Sir Ben Ainslie will have a lot of soul-searching to do after his INEOS Team UK fell four-nil down to Luna Rossa in the Prada Cup final.
“A tough day and we’re not happy with it,” Ainslie said of race day two on Sunday.
“We can sail a hell of a lot better than that.
“We just gave two races to those guys off the start line. We made too many so we have to go away, regroup and really get our act together for Wednesday and come out swinging.”
Luna Rossa appeared slick in winning the first two races of the Prada Cup final on Saturday and again sailed almost flawless races Sunday in protecting fragile leads.
“We’re very happy for the team, we’re very happy for Italy, we’re going well,” Bruni said. “But we have to keep focused, the focus has to be high.
“We can feel the cheers of the Italians behind us but we have to think of our job, execute well our job and we to have use tomorrow and the day after to keep improving.”
The British will have more time to rethink their tactics now racing on Wednesday has been postponed due to Auckland's coronavirus outbreak.
Luna Rossa helmsman Francesco Bruni called the first race of the day “the first real match race” of the regatta.
INEOS Team UK had the advantage of port entry but a misstep allowed Luna Rossa to cross the line with a narrow advantage which enabled it to defend the right-hand side of the course for the rest of a tight race.
The British team concentrated in the pre-start on pursuing Luna Rossa and attempting to gain a “hook,” or overlap, which would give it right of way.
But Luna Rossa slipped the noose, crossed the line first and immediately tacked away to take control of the right.
“We made a mess of the start, we got a bit greedy going for the hook,” Ainslie said.
“With these match race starts you can go from hero to zero pretty quick and we got that one wrong.”
With its narrow advantage over the line and an apparent edge in upwind speed Luna Rossa was able to control the first leg, tacking on top of Team UK which stayed phase.
Near the top of the first leg, Luna Rossa stretched out while Team UK put in an extra tack and the Italian boat rounded the mark with a 9 second lead.
Team UK might have been quicker downwind but Luna Rossa was able to retain control.
Britannia’s mishap in the second race again furnished Luna Rossa with an early lead which it was able to defend in a more commanding victory.
SHARE ME