After days of sunshine and fair sea breezes in the Bay of Naples, overnight a short-lived Atlantic front moved across central and southern Italy, known as an ‘Atlantic perturbation’ that brought with it a cooler, unstable air with showers and thunderstorms in Naples alongside reports of lightning and rumbles of thunder in the hills. For the thousands of fans who thronged the Race Village, it was initially a frustrating afternoon, but the wait for racing was worth it.
Two false starts eventually yielded to stunning Bay of Naples conditions as 14-15 knots, gusting 18 knots, filtered in producing a short chop that had all the AC40s flying against the stunning city backdrop ahead of a quite thrilling opening race.
With everyone starting on starboard tack – nobody dared to venture the much-vaunted port tack start – ARC team USA came off the windward end of the line one boat down and found the perfect lane to tack onto port in the middle of the course into beautiful clear air that Harry Melges later described as being “golden.” It was a stunning move by Melges and co-helm Lucas Calabrese alongside trimmers Michael Menninger and Hans Henken, with the USA team displaying clipped communications and chess grandmaster levels of tactical ability.
Chased down hard by Luna Rossa 1, the team that won all three practice races yesterday with Peter Burling and Marco Gradoni on co-helms, ARC Team USA streaked away and built their lead out to almost 250 metres at one point and never looked back. For the Italian Principal Team there was nothing they could do other than to fend off the hard-charging Cobham-Ultra GB2 of Hannah Mills and Ellie Aldridge who pushed all the way around the course and by the end were visibly closing the gap.
Luna Rossa Women & Youth kept a watching brief in fourth but had no way through to the podium and after six legs, ARC team USA found a perfect layline downwind to the finish and took the winning moment with poise and ease. First blood to ARC Team USA whose home club – Sail Newport – were hosting a watch-party early morning in Rhode Island.
Speaking afterwards, Lucas Calabrese and Harry Melges were clearly delighted with the day but extremely grounded with Lucas opining on what is looking like a dynamic helming partnership between, saying: “I feel like we have pretty good chemistry with each other. We’ve sailed together before quite a bit on the AC40 in the last campaign, and we also were a part of a TP52 season together, so I guess we know each other a lot. Harry is the calmer one; I’m the fiery one! It’s a good mix.”
Lucas and Harry also praised the trimming team of Michael Menninger and Hans Henken, with Lucas saying: “We really believe in them. We know how good they are, and that’s why we trust them so much. I feel like we have a pretty flat hierarchy on our boat, and I think if we can make that machine work smoothly, we have a big advantage. So, we’re trying to use everybody’s talent.”
Harry added to the praise saying: “Michael and Hans are really standout trimmers and teammates. And I’m also very lucky to be driving alongside Lucas. So I’m very excited for the future. I think it was a great day of sailing, honestly, with the first race. But there’s also a ton of lessons we have taken from the day. There’s a lot more for us to be able to do out there.”
One of the stories of the day however was with GB1, one of the favourites for the regatta coming into Naples. As the racing got underway, the team suffered damage with Dylan Fletcher confirming the issue, saying: “It was kind of how we expected it today with quite fickle breeze and we were waiting for that breeze to fill in. When it did, unfortunately, the cover plate ripped off our starboard foil – this is our race arm that we put back on after the damage (in practice racing), but it was all fixed up. It was off for the first race, which is why we were struggling gybing, had no grip, had loads of leeway, going slow on port, tacking, everything. Everything other than sailing on starboard was terrible. It never rains, bit it pours!”
For Cobham Ultra GB2, it was a different story and after a stellar first race, Hannah Mills OBE commented: “We just felt like it sort of started clicking a bit today in terms of the comms and how we’re racing the boat and just how we’re sailing the boat, all feeling like it was coming together. So yeah, we just felt really like we were going fast, going roughly in the right direction, which was not easy on that racecourse.”
