Fleet racing is a points game, and Emirates Team New Zealand played it well on Saturday. Nathan Outteridge’s crew made a poor start to the day, then put together second, third and second. That took them into Sunday in second place, the last qualifying spot for the winner-takes-all match race final, with five points in hand over Tudor Team Alinghi.
Few boats managed that kind of run. Four races were sailed on the Bay of Naples in a breeze that sat around 16 to 18 knots and gusted to 20 late in the day. Three crews won races. Two capsized, one of them twice in two days. The one that made the fewest mistakes over the day, Luna Rossa 1, still leads.
How Outteridge got there
It didn’t look promising early on. In Race 3, the first race of the day, the principal crew picked up a penalty just after the start. Then, seventh at the final gate, they lost 44 seconds on the last leg and were passed by GB2 to finish eighth.
The recovery started in Race 4. From sixth at the first gate, Outteridge climbed to second and held it to the line. Alinghi was penalised on the final leg, which opened the door, and the Kiwis took it. Race 5 brought third, after they came through the first gate last.
Race 6 was the best race of the day to watch, and the Kiwis were in the thick of it. Outteridge came into the start on port while the rest of the fleet approached on starboard, which cost him a couple of boat lengths. He was still second at the first gate, eight seconds behind France. On the run he split right into stronger pressure and had the lead by the second gate. The two boats traded it back and forth up the third beat, with Iain Jensen, Outteridge’s Olympic 49er partner, calling the breeze from the port trim seat. France led at the third gate, the Kiwis at the fourth.
The fifth leg decided it. The French pulled 16 seconds clear by the last gate and won by 22. The New Zealand crew had protested France for coming too close on the fourth leg, but the umpires took no action. The French boat carries a Kiwi of its own, trimmer Jason Saunders, so a New Zealander was on board the winner either way.
France, fast and fragile
La Roche-Posay Racing Team was the fastest boat on the water on Saturday, and the least reliable at finishing. Over Races 4, 5 and 6, Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín’s crew led at 13 of the 15 gate roundings. They won Race 4 from start to finish and Race 6 in that duel with Outteridge.
Race 5 was the one that got away. The French started the final run 27 seconds clear, then misjudged their height on a gybe near the boundary. The boat stalled and went over. It was their second capsize in two days, after Friday’s at the start of Race 2. With two retirements in six races, a crew that has won more races than anyone except Burling sits seventh, 12 points from a place in the final.
In a regatta decided over eight fleet races, you can only win the final if you’re in it. The French haven’t learned that yet.
Burling banks the points
The Luna Rossa helmsman had the most productive Saturday in the fleet, with 32 points from a first, a sixth, a second and a third. He won Race 3 from the first gate. His second in Race 5 was the one that mattered most. After nearly nosediving at the first gate and dropping to the back of the fleet, Luna Rossa 1 worked its way through to second, seven points more than last place would have been worth.
Photo credit: Ian Roman / America’s Cup
The Women and Youth win
Jake Pye and Erica Dawson gave New Zealand its first race win in Naples. The Emirates Team New Zealand Women and Youth crew sat second behind France at four of the five gates in Race 5, and was right there to take the lead when the French went over. It was also the first win of the regatta for any Women and Youth crew.
The rest of their day was mixed. They came off the foils at the first gate of Race 3 and finished last, were fourth in Race 4, then capsized between races before Race 6 and finished ninth. Pye summed it up after the win: “We started off pretty rough, but we feel like we’re getting ourselves back in the race.”
Elsewhere in the fleet
Alinghi, with Kiwi Phil Robertson on the port wheel, finished second in Race 3 and third in Race 4. The Race 4 result came despite a double penalty at the bottom gate and a second penalty for sailing out of bounds. The Swiss then faded to fifth and seventh, but sit third overall.
Team USA started well almost every time, and still lost places to penalties and a touchdown. The two British boats spent the day collecting penalties and struggling to hold good early positions.
Our picks from Saturday
Most improved: Emirates Team New Zealand Women and Youth. Pye and Dawson finished fifth overall in Sardinia. In Naples they have beaten the full fleet in a race and sit sixth, ahead of France and both British boats. The finishes either side of that win were last and ninth, but the crew showed it has the speed.
Best play: Burling’s Race 5 recovery. Dropping to the back after a near-nosedive at the first gate should have cost him the race. Instead Luna Rossa 1 finished second. A close second pick was Outteridge’s right-hand split on the first run of Race 6, which turned an eight-second deficit into the lead.
Boat we most enjoyed watching: La Roche-Posay Racing Team. The Kiwis will always get our attention, and both crews earned it on Saturday. But the French were the boat to watch. Their roundings were clean, their comms sounded unhurried, and they hit 47 knots in Race 6, the top speed in that race’s head-to-head. They also took the most risk, and that’s why they’re seventh.
Standings after Day 2
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luna Rossa 1 | 51 |
| 2 | Emirates Team New Zealand | 43 |
| 3 | Tudor Team Alinghi | 38 |
| 4 | Luna Rossa 2 Women and Youth | 35 |
| 5 | American Racing Challenger Team USA | 34 |
| 6 | Emirates Team New Zealand Women and Youth | 32 |
| 7 | La Roche-Posay Racing Team | 31 |
| 8 | Cobham-Ultra GB2 Women and Youth | 29 |
| 9 | GB1 | 28 |
Official standings after Fleet Race 6.
The maths for Sunday
Two fleet races remain. Each pays 10 points to the winner, dropping one point per place. Emirates Team New Zealand is five points ahead of Alinghi, so the Swiss need to finish at least three places ahead of the Kiwis in each race, on average, to catch them. Luna Rossa 2 is eight points behind and needs even more. Burling is in a strong position to make the final, though not yet mathematically safe.
If the top two hold, Sunday’s final will be a rematch of Sardinia, where Luna Rossa beat the Kiwis. For the full picture on how this second preliminary regatta fits the road to the 2027 Match, read our week in review as the Naples build took shape. Our Day 3 report follows on Monday morning.
