Down to the wire, ETNZ edge out Luna Rossa in Race 4 Sardinia Preliminary

Emirates Team New Zealand won Race 4 in a sustained match race battle with Luna Rossa’s principal team. Nathan Outteridge, Seb Menzies, Andy Maloney and Iain Jensen held off Peter Burling and Ruggero Tita all the way to the finish line.

GB1 troubles continue

For GB1, the morning picked up where Friday left off. Technical problems pulled the Challenger of Record back to shore before the start gun, leaving them with three races gone and still no competitive result to show. For now, the British flag in this fleet belongs to Hannah Mills and Athena Pathway.

Light conditions, different race

The Bay of Angels had a different look on Saturday. Ten to twelve knots of breeze, a sea state that stayed manageable throughout, nothing like the building chop that had punished the fleet on Day 1. Closer, more technical racing followed, with less room for the foils to misbehave and fewer big mistakes to cash in on.

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The race, a match

A chaotic start

La Roche-Posay were over the line early and had to restart. Luna Rossa’s Women and Youth crew had a rougher time of it, collecting a boat-on-boat penalty and failing to get the boat on the foil before the gun. Marco Gradoni and Margherita Porro were effectively still at the start line as the rest of the fleet headed upwind. The team’s difficulties were compounded by sailing much of the race without a functioning race computer, calling lay lines and crossing distances by eye.

Burling against his old teammates

Luna Rossa’s principal boat led early. Peter Burling and Ruggero Tita set the tempo at the front and drew Nathan Outteridge and Seb Menzies ETNZ principal into a two-boat race that the rest of the fleet couldn’t touch. Burling racing his former teammates on the waters where he won three consecutive America’s Cups, with nothing between them on the racecourse. He pushed every cross and gave nothing away.

ETNZ found their edge on the right side of the course on the second upwind, taking the lead at the top gate and using clean mark roundings to hold the margin through the final run. A jibe right in front of the principal Italians at the finish sealed it. Burling tried to dip through and couldn’t find the gap.

First for the ETNZ principal crew and second for the Luna Rossa principal crew.

ETNZ’s women and youth crew of Erica Dawson, Jake Pye, Serena Woodall and Josh Armit took third, a clean and composed race from the Kiwi squad.

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Luna Rossa’s Women and Youth crew fought back from their chaotic start to fourth. A penalty, a foil failure off the line, and most of the race without instruments. Fourth was more than the opening sequence suggested they would manage.

La Roche-Posay crossed fifth after their restart. Athena Pathway took sixth following a splashdown mid-race. Tudor Team Alinghi had their own difficulties on the water and finished seventh.

Outteridge post-race

Nathan Outteridge was relaxed on the water after the finish. Gusty, patchy conditions had kept the race alive, Luna Rossa had been right there all the way, and the final run had needed precise work and kept everyone on their toes. Andy Maloney visibly happy behind him.

Luna Rossa – Women and Youth team remain the team to beat, six points ahead of ETNZ (principal). With one point separating ETNZ and Luna Rossa, and then Luna Ross and ETNZ – Women and Youth. With another two races today this remains a close competition.