America’s Cup: Mistakes cost Team New Zealand on first day of Youth America’s Cup

Waiting on the wind has been a theme of the America’s Cup in Barcelona over the last couple of days.

But when it finally arrived for the start of the Youth America’s Cup, it came to test the young sailors.

Racing was scheduled to begin just after 2pm local time, but didn’t start until more than three hours later.

When they did, they were pushed by winds toward the top end of the limit for the AC40s and big swells, with Emirates Team New Zealand having a mixed day to finish third and fourth in the two races.

The Youth America’s Cup group stages are being contested in AC40 fleet races, with Group A featuring the six teams competing in the America’s Cup proper, and Group B comprised of invited nations.

All six teams are on the course at once, picking up points depending on position. The top three teams in each group then advance to the next round after eight fleet races.

Four races were scheduled for opening day, but only two were completed.

Team NZ finished the day fourth on the leaderboard with eight points, behind American Magic (17 points), Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (17) and British entry Athena Pathway (8).

Team NZ ended on the wrong side of the 8 point tiebreaker, which sees the team with the better finish in the most recent race put ahead of those it is tied with.

Orient Express-L’Oreal Racing Team (France) and Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland) only completed one of the day’s two races, withdrawing from the second due to technical issues and being awarded four points each.

The French were disqualified from race one for going outside the boundary but were awarded four points by the race committee after it was deemed the team should have been instructed not to race. That saw the French tie the British and New Zealand boats on eight points, and the Swiss at the bottom of the standings with six.

The day got off to a bad start for the Team NZ crew of Leo Takahashi, Seb Menzies, Oscar Gunn and Josh Armit, who were over the starting line early in race one and had to restart, which put them behind the fleet.

They recovered well and made their way through the fleet to finish third, with the Italians and Americans duelling at the front of the pack.

In a four-boat second race Team NZ beat out American Magic and Luna Rossa to the first mark as the boats got up to 44 knots downwind.

However, a splashdown midway through the second leg gave the Kiwis work to do as the Italians took over in front.

Ultimately Team NZ couldn’t recover, finishing fourth behind American Magic, Luna Rossa and Athena Pathway.

The youth regatta will resume tonight (NZ time), with two more Group A races and two Group B races scheduled. The Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals also resume early tomorrow morning.

Standings after two of eight races

American Magic 17 points

Luna Rosa Prada Pirelli (Italy) 17

Athena Pathway (Great Britain) 8

Emirates Team New Zealand 8

Orient Express-L’Oreal (France) 8

Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland) 6