America’s Cup/Supplied
The Luna Rossa crew was submerged after a nosedive in the match race final against Team New Zealand in Jeddah.
Final event standings (points): Team New Zealand 64, Luna Rossa 49, Alinghi 35, American Magic 28, Britannia 26, Orient Express 20. Team NZ beat Luna Rossa in the match race.
Team New Zealand ruled the Red Sea to win the America’s Cup preliminary regatta in Jeddah after Luna Rossa’s spectacular, crashing nosedive in the match race final on Sunday (NZ time).
The Kiwi Cup defenders topped the standings and finished first in five of the eight fleet races before beating the speedy Italians in the decider in the Saudi Arabian port.
Luna Rossa won the final day’s first fleet race to advance to the final before not completing the second race ahead of their contest with the Kiwis.
Onboard their Te Kākahi boat, Team NZ had qualified for the final on day two and still won the last fleet race to maintain their commanding form throughout the regatta.
The two Cup finalists from Auckland in 2021, racing in the smaller AC40 Cup boats in Saudi Arabia, went bow to bow again.
It was another tale of Team NZ’s dominance as they led throughout before the victory was assured when Luna Rossa lost control around the final mark and splashed down dramatically with one leg to go.
America’s Cup/Screenshot
Luna Rossa were trying to catch Team NZ when they lost control around the final mark on the course.
The Italians had to make a desperate manoeuvre to catch the Kiwis but were too high around the bend and stopped dead after the nose of their boat plunged into the water, filling up each cockpit.
The Italian crew’s teenage star, 19-year-old helmsman Marco Gradoni, said there were some problems on the boat with its functions which may have caused the nosedive at 18 to 20 knots.
“It was also our bad, we could do better, but that’s what happened,” Gradoni said.
Team NZ sailed away to win the second preliminary regatta of the 37th Cup cycle after narrowly losing to American Magic in the first in Vilanova i la Geltrú when bad weather cancelled the match race final in September.
The Kiwi crew, led by helmsman Peter Burling, bounced back in Jeddah.
America’s CUp/Supplied
Team New Zealand were winners on the Red Sea.
“It’s a massive part of the campaign, these two preliminary events. We thought we put on a good show in Vilanova but didn’t get the chance for the match race,” Burling said.
“This weekend, we’ve gone one better and made improvements as a group. As a team, we’re really happy. This gives us the platform to build towards the America’s Cup.”
Team NZ co-helmsman Nathan Outteridge said they felt great after winning the last event between all six of the America’s Cup syndicates before they meet for the main competition next year in Barcelona.
“It has been really challenging conditions out here. It’s what we love as sailors, we were just happy to put together some clean laps after the first race and we sailed more accurately and faster and shut that final race down against Prada,” Outteridge said.
Luna Rossa made the perfect start to the final racing day by winning the first fleet race ahead of American Magic in second and Team NZ in third.
America’s Cup/Supplied
Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand racing in the final.
Swiss Alinghi emerged to finish second behind the Kiwis in the day’s second fleet race when the Italians chose to retire and finished last after falling off their foils. They were beaten again by Team NZ in the final after winning the other three races in the regatta.
Luna Rossa co-helmsman Ruggero Tita said the event was a good experience for their team, despite their sodden finish.
“We are happy about the result, but when you are there so close, and you can see the possibility to win, yes there’s regret but we did more than we expected,” Ruggero said.
The next regatta is in Barcelona next August with the larger AC75 boats and results will start to count in the following event, the challenger series, when one will emerge to race Team NZ for the Auld Mug on the Spanish coast next October.
Team NZ are the reigning Cup holders after winning the last two editions in Auckland in 2021 and Bermuda in 2017.
America’s Cup preliminary regatta, Jeddah (final racing day)
Fleet race one (points)
1st: Luna Rossa 10
2nd: American Magic 7
3rd: Team New Zealand 5
4th: Orient Express 3
5th: Britannia 2
6th: Alinghi 1
Fleet race two (points)
1st: Team New Zealand 10
2nd: Alinghi 7
3rd: American Magic 5
4th: Orient Express 3
5th: Britannia 2
6th: Luna Rossa (DNF) 1
Match race
1st: Team New Zealand
2nd: Luna Rossa
AMERICAS CUP
Team NZ were run close by Luna Rossa but won two more races on the second day of the America’s Cup preliminary regatta in Jeddah.
