Athena Pathway find their feet as light air scrambles the fleet in Race 5 of the Sardinia Preliminaries

Hannah Mills and Athena Pathway won Race 5 while the rest of the fleet came off the foils around them. Seven to ten knots, patchy and shifting, with leftover chop from Day 1 still making every manoeuvre a genuine risk. After a capsize and a restart across the previous 24 hours, it was exactly what the British women and youth crew needed.

Disappearing breeze

Nothing about Race 5 resembled any of the earlier races. The breeze dropped through the race, bottoming out around seven knots in patches, with wind vacuums at the bottom right corner of the course pulling boats off the foils without notice. The sea state from Day 1 had built again, leaving conditions choppy. The race committee shortened the course four times. Before the start, the French coach had told the broadcast team that in these conditions it was roughly 50-50 whether you made it through a manoeuvre cleanly.

Another messy start

La Roche-Posay got away cleanly on the left, Delapierre and the French crew finding clear air from the gun and sailing with purpose.

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Luna Rossa Women and Youth found room on the right, Margherita Porro and Marco Gradoni moving quickly once clear.

Tudor Team Alinghi fouled the ETNZ Women and Youth boat on the start line, picking up a penalty and sending Erica Dawson and Jake Pye’s crew into recovery mode early.

La Roche-Posay lead until Luna Rossa Women and Youth pounce

La Roche-Posay held the front through the opening legs, keeping the boat on the foils and taking the right lines through the light patches. Luna Rossa’s Women and Youth team found a pressure shift on the right at halfway and moved through to lead. A familiar place for the team who are doing so well in this Sardinian preliminary round.

Then the bottom right corner of the course claimed them both. La Roche-Posay hit a wind vacuum and came off the foils. Luna Rossa Women and Youth dropped off shortly after. The two boats slowed, then rebuilt while the remaining boats in the fleet behind kept moving.

Athena Pathway take their chance

Athena Pathway had kept it clean throughout. Co-helms Hannah Mills and Ellie Aldridge picked their way through the light patches, hit their manoeuvres at speed, and stayed on the foils when others couldn’t. When the leaders fell away, Athena Pathway were already moving past them.

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They held on through a shortened final lap, Mills counting down the last gate herself, and crossed the line first.

Tudor Team Alinghi didn’t finish. The foils lost their righting moment in a dying patch and the boat went over. With one race still to come, this could possibly turn into a costly moment for the Swiss.

Half a metre at the finish

Luna Rossa Women and Youth recovered from the earlier splashdown and came hard at the finish, aggressive on the approach and slamming the door on La Roche-Posay with half a metre to spare at the line. The French collected a penalty on top of it.

Post-race, Hannah Mills was calm but clearly moved. Dying, shifting breeze, a rough sea state, and a boat that had handled all of it without incident.

After the previous day, and the need to gain points on the scoreboard, this was an important win for the team.

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Race 5 saw Tudor Team Alinghi capsize and retire, while GB1 watched from the dock again.

The top four standings positions remain the same as after Race 4. The points are spreading further out. But with more races to come in this competition, those standings and margins can still easily change.

The Luna Rossa – Women and Youth team continue to do well. Now seven points separate them from the principal Emirates Team New Zealand. The margin is widening.