America's Cup: Jimmy Spithill dig at Team New Zealand sets stage for preliminary final with Luna Rossa

Sunday, 25 August 2024

The US, French and Italian boats have all suffered technical difficulties which the Luna Rossa helmsman partly put down to the Kiwi-supplied software.

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Jimmy Spithill couldn’t resist a wee dig at Team New Zealand ahead of the match race final between his Luna Rossa boat and the Kiwis in the America’s Cup preliminary regatta on Monday (NZ time).

Technical issues have affected some AC75s while host city Barcelona has staged its first Cup racing ahead of next week’s challenger series and the match race when Team NZ defend the Auld Mug in October.

Spithill, Luna Rossa’s helmsman, was skippering the Italian boat when a power failure forced them to retire during their opening race against Team NZ on day one.

French challenger Orient Express also suffered technical issues on day two and had to retire before their race with the Kiwis.

American Magic had to withdraw before their race with Orient Express on day three because of a rudder breakage.

Jimmy Spithill is the Luna Rossa helmsman in Barcelona.

Spithill, the Australian sailor who has never been shy of having a pop at Team NZ or Kiwi crews in other sailing events over the years, said some of the advanced technologies in the new class of AC75s were causing problems.

“Some of the media, the telemetry, this is the first time we’ve had supplied one-design software,” he told Stuff after racing finished on Sunday (NZ time).

“There have definitely been a lot of bugs, with what the Kiwis have supplied everyone, and it’s the first time it’s all being used.”

Spithill, asked if the technical faults were impacting racing, grinned widely and said to ask Grant Dalton, the chief executive for Team NZ and the America’s Cup.

“Ask Mr Dalton, it’s probably a good question. Ask him,” he added, laughing.

The Luna Rossa boat suffered a power failure on day one.

“Look, we love racing and going out there and getting a shot.”

As the Cup defenders, Team NZ determine the yacht class and the conditions of entry each boat must meet to compete. The teams then work on additional design features for their 75ft foiling monohulls.

It was not clear if Spithill was serious or not. Still, it sets the stage for their meeting in this year’s first match race final.

Team NZ and Luna Rossa cannot be knocked out of the top two in the standings, with another three races to come before the decider.

Here’s what you need to know for the final day of racing in the Cup’s third preliminary regatta in Barcelona.

Day four schedule, Monday (NZ time)

Race 13 at 12:10am: Team New Zealand v American Magic

Team New Zealand heads into day four in the lead, with two other boats suffering drama and technical disappointments.

Race 14 at 12:46am: Luna Rossa v Alinghi

Race 15 at 1:22am: Orient Express v Britannia

Match race final at 1:58am: Team New Zealand v Luna Rossa

Team New Zealand are unbeaten after four races with four points onboard their new AC75 Taihoro. They sail in the final after their match-up with American Magic in day four’s first duel.

The Americans, skippered by Aussie Tom Slingsby, have looked fast and notched two wins and two losses, their last to Orient Express costing them a shot at making the final because of a rudder problem.

Team New Zealand are unbeaten after four races in Barcelona’s preliminary regatta.

The Kiwi boat helmed by Peter Burling will be focused on the match race but will want to maintain their dominance against the American team.

“We’re getting more and more confident with what we can do. There are exciting months ahead,” Burling said.

Luna Rossa guaranteed their spot in the decider after beating Britannia on day three and have one race against Swiss syndicate Alinghi before taking on Team NZ.

Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa will contest the match race final of the preliminary regatta in Barcelona.

The Italians are one point ahead of the Americans and their victory against them means they can’t be overtaken in second place. The two leading boats contest the match race final.

The tiebreaker if teams are level on points (one is awarded for each win) is their head-to-head record.

The Italians lost to Team NZ in the match race in the last preliminary regatta in Jeddah last December. Spithill wasn’t in the half-scale AC40 Cup boat helmed by sailing prodigy Marco Gradoni when it nosedived around the final marker to crash out of what had been a close race.

Alinghi are one of the new challengers hoping to finish with a win on day four.

Spithill does have history with Team NZ, racing against them in the Cup’s last three match races – in 2013 (San Francisco), 2017 (Bermuda) and 2021 (Auckland) – and led the famous comeback win to beat the Kiwis in San Francisco.

Meanwhile, day four’s penultimate race in Barcelona sees Britannia and Orient Express fight for a point which could be significant for their confidence ahead of the challenger series.

With the Swiss, they occupy the bottom three in the standings on one point each.

The challenger finishing last in next week’s series will be the first eliminated from contention.

This week’s preliminary regatta is the third of the Cup cycle after last year’s events in Vilanova i la Geltrú and Jeddah. The half-scale AC40s were sailed in those competitions.

The Barcelona regatta is the first in which teams are competing in their AC75 boats and is the warm-up event before the challenger series.

None of the points in the preliminary events count towards the challenger series that will determine who races Team NZ in the Cup’s match race in October.

The Kiwis are defending the Auld Mug in Spain after winning the last two editions in Auckland and Bermuda.

Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta

Standings after day three: Team New Zealand 4, Luna Rossa 3, American Magic 2, Britannia 1, Alinghi 1, Orient Express 1.