Prada Luna Rossa could bow out of the Americas Cup tomorrow as Ineos Brittania needs only one more victory to achieve 7 wins.
The Americas Cup is broken down into 3 different racing events in order to knockout the contestants eventually ending up with one winner who will then move on and fight for the Americas Cup against the defending champion Emirates New Zealand. New Zealand was also competing in this first round where each contestant races each other twice. Interestingly enough New Zealand both won and lost against Ineos Brittania and Luna Rossa who will be one of the final contestants n the Americas Cup. These races were completed between 29 AUGUST - 11 SEPTEMBER and as you can see some teams did not fare vey well.
The next part of the competition which is happening ow is coming to it's conclusion with the first team that achieves 7 wins being the team that has earned the right to challenge the defending champion Emirates New Zealand. Ineos Brittania yesterday won 2 races in a row and is now only 1 race away from achieving this, but the Italian Luna Prada team are still in with a chance. After 8 races they were deadlocked on 4 race wins each and only yesterday did Ineos manage to pull away.
The racing conditions off Barcelona are not easy with strong winds and rough waters which create havoc. Mistakes are made and what is evident it is the team that make the least mistakes wins.
The added bonus of the television coverage allows viewers added information like where the wind pockets ae on the course and why the teams take different routes and why teams can come from behind t any time.
Yesterday in the second race Ineos had a 350 m lead and Luna Rossa closed the gap to around 50m before Ineos pulled out the gap again. The timing of the turns looking for flat water is the key because these boats have these hydraulic arms that are lowered into the water and if the timing is wrong the boat loses all of it's speed.
I love watching sports, but I never thought I would enjoy sailing and this has really caught me due to how competitive and exciting this sport is. The racing is of the highest level and the rough conditions make it even more fun to watch as you just do not know what to expect next.
there are some interesting stories amongst the crews with one member having had to change his job function. 12 year go this was all rigging and using your arms and now it is pedal power creating the wattage required for the hydraulics. He was ever a cyclist and had to change his whole training regime which took 2 years to achieve.
The one benefit these teams have is they have simulators similar to Formula One teams which they can practice but nothing properly prepares you for the real event.
If you have not been following this the next two races are tomorrow and we still have the entire Americas Cup still coming up after this. This is a best of 13 or the first team to achieve 7 wins so there are plenty of days left and this is only warming up. The challenger has an advantage over the defending champions as they have remained active racing whilst the champion has not been competing since the first round robin.