The New Zealand military parade in the America’s Cup is over. Goodbye to the feared historic beating in the matchfinal race in Barcelona between Team New Zealand, which had won the first four races, and Ineos Britannia. The British squad transformed this Wednesday into a dominating team on the water and suffocated the Defender when it aspired to finish the day 6 to 0 and with the Hundred Guineas Jug to play (the first to reach seven wins wins). It wasn’t like that. The British caused the New Zealand AC75 to lose flight in the pre-start of the initial race and kept it at bay in a very tight second race after making a brilliant start. Add your first two points. 4 to 2. There is an end.
Bleddyn Con, the British flight controller, warned and he was right. The waves will be a little higher and things are going well for us, he said, and the briskness of the sea in Barcelona, with one meter high, propelled the British team to heights never seen before in the final on Wednesday. “Maybe these conditions have leveled things out a bit. I think we have improved,” defends Rob Wilson, the Ineos coach. The results support it.
The first regatta was a ghost. With the pre-start (the three minutes prior to the start in which the sailboats take position) launched, the British team caused the New Zealanders to lose their flight for the first time in this final with their preferred trajectory. The image of Ineos constantly approaching the Kiwis before starting to prevent his rival from taking flight again evoked the image of that boxer who continues to hit his rival on the canvas to ensure that he does not get up.
He succeeded, because Ineos started the race while Team New Zealand languished on the water looking for a gust of wind to lift them. It was a true British ride, the most unequal regatta to tie the final. The race, however, left a question mark for Ineos because of the 1,800 meters of advantage they gained due to the Kiwi error, they reached the finish line with 1,180, although in conditions of great advantages it is common not to push the boat to avoid mistakes.
The second race was very exciting, without a doubt one of the best of the competition. Angered by what had happened minutes before, Team New Zealand stuck to Ineos in the pre-start to condition their trajectory, but Ben Ainslie, the four-time Olympic champion and British helmsman, escaped and once again started the regatta ahead. Unlike what happened on the first day, this time he did not leave any loopholes and always stayed ahead, repeating the rival’s maneuvers to throw dirty wind at him (air turbulence that prevents the boat that receives it from optimal performance). An error in a maneuver reduced the distance to less than 100 meters in the penultimate leg of the eight established for the regatta and the British fans held their breath because Team New Zealand falls but always gets back up. He did not arrive in time to complete the comeback to an Ineos Britannia that celebrated its alliance with the waves. There is an end.
