The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta got underway in Barcelona today with all four scheduled races between the six competing teams taking place in near-perfect conditions.

Four teams sit on one point after today’s racing but – by way of the event rules on splitting ties – it is America’s Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand who sit atop the standings overnight ahead of the Switzerland’s Alinghi Red Bull Racing in second, NYYC American Magic in third and the Italian Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in fourth.

The British Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia and France’s Orient Express Racing are both yet to put points on the board and sit in fifth and sixth respectively.

Image: Ian Roman | America’s Cup

Barcelona was at its very best today, delivering some outstanding conditions for day one of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta. A gusting and, at times, patchy south-westerly breeze of 12-16 knots built into the early afternoon, bringing with it a moderate sea-state with wave heights at just over half a metre making the racing more than interesting and delivering a brilliant opener for what is set to be a fantastic summer of top-class racing in Barcelona.

All four scheduled matches were completed with the Swiss team Alinghi Red Bull Racing – continuing their brilliant recovery from a dis-masting just 48 hours earlier – taking on France’s Orient Express Racing Team in the first heat.

The race went decisively in favour of the Swiss, helmed by Maxime Bachelin and Arnaud Psarofaghis, who showed some outstanding boat-handling backed up with impressive pure outright speed and capitalised on French timing errors in the pre-start to establish an early lead that they never relinquished.

Bachelin, steering on port was pleased to get the opening win under his belt saying: “It’s awesome to start with these types of conditions, it was more than 15 knots during the race and we were finally competing against others, so we cannot expect better than that – and yes, starting with a win it’s always good.”

Juan Vila, Meteorologist & Testing Manager for Alinghi Red Bull Racing, spoke about the team’s remarkable bounce-back from the mast breakage on Tuesday saying: “Obviously, we never want to break a mast, but it was a good exercise for getting everyone on the same page. It brought the team closer together and gave us extra motivation to perform well in the races. For now, we are very happy with both yesterday’s practice day and today.”

The expected ‘blockbuster’ match up of the day was race two where the America’s Cup Defenders, Emirates Team New Zealand faced off against their AC36 co-finalists Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli from Italy. It was close in the initial tense prestart exchanges, but the Italian challenge evaporated when an electronic issue onboard shut their boat down for 20 seconds, taking them off the foils and forcing them out of the race. Be in no doubt though, this is a rivalry that will run and run through the coming weeks of racing.

Peter Burling, skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand was pleased with the win saying: “We’ve had some great practice racing against Luna Rossa and it was shaping up to really good race today so it was a real shame they had the issue with the boat and couldn’t carry on because we felt that we had jumped out to a nice little lead there half way up the first beat and were looking forward to some good racing.” 

Meanwhile Jimmy Spithill, helmsman for Luna Rossa said the diagnostics for the issue against Emirates Team New Zealand had not yet been analysed.

“It was a shame as we had a good head-to-head race going with the Kiwis and it looked like it was going to be a good one. We were disappointed not to get that race in but in a lot of ways we’d rather that sort of stuff happens now rather than when it really counts.”

Image: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup / America’s Cup

Next up was NYYC American Magic – who had suffered a serious nosedive in practice racing the day before – up against INEOS Britannia who looked fired up for the day and the racing to come. After a blistering start from Ainslie and a brilliant first cross by the British out to the right-side of the course, the Americans came straight back after finding more pressure and nice big windshift to lead at the windward mark. Although the first downwind leg saw two close crosses the US team maintained their lead at the leeward gate and were never headed again, going on to record a win by a margin of 29 seconds.

Tom Slingsby, helmsman on NYYC American Magic, was happy with how the opening race against INEOS Britannia unfolded saying: “It was a tight race all the way. There didn’t seem to be much in it in terms of boat speed. Once we were ahead, we were able to protect the right and it felt like we were making little gains all the time.” 

“We have won our first race and although there is a long way to go, it’s good to get off the mark as you don’t want to be waiting a couple of days to get your first win. So, we’re off and running and we’ve got some big matches coming in the next few days.”

Sir Ben Ainslie, Skipper and CEO of INEOS Britannia, put the British team’s performance into context saying: “Strategically we didn’t defend the right enough. We felt like we were in good shape halfway up that first beat. We wanted the right-hand side, and we got that, but then it became a tricky balance between do we have enough of a lead to just go to layline? Or do we just want to hammer it home and home and try to defend that right hand side? The Americans were close enough to us and did a nice job of making that a difficult call. They got to the right of us and really made it pay.”

“In this Garbi breeze from around 200 it is very much a right side dominated course – but there are some shifts and pressure lines out there and it is just about trying to stay in those pressure lines and get the right gate bias at the top of the course.”

The final race of the day was something of a mis-match right from the start with Orient Express Racing Team falling off their foils before the pre-start, picking up penalties for several infractions and allowing Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to get away to an unchallenged start and establish an immediate lead. The Italians steadily stretched out that advantage, showing superb boat-handling and outright speed to record the biggest win of the day of some one minute and 33 seconds.

For Quentin Delapierre, skipper of Orient Express Racing Team, it was another day high on the learning curve but plenty of positives as he commented: “It’s still a learning period and mistakes are allowed. We just need to get the lesson and try to push forward with the whole team. I do think that there are many positive things – the boat looks fast with good potential – but for sure we were struggling during the start and the pre-starts especially. I do think that we had some issue with the tactical tool but honestly that’s more on us. We need to work on that, simplify everything and then just do the correct things at the right time.”

Racing at the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta continues tomorrow Friday August 23 with four more races scheduled and runs through until Sunday August 25 when the event culminates with a match race final between the two top teams.

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