Emirates Team New Zealand win Prada ACWS Auckland on a knife edge.

The crowds were out basking in the sun at Auckland’s America’s Cup Race Village, right outside the doorstep of the Emirates Team New Zealand base to soak up the building atmosphere in anticipation for the final day of racing for the PRADA ACWS Auckland.

Like any good final day of a regatta, the PRADA ACWS Auckland was wide open for most teams to sail their way onto the winner’s stage, with a clean couple of races and maximum points getting them onto the podium. One of many hurdles for the teams to overcome was the light and tricky breeze, which forced a late shift of the racecourse further up the Rangitoto Channel to get the best from the 7-13 knots northerly wind.

After suffering a very close loss to American Magic in the first-round robin and tied on 3 wins apiece, the result of this race would have a significant effect on the overall outcome of the regatta, and so Emirates Team New Zealand’s focus was on cleaning up their mistakes to secure that vital point.

RACE 10: Emirates Team New Zealand vs NYYC American Magic

After a delay in the days start procedure, Emirates Team New Zealand and American Magic were flying into the start box at over 30 knots in just 9 knots of wind speed.

Emirates Team New Zealand decided to stay high and wide in the box, turning back down the line early, with the Americans looking slightly late. The end result had both boats starting at the extreme ends of the line at the gun, bow to bow, and heading out on starboard tack.

The first cross as the Kiwis came back on port saw American Magic helmsman Dean Barker and tactician Terry Hutchinson tack in the face of Peter Burling, who managed to maintain speed and live on the hip of American Magic before eventually having to tack away to the left again – it was all on.

American Magic protected the right but the Kiwis kept it close rounding the first mark 0:12 behind. On the downwind run both were doing over 30 knots in just 10 knots of wind, with Barker maintaining his lead, just rounding the mark only 0:03 ahead of Te Rehutai, with the Kiwis opting to head out on opposite tacks, to keep out of phase with Patriot.

American Magic on starboard crossed ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand but chose not to tack on their face, allowing the Kiwis to extend out to the righthand lay line who were still 100m behind – this new class demanding even faster decision making than ever before, with massive losses if you choose to cover an opponent’s move even seconds too late.

It was the opportunity Burling and crew were looking for at the next convergence, and when American Magic on port were forced to dip the Kiwis, they grabbed a narrow lead as they headed out to the starboard boundary for their final tack into the top mark.

However, it was that tack that proved to be the costly mistake that would effectively hand the race to Emirates Team New Zealand as American Magic struggled through a bad one, labouring to get back on the foils and eventually rounding 0:54 astern of Te Rehutai.

Emirates Team New Zealand free to sail their own race and extend their lead around the remainder of the course to take another vital point.

Blair Tuke’s reaction as they extended their lead, “All good.”

RACE 12: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs Emirates Team New Zealand

The last race of the schedule and the regatta result was on the line.

The stakes; if Emirates Team New Zealand win they take the regatta, if Luna Rossa win it would be a three way tie with American Magic and the Italians.

Both boats stayed apart in a relatively quiet pre-start, the wind fading to just 8-9 knots, meaning the key the objective was to keep on the foils. In the final twenty seconds before the gun, a left-hand shift meant Emirates Team New Zealand could not lay the pin and were forced to tack to port, Luna Rossa hitting start line, pulling out to a 150-metre lead over Emirates Team New Zealand – in a now familiar position behind with plenty of work to do.

All the way up the first leg, Luna Rossa simply matched the Kiwis, maintaining a comfortable lead rounding the top mark 0:32 ahead as the wind dropped to just 6 knots. Not enough for Emirates Team New Zealand to pop back up on the foils as Luna Rossa flew off down the run before also dropping back off their foils in a low speed gybe, turning the race into a sprint get back into flight mode.

It was slow and stressful but Peter Burling and crew used a boundary to boundary run to gain maximum advantage, popping up on the foils and abruptly turning a remarkable 800 metre deficit into a 500 metre lead before Luna Rossa were up and foiling again.

