Barcelona – A beautiful day with clear skies and a southerly wind of 8 to 10 knots provided the backdrop to the wait First day of the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finalswhich saw the protagonist Red Moon after two very hard-fought matches. At the end of today, the Italian boat gains two important points against NYYC American Magicgiving great satisfaction also to the many supporters who came to cheer on Luna Rossa in the fan zones of Barcelona.
After keeping its distance from its opponent’s boat in the pre-start box, Luna Rossa tacks just before the start and heads to the right, where it does not encounter the best wind conditions. American Magic, which started better on the left, instead stretches out enough to control the Italian boat. The crew led by Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni continues to force American Magic with continuous maneuvers while waiting to reverse the situation. The right opportunity arrives on the last beat, when Luna Rossa, which in the meantime has recovered a lot of ground downwind sailing on the favored side of the course, makes the expected overtaking and maintains the gap until the fifth gate, turned 22” ahead. The match remains open until the last leg, but Luna Rossa continues to cover its opponent, blocking any possibility of a comeback until the finish line, crossed with a 7” advantage.
After a less than stellar start, forcing Luna Rossa to chase on the first beat, the Italian boat recovers the gap on the first downwind leg, also taking advantage of a mistake by the American boat, which fell off the foils. In a very similar way to what happened in the first race, once the distances are shortened, the Italian crew attacks on the second beat with a series of close crossings and overtakes, turning the third gate ahead by 6”. Luna Rossa leads for the rest of the match, which unexpectedly reopens on the last leg, when the American boat, favored by a good wind shift, appears very close to a few meters from the finish line. Luna Rossa, however, maintains control until the finish line, crossed with an 18-second advantage.
