Second day of racing for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta (PR2) on the Bay of Naples.
No change at the top, but plenty of action, including a second capsize by the French . . . this time heading for a clear win in race 5 La Roche-Posay went in on their final gybe. If they had stayed upright they could have racked up three race wins and been in a very different position going into the final day Sunday.
As it was the senior Luna Rossa team, opened the day with a win and then scored steadily (1, 6, 2, 3) to lead by 8 pts from Emirates Team NZ (8, 2, 3, 2) on 43 pts, with the Swiss Tudor Team Alinghi (2, 3, 5, 7) scoring consistently to move up into third with 38 pts.
With their GB1 boat repaired again, Dylan Fletcher came out for day 2 with a storming performance, even briefly snatching the lead from Luna Rossa, to eventually finish third behind the Swiss in race 3. From there it wandered away (9, 6) until a fourth place in race 6 to leave them firmly last.
The second British boat, Cobham-Ultra GB2 could not match their day 1 performance and a 7, 8, 7, 6, dropped them from fifth to eighth, but ahead of GB1.
Leading race scores Day 2:
Race 3 – 1st ITA 1, 2nd SUI, 3rd GB1
Race 4 – 1st FRA, 2nd NZL 1, 3rd SUI
Race 5 – 1st NZL 2, 2nd ITA 1, 3rd NZL 1
Race 6 – 1st FRA, 2nd NZL 2, 3rd ITA 1
Sunday (27 Sep) is the final day.
There will be two more Fleet races starting at 13:10, then a Match Race final for the top two teams scheduled for 14:27.
1st – Luna Rossa 1 – Team Senior
Peter Burling (helm)
Marco Gradoni (helm)
Maria Giubilei (trimmer)
Gianluigi Ugolini (trimmer)
2nd – ETNZ 1 – Team Senior
Nathan Outteridge (helm)
Seb Menzies (helm)
Andy Maloney (trimmer)
Iain Jensen (trimmer)
3rd – Tudor Team Alinghi
Paul Goodison (helm)
Phil Robertson (helm)
Nicolas Rolaz (trimmer)
Pietro Sibello (trimmer)