America’s Cup 2021: How the world reacted to the third day of the World Series regatta

The New Zealand team took the America’s Cup World Series yesterday, but it wasn’t easy.

On a tough day, with light and turbulent winds, they battled arch rivals American Magic, before winning by a significant margin, then took a win over Luna Rossa.

They were behind in both races before coming back, with crazy competition against the Italians, as both boats were submerged in their foils for an extended period, at one point dragging at six knots.

This is how the world media reacted to the third day of the America’s Cup World Series.

‘Tortuous day on the water’

The UK Telegraph described Sir Ben Ainslie’s experience as another torturous day on the water.

“They seemed to have turned a corner on Friday, showing reasonable boat speed and staying on their foils for the most part.

“But they are really struggling with their light-air maneuvers, and the uneven conditions on Saturday (7-13 knots) didn’t sit well with them at all.

“After a late change from the racecourse higher up the Rangitoto Canal to make the most of the breeze that was there, Ineos Team UK lost both of their races, to American Magic and Luna Rossa, by large margins, and their Britannia boat was frequently crashing of his foils. during the maneuvers. Now they are six defeats of six “.

“It was a difficult day,” Ainslie admitted. “We’ve been talking for a while about the lighter airs we’re struggling in. There’s a lot to consider in terms of where we’re going wrong. The other three teams are certainly doing a better job than us. So we have to figure it out and figure it out. fairly quickly. All the ships stopped [ie fell off their foils], but some more than others “.

“Ineos Team UK has been extremely aggressive with their design, but now there is no time to make radical changes to the boat ahead of the Prada Cup Challenger Series which begins on January 15th.

“It’s probably unlikely to do a serious hull modification in terms of the amount of time it would get us out of the water,” Ainslie admitted. “As we have seen, every hour in the water right now we are making big profits. So I think it is unlikely that we will make any modifications to the hull. But we certainly have to look at all the other areas where it can make a profit. We are struggling. for range in particular, at slower ship speeds. “

Regatta full of surprises

It has been a race of surprises, wrote Richard Gladwell for Sail-World.com

“Each of the three days has tasted a different quality of the class and of those who sail it.

“On Thursday the first day of the race was about speed.

“On Friday, the second day focused on fast racing skills and strategy.

“Today (Saturday) was about flight control. Those who stayed in the air the longest prevailed over those who did not.”

‘Take the British home’

There’s even the slightest hope that they can get even better, but the first victim in the America’s Cup still appears to be Britannia, Ineos Team UK’s AC75, writes Paul Lewis.

“There’s a glimmer of hope, the mods and more time on the water will help even more, but you still have a feeling they might as well load up Eckford’s Otter with some cases of beer and do a massive whakapohane on Team NZ before heading off. A friendlier waters.

“Maybe this analysis is too harsh, but they are clearly the slowest ship.”

‘We have time’

“The important thing is that the Cup will not be played tomorrow,” Spithill said of the current advantages of the New Zealand team.

“As challengers, we have time. What we have is that we can race together collectively, and the defender cannot. What we have already seen or noticed is that at any moment we can line up with another boat, especially compete with another boat, that’s where big profits are made.

“From a technical and design point of view, all teams are going to do their best to be faster, so we have a lot of work to do. Do I think we can close the gap? I do.”

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