the final.

The team that misses the first spot in the finals will go on to compete in the semi-final against American Magic, which starts on Friday 29 January; it is a best-of-seven series. The losing semi-finalist will then pack their bags to go home.

Giles Scott of INEOS TEAM UK, says being the first team to the finals will be an advantage. “Winning the Round Robin buys you time to make more upgrades to the boat,” he says. “It’s going to be significant for whoever wins.”

In other news, regatta director, Iain Murray, has also revamped the racecourses to remove course A where the capsize occurred. From now on, almost all racing will be an extended Course C, a good all-round course with generally flat water. In the future, if an AC75 capsizes, the race will be abandoned.

Round Robins 3 and 4 have undergone a major rethink following the withdrawal of a challenger due to last Sunday’s near-sinking.

Giles Scott of INEOS TEAM UK, says being first team to the finals will be an advantage. “Winning the Round Robin buys you time to make more upgrades to the boat,” he says. “It’s going to be significant for whoever wins.”

January 17, 2021, GMT 15:00 GMT

Round Robin Week 1 Recap

If the last three years have been AC75 flight school, then the first two Round Robins have been Top Gun. And school will be adjourned with a foiling monohull clinching the America’s Cup. But to get to graduation, there’s quite a lot of course work ahead.

As soon as the race committee announced Race day 3 (RR2 R 2, 3) would be on Course A, the most exposed course in the Hauraki Gulf, with 20-knot winds against a strong spring tide… drama was bound to follow. And, mid-way into the first race, a major wind shift turned a downwind run into a reach featuring Southern Ocean-style sailing– the race was quickly abandoned just as INEOS TEAM UK took the lead over Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli.

An hour later, Course A was a happy place after the front passed through, leaving a kindly 16 knots in a choppy sea. Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli and INEOS TEAM UK lined up again for Race 2 of Round Robin 2. The boats were evenly paced, with the Italians in the lead, although barely playing to Jimmy Spitthill’s favorite match race textbook– crossing INEOS TEAM UK multiple times without tacking on them. By the looks of it, the objective of this PRADA CUP is: sail your own race.

During the race, the lead swapped three times. And, despite the chat about whether Britannia would rule the waves or the waves would rule Britannia, Ainslie was still showing off those handbrake turns that return him direct to his favored side on the course after whipping through the gate. These impressive turns won him the race.

And we thought that was the big news of the day.

Race 3, Round Robin 2: Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli faced American Magic; in a dramatic leg final leg with American Magic lead ingLuna Rossa PRADA Pirelli, Dean Barker surged into the final gate at full Gs speed. With a 600m lead, Barker tacked and bore away exactly as a gust hit the boat. PATRIOT reared high and crashed down: the first AC75 to capsize during a race.

All crew are safe, and all teams’, including Emirates Team New Zealand’s, deployed their chase boats and powered to keep PATRIOT afloat, but she is badly damaged. The committee awarded the race to Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.

Reflecting on Round Robins so far is like Goldilocks in reverse: the third day was too windy, the second day was too light, and the first day was just right.

Halfway through the Round Robins, we now no longer know if three boats will appear on the course next Friday. Luna Rossa PRADA Pirelli has two wins to INEOS TEAM UK’s four. Luna Rossa has four days to unpack the first three days of sailing and see if Spithill, the king of AC comebacks, and Bruni can find another gear. INEOS TEAM UK has four days to keep their boat sailing fast. Meanwhile, the race committee may come out with some changes to help prevent AC75 boats from taking off like jumbo jets; after all, we want Super Hornets, not Boeing 787s.

We are glad that the American Magic crew are safe and applaud the quick action from event management, fellow competitors, and local responders who immediately came to help.

The PRADA Cup Round Robin series restarts on January 22, 2021, at 1500 NZL. Standby by for updates as the week unfolds.

January 16, 2021, 15:30 GMT

Beached As

If the America’s Cup is the Formula One of match racing, then day 2 was like rationing the fuel for the race cars and hiding the pit stops. And, even though these boats might look like spaceships, they still need the one thing that all sailboats need: wind.

In such light wind conditions, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS TEAM UK were lucky to be racing only once. Even then, both only just finished (thanks to a shortened course) with wide margins over their opposition, who received a DNF in RR1 R3.