Louis Vuitton Cup Finals Days 2-4.

Questions, though, were answered today with INEOS Britannia showing impressive light-air speed, coming off the line to windward and holding a mighty high-mode all the way to the left boundary, creating enough gauge to cross and cover Luna Rossa’s first tack.

From there, the British helming duo Sir Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher sailed like the champions they are, creating big problems for the Italians with wing-wash and then clicking into a beautiful right shift as the first leg came to an end.


Rounding the port gate marker with a 19-second lead, a rare tactical error saw the British caught in a wind hole that gave away their lead almost immediately to the hard-charging Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni on Luna Rossa.


However, an equally spirited fightback was on midway down that leg as Britannia’s deep angle sailing off the wind came to their rescue. After powering over the top of the Italians and forcing them to gybe away, the British were back in the lead and it was one they built on steadily over the next two-and-a-half legs – until Mother Nature intervened.


On the final windward leg the breeze closed down at the top of the course to some three to four knots putting both boats on the knife edge of falling off the foils. After a scary moment for the British that they just managed to recover from, it was the Italians who fell into displacement after tacking off the left boundary.


Soon after, INEOS Britannia suffered the same fate after tacking at the right boundary. Both crews kept calm and tried to build the speed required for the foils to ‘bite’ and get flying, but the reality was that the race now was against the clock as the 45-minute time-limit ticked away.


Frustratingly for the British, who had looked good for the win today before the wind shut down, time ran out while both boats were sailing slowly down the final leg and the race was stopped. Shortly afterwards the Race Committee sent the yachts home for the day.