The Copa del América looked like this Monday The Squid Gamethe iconic South Korean Netflix series in which a group of people participate in a survival game where only one person remains standing. With insufficient wind on the coast of Barcelona, the third day of the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals came down to seeing who could stay aloft the longest: the first to fall, lost. Ineos Britannia (United Kingdom) and Luna Rossa (Italy) were the losers. In the end, the organisation ended up cancelling the last two races, which will take place on Wednesday 18th.
The British and Italians reached the fifth race of the best-of-nine semi-finals with a full house of victories. With a four-win lead, they hoped to secure their place in the final, which gives access to the Match Ineos and Luna Rossa lost their flight in a bad manoeuvre against Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland) and American Magic (USA) respectively, and were unable to take off again.
According to the competition rules, races can be held if the wind blows between 6.5 and 21 knots, which is considered sufficient to ensure the flight of the AC75s. The problem is that once the competition has started, it cannot be suspended even if the intensity decreases in the middle of the race. In these cases, as happened in the first race, the teams have up to 45 minutes to complete a course that can be shortened to avoid prolonging the agony.
The opening race between Ineos Britannia and Alinghi Red Bull was like a snail race. A long, slow, windless agony that turned the flying AC75s into drifting boats. The British fell twice and the Swiss fell once when they were leading by a long way with one lap to go. Only the urgency of the Swiss to cross the finish line in time and save their first race was enough to keep the race going. match ball The scene was thrilling. As if in the past, without taking off or lifting off, the Alinghi Red Bull seemed to drag itself across the water and crossed the finish line after an endless 42 minutes. If it had taken three minutes longer, the race would have been declared null and void and they would not have scored any points despite being ahead.
American Magic also escaped elimination, scoring its first point against Luna Rossa. The race was very close until the fifth gate, when the AC75 of the Italian team lost its flight after a bad turn when crossing the buoy. The Americans, aggressive in their close combat, took advantage of this to gain distance and win the race.
After more than half an hour of waiting to confirm the weather conditions, the organisation announced that the two pending races were cancelled and would be held next Wednesday 18th. The wind blew in Barcelona and the last one standing won.