The remainder of the race saw a knife edge dance for both boats to maintain speed on the foils, each knowing a single mistake would be costly. Emirates Team New Zealand did a bad tack off the foils, and in that slow speed build allowed Luna Rossa to within 100 metres up the run until the final top mark, the Kiwis 0:18 seconds ahead, causing supporters of both teams to hold their breath.

Peter Burling and his crew eased Te Rehutai down the final run to cross the finish line and win the Prada ACWS Auckland by just 0:16 in a light wind slugfest, that saw technique and smart tactics secure the win.

Foil Controller Blair Tuke: “It was tough coming off the foils, so we were happy to get back up again, but a bit more happy when they came off the foils! The wind got down to 6 knots at one point, so it was an awesome effort to get going by the lads and keep it going for the rest of the race – so all good. It has been an epic days racing, American Magic & Luna Rossa are certainly going really well in these conditions – great to secure the win in front of a fantastic crowd out there.”

“This is great for the team in general but there is plenty more work to do”, was Tuke’s summary as he took off for the Official Mumm Champagne moment.

maxon Group tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

maxon Group is an Official Supplier to Emirates Team New Zealand. We follow the progress of their journey as Defender in the 36^th America’s Cup campaign, March 2021.

Prada Christmas race… runs out of puff.

The one-day PRADA Christmas Race was the last opportunity for Emirates Team New Zealand to be able to line up and measure themselves against the other Challengers before the main event next year.

A knockout regatta saw #1 ranked Emirates Team New Zealand matched up against #4 ranked INEOS Team UK, the winner of which would go through to race the winner of #2 ranked American Magic & #3 ranked Luna Rossa, to decide the winner of the PRADA Christmas Race.

Course A was selected by Race Director Iain Murray as the most likely location on the Waitematā Harbour to make the most of the light and fickle forecast, which had the wind dropping off as the day progressed.

Racing got underway on time, a 15.12 start in 8-9 knots, more than enough breeze for the AC75’s to get up on their foils and fly into the prestart. INEOS TEAM UK entered on port and could not cross Emirates Team New Zealand, the kiwis allowing them to sail across the face of the start line, before engaging in their final approach to the start.

Both helmsmen, Burling and Ainslie were more interesting in staying on their foils and preserving their speed than engaging in any prestart arm wrestling. A slight drop in pressure saw both boats late for the line, well back for the start at the gun.

Emirates Team New Zealand on the right just managed to lay the leeward end of the line, but INEOS TEAM UK could not, and tacking onto starboard struggled with momentum, falling of the foils and handing Emirates Team New Zealand a clear advantage, allowing them to pull out a 500-metre lead in a matter of seconds.

It was an uphill battle from there for the British, crossing the right-hand boundary and getting a penalty which only compounded their misery.

Without looking back, Emirates Team New Zealand were up and off. With every fraction of data logged from these boats, there were no complex algorithms needed to confirm the relative speed difference was significant today – the naked eyeball confirmed that Te Rehutai was sailing at more than double the speed of Britannia at times, and frustratingly for Ainslie and his team there was more pain for the British, when Emirates Team New Zealand managed to lap the INEOS TEAM UK just as the breeze died to below 7 knots, forcing the kiwis to round the 3rd mark off their foils in slow-motion, beginning a close downwind displacement race not only with each other, but also against the clock to beat the 45-minute race cut off time to the finish.

The clock won the race, and the race was terminated with Emirates Team New Zealand just a few hundred metres from the line.

Emirates Team New Zealand flight controller Blair Tuke remained positive despite the outcome, “To begin with it was all good, we had a good start and were sailing the boat nicely in some really light wind – and don’t forget that every second we race these boats we are gathering valuable data. Sadly in the end it dropped off a bit earlier than expected, and we had to low ride all the way down wind. Gutted not to make the time limit – but plenty of positives and valuable lessons learned.”

The terminated race would be the last bit of action the PRADA Christmas race would see as the breeze shut down, and put an end to Emirates Team New Zealand’s’ racing until the first race of the America’s Cup on March 6th..

maxon Group tel. +61 2 9457 7477.

maxon Group is an Official Supplier to Emirates Team New Zealand. We follow the progress of their journey as Defender in the 36^th America’s Cup campaign, March 2021.