36th America's Cup

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Light winds (8-9kn) aren't good for ETNZ.

Luna Rossa just smoked 'em in the first race of Day 2. ETNZ has boat speed, but in light winds cannot point upwind as well as LR can.

Race 4 Spoilers:
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ETNZ changed sails before the start of the second race today.

ETNZ crossed the Start line a meter or two ahead of LR. Leg 1 had a couple of lead changes on tacks but ultimately ETNZ was leading at the first rounding and held it. The racing was close at first, but on the first downwind, nearing the first leeward rounding LR initiated a gybe and was well around before the foil was down causing them to heel over and lose a lot of speed trying to settle the boat and get back to heading downwind.

From then on they had no chance.

End of Day 2... tied at 2 all.

Another day, another 2 races... another tie.

Unquestionably, ETNZ has more speed. In the first race they couldn't point as high (again) and sailed about 1.5kms further on the course than LR did, but they finished second. In the second race they aced the start, and led from there. LR had a sloppy first tack and lost a lot of ground when the hull wouldn't fly for quite a few seconds, and through the rest of that race patchy, shifty wind prevented them from making up the ground they'd lost. In the end LR had to do 2 more tacks and 2 more gybes than ETNZ.

Race 5: ETNZ was off the foils with ~40 seconds to go. When they finally got going and cross the Start line they were 7 or 8 knots down on speed compared to LR.



Race 6: Exact opposite. LR was off the foils, languishing at 17kn while ETNZ was running to the line at close to 30. When LR got in the air at 20kn ETNZ was doing 36 towards the line with 5 seconds to go.

Another light wind day.. Race 7 has been postponed while they do more wind sampling.

Edit: Racing was abandoned for the day.

Unfortunately they're not doing any more weekend racing from now on, so since I need sleep I'll have to catch up with what happened in the morning while I have my breakfast...

Well the question of boat speed seems to have been answered.

And anyone that felt the races were won or lost in the start box, and there was nothing much left to watch once they crossed the green line, Monday's two races fixed that problem as well.

Race 7 Report: https://www.americascup.com/en/news/1231_MATCH-DAY-5-RACE-7

Race 8 Report: https://www.americascup.com/en/news/1232_THE-DEFENDER-TAKES-2-POINTS-LEAD-IN-DAY-5

Make or break for Luna Rossa today... wind is down a bit from yesterday, forecast is for 7-11 knots. If ETNZ takes one of today's two matches that is it, they win the Cup. LR has to win both to stay in the game.

I had no skin in the game, I just love good competition. That said, I do feel bad for LR & Bertelli given how many years they've been at this without notching up a win... always the bride's maid, never the bride.

That said, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron has confirmed they've already received a Challenge, likely from the UK's Royal Yacht Squadron.

Bring on AC37!