First point on the board for the spacemen

Luna Rossa carries out her first lonesome lap of San Francisco Bay

In the third one boat match race, a continued part of the fiasco that is this early stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup, Luna Rossa got its first point on the board, sailing the course on San Francisco Bay on its own against a virtual Artemis Racing. The Swedish team continues to carry out tests on its new AC72.

After consulting with the race committee, the Italian team, with Max Sirena as skipper and Chris Draper helmsman, chose to sail the five-leg course, shorter than the 16-mile courses that Emirates Team New Zealand sailed in its first two races on Sunday and Tuesday. In addition to Sirena and Draper, in the crew today were Nick Hutton, David Carr, Simone de Mari, Pierluigi de Felice, Giles Scott, Marco Montis, Lele Marino, Xabi Fernandez and Francesco Bruni.

With the wind at around 13 knots, the Italian team, her crew clad in their silver sailing gear, completed the 12.07 mile course in 28 minutes, 58 seconds, an average speed of 24 knots and reaching a top speed of 36.13 knots.

“Today was pretty light and puffy, but I’m sure we can do a better job,” said Sirena. 

Illustrating the complexity of the AC72, Sirena said they were nearly prevented from racing their multi-million dollar catamaran today. “We had a small issue with the daggerboard system on the right. A $1 piece could've compromised the race, but at the end we managed the breakdown. The little breakdown could've compromised a foiling jibe or even some tacks, but the goal was to finish the race and I’m pretty happy about that.”

The full video replay of the race is down below. You will note that once again there are no sail changes taking place between the upwind and downwind legs.

Finally we may get to see the first 'real' match race in the Louis Vuitton Cup when Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge line up in the first race of the second round robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup.