Day two of racing for the Puig Women’s America’s Cup brought lots of smiling faces from the Group B teams as they docked in after four exhilarating races across a changing course. Winds were slow to fill in at the start of the day and the teams battled as the breeze shifted to the left as the day progressed, creating challenges for the teams to stay up on their foils.
Racing had onlookers enthralled as splashdowns saw plenty of lead changes across the four races, with those executing clean maneuvers while staying on their foils rewarded and gaining the crucial points needed to help them progress to the semi-finals.
The standings from the end of day two in Group B leaves Jajo Team Dutch Sail in the lead with 27 points, Sail Team BCN in second place with 24 points and Andoo Team Australia in third with 23 points. While these three teams lead it is still all to play for with only 2 points separating them from fourth place holder Swedish Challenge Powered By Artemis Technologies who have 21 points.
Image: Nic Douglass
The Group A race day on the 7th of October also saw a challenging breeze with the entire fleet falling off their foils in the second race at the first leeward gate. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Athena Pathway were the first to get airborne again with the former able to continue on to hold the lead and win the first race of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup.
The Italians continued an impressive show of skill throughout the day battling strong winds up to 18 knots and unpredictable sea states with the team at some points reaching over 40 knots.
Image: Ian Roman
In the Group A standings Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli are currently leading the charge with 33 points, Athena Pathway in second with 29 points with a gap of 11 points between the top two and third place, Emirates Team New Zealand who sit at 18 points.
Tomorrow will see Group A and B heading out for a big day on the race track with both groups scheduled to complete their last four qualifying races to decide who will progress to the semi-finals. Group B are set to start race 5 at 11:00 with the timings for the subsequent races to be confirmed. Group A will then follow, aiming to begin their fifth race at 14:00.