Come the second race in a beautiful Neapolitan evening light that spotlighted this picturesque city by the sea perfectly, the breeze rose with 18 knot gusts across the racecourse and a challenging swell. Drama ensued right at the starting gun with La Roche-Posay Racing Team on course side and desperate to get back to start correctly.
On the bear-away back to duck the line, the bow went down, the rudder came out of the water and the team led by helms Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín, were passengers on a vicious nosedive that resulted in a capsize and retirement. All sailors were well after the crash and the boat was righted quickly but during the incident, only the smartest of manoeuvres by GB2 skipper Hannah Mills averted a serious crash with the raised windward foil of the British boat clipping the rudder stack at the stern of the French boat, as she described: “The French were doing a big hard bear-away to restart and must have got it wrong. We were just to leeward and then they pitch-poled right in front of us and when it happened, obviously so fast, I just fired it up into wind to try and avoid hitting them and I think did everything we could in that moment to stop a major collision.”
Back on the racecourse, the AC40s were fast and furious, and off the start line it was all Luna Rossa 1 who led out to the left side of the course initially and then came back fast on port tack to cross the fleet. The Italian Principal Team never looked back. Incredible front-runners, Luna Rossa 1 built their lead down the first run but were kept honest by Tudor Team Alinghi, with Paul Goodison and Phil Robertson on co-helm, who made few mistakes and gapped away from the chasing pack.
Marco Gradoni, co-helm on Luna Rossa 1, sent out an ominous message to the fleet as the Italians top they regatta overnight saying: “In the second race we had a good start compared to the first one that I think we didn’t manage perfectly. But yeah, we had the speed. I think the guys picked up the pace and did a really good job because it was not easy. We saw also what happened with the French and we had the speed and we just executed, to be fair. We got to the boundary; we turned first and then we know how to stay there. I think the boats are all the same and it’s just about the coordination between us and the precision that we put into what we do between us four. So, we work a lot. We keep improving because we’re not at our 100% but I think we’re going to get there.”
Racing was intense and tactical behind with multiple changes in the order of the chasing pack as mistakes crept in. Class emerged though with Nathan Outteridge and Seb Menzies co-helming Emirates Team New Zealand never-saying-die and coming through on the final run to the finish to take the third spot in the final race just ahead of their sister-ship of Emirates Team New Zealand Women & Youth with Jake Pye and Erica Dawson co-helming, right on the line.
Erica Dawson reflected on a day where they took positives from their performance and finished tied with Tudor Team Alinghi overall saying, “I think we had a solid day. We made quite a few little errors, but overall, we’re happy with the way we’re sailing, and the kind of steps made forward recently.”
Andy Maloney, trimmer for Emirates Team New Zealand Principal Team, tied on points in second overall going into day two, felt there was plenty more performance still to come: “It was pretty difficult for our boat out there today, as we haven’t quite managed to put a full race together yet. We’re not getting off the line that cleanly, and then we’re still making mistakes around the racetrack. So, we find ourselves in difficult positions in the pack and making unforced errors and we’re better than that, and we’re sort of putting ourselves in difficult positions. So a little bit frustrating as a crew today overall but probably the best thing of the day is that the crew on board stayed tight as a unit, and we managed to keep positive and keep chipping away.”
For the rest of the fleet, it was a case of what might have been with Luna Rossa 2 Women & Youth crossing in fifth just ahead of Hannah Mills and Ellie Aldridge in GB2. ARC Team USA, winners of the first race, rued a poor mark rounding at the second leeward gate that cost them dear and dropped the USA down to seventh in the race whilst GB1, the Challenger of Record, sunk to eighth overall with their damage.
The leaderboard is tight at the top and there’s all to play for on the Bay of Naples tomorrow for the fleet who are into their stride and performing at the very highest level. It was a long day on the water for the sailors but it’s ‘rest and repeat’ now ahead of what is looking like a thrilling weekend of racing ahead with storylines aplenty.
Magnus Wheatley
