The Louis Vuitton Cup Final begins tomorrow with the two finalists Ineos Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli ready to battle it out in the first-to-seven matches from the 26th of September to the 5th of October. The winner will be the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup challenger and will face off against defending champions Emirates Team New Zealand.
In the semi-finals, both Ineos Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team initially held a commanding lead, each four points ahead after the first four races. However, their opponents, Alinghi Red Bull Racing and NYYC American Magic, made comebacks, showing both teams can be beaten.
NYYC American Magic won the fifth, sixth, and seventh races, but Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli secured a crucial victory in the eighth race, earning the fifth point needed to advance to the final. Similarly, Alinghi Red Bull Racing triumphed in the fifth and sixth races, but just missed out in the seventh which allowed Ineos Britannia to clinch their own fifth point to progress to the final.
At the final press conference for the Louis Vuitton Cup Ineos Britannia skipper, Sir Ben Ainslie, commented on the important history of the America’s Cup and its significance to Britain.
“We all know the history of the America’s Cup, we’re a proud maritime nation and the Cup initially started in British waters and very famously we’ve never seen it since, so this is a huge motivation for the team”, said Ainslie.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team helmsman Jimmy Spithill also noted the significance for Italy to bring home the trophy, speaking on his own experience within Italian culture, “There is a real attachment to the ocean and the water, and especially to the America’s Cup”.
Co-helmsman Franceso Bruni continued, “In Italy the America’s Cup is a dream and we’ve been chasing that dream for many years, we have a chance now and we need to use this bullet”.
Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni. Image: Ian Roman
As the top placed challenger in the Round Robin stages of the Cup Ineos Britannia had the call on side of entry for the first match starting. Ainslie commented “Port side entry gets to start ten seconds earlier, normally if both boats get their timing right the port tack boat will get to cross ahead but its condition dependant and everyone has their own opinion on which is better but for us, we will take the starboard entry”.
The conference then moved on to the competition between the two finalists and what they learned in the closely fought semi-final. Speaking first, Jimmy Spithill commented “We just came from a very tough semi final series with what I believe were two evenly matched teams. The brits have done a great job and the jump they’ve made from the preliminary regatta to where they are now they’ve clearly taken a big step up and I expect a fight”.
Spithill finished, “We want to send the challenger into that cup final against the kiwis well prepared to get the job done”.
Ainslie echoed, “It’s going to be a really amazing final and whichever team goes through is going to be battle hardened and ready to have a crack at the kiwis”.
The questions then moved to the floor and both teams were asked on what will be key factors in the final. Bruni started simply stating “It will be about giving your best performance, if we give the best performance we can we’re going to win, if not we’re going to lose. It’s as simple as that.”
Ainslie continued “It’s sport, it’s about everything. That’s the complexity of the challenge that is the America’s Cup and that’s why we love it”.
A question then came on how much each team studies their opponent and how much that information is useful when making strategies and tactics. Spithill summarised that it was very important, and a lot of time is spent by the coaching staff and support team assessing the opposition’s tendencies.
“The racing is kind of developing as we go through this competition. From the prelims to where it is now is like a whole other game, this high of a level and what we are seeing of the teams is changing day by day. We’re seeing new moves and new tactics and I expect that to be the same as we go through the finals” Spithill finished.
Questioned about the biggest challenges faced by the teams now, the playful spirit between the two teams came out as Spithill admitted he hadn’t quite paid full attention to the question, however Ainslie came to his rescue and answered, “Conditions are tricky, changeable everyday, and obviously the competition are a hugely experienced team and we’ve got a massive amount of respect for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. So mother nature and the Italians, that’s what we’re up against”.
Dylan Fletcher, Ben Ainslie, Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni. Image: Ian Roman
The mutual respect the teams have for each other and the long history of sailing both against and with members of the opposing teams was a common thread. Dylan Fletcher, the youngest of the panel competing in his first America’s Cup, was asked about how special it was and the feeling it gave him.
“Sailing against the others is fantastic, a lot of people here won Worlds, America’s Cup’s and Olympic medals and I’m just very happy to be part of this team. The Youth in the Cup as we’ve seen have also been doing an absolutely fantastic job and it shows testament to the future” Fletcher said.
A question was then thrown to the teams on whether it was more of a motivation or pressure to bring home the trophy as neither Italy nor Britain have yet won an America’s Cup. Jimmy stated,” I think pressure is a privilege, to be in a position like this. We don’t feel it as a burden. At any sailing competition you go to there are more Italian fans than any other so that we really try to use it as a competitive advantage and it’s part of the dream”.
Speaking on behalf of his team and country Ainslie said, “It’s a motivation, we’ve talked about the history of the Cup and it started on our waters and that’s why we’re here. It takes a lot of time and a huge amount of teamwork to pull together the expertise and experience, we’ve both matured a lot as organisations and are chasing after the allusive kiwis to try and hunt them down”.
Dylan Fletcher and Ben Ainslie. Image: Ian Roman
With this year replicating the 2021 Prada Cup final with both Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team and Ineos Britannia facing off against each other, a question was put forward to both teams on the difference between the last cup final and this one.
Spithill responded, “Last time we also faced NYYC in the semi’s and then we came through and met Ben and the Brits in the final and here we are again. I think we’ve seen quite a big jump here not just in the class of boat but the teams are also much closer in my view. We saw the defender, I believe, a long way ahead of the challengers, now everyone is much closer. That can only mean great racing and I think it has opened it all up”.
Ainslie agreed and continued “Luna Rossa last year sailed a great series and in certain conditions definitely had the legs on us but this year we feel were much more competitive but it will be what we want it to be, it will come down to the sailing teams in pretty evenly matched boats depending on the conditions and whichever team gets through will have had one hell of a fight and be up for the next fight”.
The final set of races for the Louis Vuitton Cup begin on the 26th and can be followed live from the America’s Cup website.
