Luna Rossa suffers, recovers and makes it 2-0 against American Magic

The Mistral blows hard in the Gulf of Lion but does not reach Barcelona, where instead there is a southerly breeze around 8-10 knots for the first day of the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals, valid as challenger selection for the America’s Cup. The day opens immediately with a surprise: American Magic plays the “Delay” card, the request to move the start by 20 minutes due to a technical problem.
Luna Rossa waits with the jib already hoisted, while Ineos Britannia and Alinghi Red Bull Racing are interested spectators and will race afterwards. In fact between the British and the Swiss will be two matches totally without history in Britannia’s favor, of a totally different difficulty will be Luna Rossa’s races.

Match 1 – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs. American Magic

Luna Rossa enters tacked to port, American Magic to starboard, and the two boats do not seem intent on seeking engagement immediately in the prestart.
Which happens instead with 45 seconds to go, with Luna Rossa trying to push from downwind but failing to hold the engagement and with it the start.
American Magic puts its head forward and immediately tries to defend itself by tacking on the sails of the Italian boat.
First windward mark that seems to be going in favor of the Americans who appear to be in control in this first phase of Match 1 of these semifinals, but in the last split Luna manages to come back and catch up to 3 seconds behind.
A closely spaced stern begins, with the Americans still leading the way.
American Magic, however, is brilliant in the stern in both tacking and speed, and Luna Rossa’s gap rises to 20 seconds. Luna Rossa comes back to catch up in the second windward leg , but there is still a 16-second margin.
At the start of the second downwind the Americans rest imperfectly after the gate and touch heavily in the water, opening the door for Luna Rossa’s attack, which sews up the entire gap, reducing it to 4 seconds.
American Magic concedes separation at the start of the third upwind and Luna Rossa takes advantage by finally putting its nose ahead.
The American boat maneuvers markedly worse and this is largely the reason for Team Prada’s recovery, which stretches and goes on to win the race with a 7-second lead.
An extremely hard-earned point for the Italian boat.

Match 2 – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs. American Magic

Reversed position in the entry to the start in the second race. Steady wind around 10-12 knots.
Aggressive strategy by Luna Rossa, which tries to stay very close to its opponent, first pushing it from downwind, and then going for the right side after an overall even start.
Similar speeds coming off the line, with American Magic managing to close the distance from downwind and make Luna Rossa “jump” forcing her to tack.
The first lead, minimal, is still American Magic’s.
The boats seem to have a similar upwind pace, but the lead at the first gate belongs to the States.
She sterns basically even, but at the Gate into the windward mark American Magic again maneuvers badly and goes down the foils, opening the gate to Luna Rossa for the second time in two races.
Compelling second windward mark, played on wind shifts, with the boats close together, Luna Rossa comes out on top. A big wind shift to the right makes this second windward leg much more closed, good news for the Italian boat that will thus be able to defend more easily the margin obtained.
Last upwind side still affected by the big right wind shift, with the Committee not moving the windward mark, and the starboard tack becoming decidedly longer.
American Magic tries everything in the last stern, scares Luna Rossa, but the Prada-branded boat goes on to win the second race as well and take a 2-0 lead.
We talk about it at 6:30 p.m. on Il Processo alla Coppa, Mauro Giuffrè’s guests will be: Luca Rosetti (winner of the Mini Transat 2023), Luca Bassani (founder Wally Yachts), Simone Malagugini (coach DryLaps Team), Federico Albano (racer and analyst for Formula1 Passion) and Ida Castiglioni (the first Italian woman to cross the Ocean in a regatta, sent to Barcelona).
Follow the episode at the player below, live on YouTube and Facebook of the Giornale della Vela.