The America's Cup: INEOS Britannia fight back on fourth day of Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup match

For the British, it’s the first time in over ninety years since 1934 that they have won two races in an America’s Cup Match. Back then Sir T.O.M. Sopwith’s ‘Endeavour’ scored the first two wins before Harold Vanderbilt’s ‘Rainbow’ came back strongly and clinched the series 4-2. History was certainly being made in Barcelona today.

The opening race got underway on time with the wind above the 6.5 knots lower racing limit and a lumpy, bumpy, residual sea state that made it challenging to keep the AC75s flying consistently. In essence, this race was decided soon after Emirates Team New Zealand dialled into the starting box from the port end. They were on time, but without the speed to comfortably cross INEOS Britannia’s starboard gybe entry. The onboard decision to gybe around saw ‘Taihoro’ lose speed and drop into displacement mode.

Still on their foils, the British crew made sure to apply maximum wing-wash on their rivals, as they first powered over them to windward on port and then once again on starboard as they started, leaving Emirates Team New Zealand struggling to speed build on a long displacement port tack towards the right boundary. Uncontested, INEOS Britannia shot out into a lead of over 1,700 metres before the Kiwis could get back up and flying. From that point on, for the British, the race was all about staying on the foils.

The Britannia sailors coaxed and cajoled their boat around the next six legs and by the time they bore away at the final windward mark they had a lead of one minute and 29 seconds – over half a leg ahead. Emirates Team New Zealand were in full catch-up mode throughout the race and they closed the time-gap steadily – but it was never going to be enough unless the British fell off the foils. That didn’t happen and after nailing three gybes on the final downwind leg the British crew crossed the finish line to take their first win in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match – by one minute and 18 seconds.

With the series now at 4-1 in favour of the Kiwis the second race suddenly had a significance and resonance all of its own.

INEOS Britannia came in from the port side and immediately there was pre-start aggression from both teams. After crossing the Kiwis the British went into their customary tack to take themselves above the start line and were followed closely by Emirates Team New Zealand who had set-up as the hunter. A peel away to the right by the British saw both boats close running to the boundary with Britannia pinned out to windward and trying to outrun the Kiwis to leeward.

A protest appeal from Emirates Team New Zealand was quickly denied by the umpires before the crews disengaged at the boundary and INEOS Britannia gybed first to head back to the line. Emirates Team New Zealand initially set up in a leeward position, looking to hold the British boat out, but in the final 20 seconds Britannia was able to power over the top – forcing a re-think in starting strategy for the Kiwis.

As the clock ticked down to the start, Britannia aimed for a high-speed pin end start, whilst Emirates Team New Zealand elected to tack off onto port and get to the right of the course. Starting with 10 knots extra boatspeed, the British sailors grabbed an early positional advantage that they were able to capitalise on to maintain their lead over the next eight legs.

Emirates Team New Zealand applied maximum pressure throughout, keeping the delta down to no more than 16 seconds at any gate rounding, but an uncharacteristic mistake in the final approaches to the leeward gate cost valuable time and distance, and meant passing was always going to be difficult. For the Britannia crew, the focus was on precise manoeuvre execution and despite slipping up with one poor touchdown gybe and a couple of slow tacks, the British sailed a textbook match-race, minimising their manoeuvres but never allowing the Kiwis to get leverage anywhere around the course.

After eight enthralling legs, the British fans who packed the Race Village and the beachfront Fanzones at Plaça del Mar and Bogatell nervously watched the final run to the finish. Emirates Team New Zealand were closing fast from astern but the British made the cross of their bow on port gybe, sailed low and brought INEOS Britannia across the line to record a hard-fought seven-second victory.

With the scoreline at 4-2, the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match is now on a knife-edge. The early shoots of a comeback the British fans had been hoping for have materialised and the two British wins today have served to slow Emirates Team New Zealand’s early momentum.

Whether that is a permanent shift remains to be seen and with racing resuming on Friday October 18, when two more races are scheduled, this fascinating battle in Barcelona looks all set to become an unmissable thriller.

Text and images courtesy of the America’s Cup. Read more at americascup.com.