Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge, Blair Duke and Andy Maloney were the dominant team throughout the week, winning five of the eight fleet races. But it came to nothing in the eventual winner-takes-all race finale, with the Kiwi team winning at the start, before demonstrating textbook racing tactics as Luna Rosa led the Prada Pirelli around the course and took the race after a spectacular nose. Around the finish mark, dive by the Italians as they complete the regatta.
Helmsman Nathan Outteridge was delighted: “It’s great, a lot of effort has gone into this, so as a team we’re really happy to get the win that we didn’t get in the last event. It’s been a big team effort, we’ve all got a great team behind us. You see just four of us in the race boat, but this class and this We have a core team behind us who also created the event..
Like a newly discovered sailing secret, Jetta again provided perfect conditions on the final day of racing in the Red Sea. On request, a steady 15 knots from the northwest provided some impressive AC40 action during the race.
With Emirates Team New Zealand having already qualified for the race final yesterday, the first few fleet races were an opportunity for the team to find a rhythm for the final race.
In the first race of the day, Burling and his crew finished third behind NYYC American Magic and the Italians, who showed dangerous pace and sailed into the final race alongside New Zealand’s Emirates team.
The eighth and final fleet race was another battle of the trimmers and their accuracy in jibs. In the end, Emirates Team New Zealand took their fifth win in 8 fleet races.
“It was nice to fix some things in the second fleet race and I felt like we did better than the previous race”. Peter Burling said before the final.
“The waves are kind of a balance between how hard you take it and how easy you take it. Speed in the maneuvers and moving cleanly across the field is a big part of the challenge. We now have one boat to worry about at the start before the final instead of five, so we’ll see how that goes. But, “We will give everything to win the final.”.
Emirates entered the last race in New Zealand on the port side and the Italians on the starboard side.
Burling and Outteridge dominated the early start for the Luna Rosa Prada Pirelli team, leading the Italians to the start line, earning a penalty for overtaking at the start line. But as usual all week, the Italians were always fast and hot on the heels of Emirates team New Zealand. With a 2 second lead at the first top mark and a 1 second delta at the second gate, no inch was given up. The race was decided when the Italians climbed too high in the final stage, causing a huge crash that stopped them dead.
A grinning Outteridge sums up what has been one of the most spectacular races seen in a long time: “The conditions here are very challenging. “It’s what we love as sailors and we were happy to put in some clean laps after the first race and then we sailed with more precision and speed to finish that final against Prada.”.
“Typical beer advocate. Future teen idol. Unapologetic tv practitioner. Music trailblazer.”