Even in terms of monohull America’s Cup matches of old, a delta of five minutes and 23 seconds would be a big victory. Factor in the 40 knots speeds of the new generation of AC72 catamarans and today’s win by Emirates Team New Zealand over Luna Rossa was nothing short of an unceremonious drubbing.
The Kiwis never looked like anything other than winners in today’s match after their helmsman Dean Barker out foxed his opposite number Chris Draper in the short pre-start.
Draper had sent the Italian boat screaming across the pre-start box at 40 knots plus but rather than risk a gybe which might have left him below the layline to the leeward end of the start on the way back Draper opted to tack around.
This gave Barker the split second chance to position the New Zealand boat perfectly in order to block him well enough to prevent Luna Rossa from bearing away behind their stern.
Having secured the leeward position he wanted Barker expertly held the Italian boat on his windward hip just long enough to ensure he could lead the pairing into the startline.
With a couple of seconds to the start gun, Barker put the bows down and pulled the trigger to launch the New Zealand AC72 towards the start line at almost 42 knots, leaving Draper no alternative but to follow in his wake.
Emirates Team New Zealand rounded the first mark eight seconds ahead. Both teams hung on starboard for around 30 seconds before ETNZ gybed onto port well before the boundary. 150 metres back Luna Rossa gybed on their line, a strategy they maintained for the rest of the leg.
With the Italians clearly unable to gybe as smoothly and consistently as the New Zealand crew the Kiwi advantage when they rounded the right mark of the leeward gate was up to 29 seconds.
Luna Rossa followed suit and up the first part of the first beat both teams worked the right hand side until they reached Alcatraz Island where they took advantage of a slight right hand wind bend to cross the worst of the flood tide on a long starboard tack towards the city.
Emirates Team New Zealand went all the way to the boundary before tacking, while further back the Italians’s opted to tack at the same time. Positioned further out of the tide ETNZ continued to protect their left hand positioning with a loose cover each time Luna Rossa made a dart towards the shore.
At the windward gate the New Zealand lead was up to two minutes and two seconds as they rounded the left hand mark and powered downwind past the still beating Italian boat before gybing on to port across Luna Rossa’s wake.
The Italian crew made life even harder for themselves when they failed to gybe before the right hand course boundary and picked up a stop and go penalty.
At the second leeward gate the delta was up to two minutes 47 seconds and well over 2500 metres.
From there on in the Kiwis continued to extend. On the final run they pulled off four text book flying gybes to round the leeward gate four minutes and five seconds in front.
The final victory was five minutes and 23 seconds as the Kiwis took the win and chalked up their third point of the Louis Vuitton Series.
An understandably dejected looking Luna Rossa crew finished the race on the water outside the five minute time limit from the winner and were scored Did Not Finish (DNF).
So what should we read into today’s first head to head between the Kiwis and the Italians. Not too much to be honest. The result was not a surprise, even if the scale of the New Zealand supremacy might have been.
ETNZ are as slick and accomplished as we expected them to be. They were the first of all the teams to foil their AC72 and they are much further along the learning curve in that department than anyone.
By their own admission, the Italians are still on the lower slopes of the curve, but they are working to a clear plan they think will get them up to speed in time for the semifinals of the Louis Vuitton Series. Today confirmed just how far they have to go before they can even think about seriously troubling the Kiwi contingent.
