Disaster struck the British GB1 team while Dylan Fletcher’s crew were warming up prior to racing, when a problem with the hydraulic system controlling one of the foil flaps developed a serious malfunction. Despite the best efforts of the shore crew, the problem could not be resolved on the water and the team returned to the dock never to return.
The first race of the day was sailed in 15-knot southeasterly winds and quickly developed into a pitched battle at the front of the fleet between the Luna Rossa senior team – helmed by Peter Burling and local hero Ruggero Tita – against the Emirates Team New Zealand senior crew – steered by Nathan Outteridge and the newly-crowned 49er World Champion Seb Menzies.
The Kiwis had the lead at the windward gate but the Italians were hot on their heels – and that’s how it stayed all the way around the course. Luna Rossa skirted the Kiwis transom as the two boats closed on the finish line, but it was the cool-headed Outteridge and Menzies, who did enough to take the win.
Behind them the Emirates Team New Zealand Youth and Women crew – helmed by Erica Dawson and Jake Pye – took third, with Marco Gradoni and Margherita Porro steering the Luna Rossa Youth and Women boat to fourth.
Race two was sailed in a slowly fading breeze that made life increasingly challenging for the seven crews to keep their boats fully airborne during manoeuvres.
The French La Roche-Posay Racing Team – Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín – made the early running but were chased hard by the Luna Rossa Y&W crew. However, when both of these two teams fell off the foils, the British Athena Pathway crew, led by Hannah Mills and Ellie Aldridge slid smoothly past to steal away into a 100-metre lead that they held to the finish. Gradoni and Porro took second, with Outteridge and Menzies (NZL senior) in third.
The third and final race of the day produced another thriller between the Italian Y&W and the New Zealand senior team. The Kiwis led at the top gate, but a lap later it was the Italians who had worked their way level again.
The Luna Rossa crew made the best of the second run to lead at the bottom gate, but an encounter with a light wind patch on the final beat saw them trail around the last windward gate.
With the breeze becoming increasingly patchy on the final downwind leg, the race was eventually decided in favour of Gradoni and Porro, who used their experience of months of training on these waters to find more wind on the left (looking upwind) of the course to ease ahead and claim an 11-second victory. The Luna Rossa senior team came home in third.
The final day of the regatta tomorrow is now finely poised at the top of the standings. The Luna Rossa Youth and Women still lead the regatta with 55 points and an eight-point lead over the Emirates Team New Zealand senior team. However, poised to pounce on any mistakes are the Luna Rossa senior team, who sit just three points behind the Kiwis in third.
Tomorrow’s schedule comprises two more fleet races before a final event-deciding match race between the top two teams.
Which leaves us with plenty to ponder.
Can the Italian Youth and Women crew continue to dominate this event? Can Outteridge and Menzies deal with being the jam in the Luna Rossa sandwich and secure a place in the final? Or can the Luna Rossa seniors pull a rabbit out of the hat and move up into the top two?
Either way, it looks like we are in for a great final day to this compelling regatta.
