Porro and Gradoni snatch Race 6 win as ETNZ boundary jibe costs at crucial moment

Margherita Porro and Marco Gradoni claimed their third win from six starts in Race 6, and they earned it the hard way. Seven knots of breeze, a wind limit that was touched more than once, and a course the race committee lengthened and rotated repeatedly to chase whatever pressure remained combined to make this the toughest day of racing the regatta had produced. Reading the shifts correctly was everything. Those who managed it were rewarded; those who did not fell away.

By the time Race 6 got under way, teams had already switched to their largest jibs in search of every last fraction of drive from seven to eight knots of wind. Staying on the foils through tacks and gybes was no certainty. The threshold for a safe tack or gybe sits at 24 knots of boat speed, and a number of boats spent lengthy stretches of the race unable to reach it.

Luna Rossa Women and Youth produced a pin-end start that was close to flawless, threading through the support boats and hitting the line with real momentum while much of the fleet was still reaching in from the right. ETNZ's principal boat, co-helmed by Nathan Outteridge and Seb Menzies, got away cleanly and pressed out to the right-hand side of the course, where a pressure lift carried them to the top gate in front.

ETNZ held that advantage through the opening legs, staying disciplined on the right side where conditions were reliably better. Luna Rossa Women and Youth had lost ground after a difficult tack on the first upwind, but the deficit was gradually clawed back. Gradoni called the pressure shifts from the leeward side while Porro drove the boat upwind, and by the second beat the pair had drawn level. ETNZ were squeezed left into a lighter patch of breeze, the rest of the fleet fell away, and the race became a contest between just these two boats.

Luna Rossa's principal boat, co-helmed by Peter Burling and Ruggero Tita, ran a clean and composed race in third but could not find a way to trouble the two leaders. The ETNZ Women and Youth team overcame their troubled start to work their way up into fourth.

ETNZ carried the lead into the final downwind, but the margin was narrow and the breeze was still shifting. A boundary jibe bled speed at precisely the wrong moment, the boat coming high out of the turn and handing Luna Rossa Women and Youth the right side of the course. The Italians took that pressure and did not give it back. ETNZ's recovery jibe came too late. Luna Rossa Women and Youth crossed the line first, with ETNZ 11 seconds behind.

Athena Pathway nearly did not finish sixth. The boat came off the foils on the final jibe and drifted across the finish line rather than sailing across it. Tudor Team Alinghi, still recovering from the Race 5 capsize, finished seventh.

After six fleet races, the top four standings remain unchanged. Luna Rossa Women and Youth lead, followed by the ETNZ principal boat, the Luna Rossa principal boat, and the ETNZ Women and Youth team in fourth. Just one point separates the ETNZ Women and Youth team from fifth-placed La Roche-Posay, and today was not a strong outing for the Kiwi youth crew, coming off the knockback they suffered in Race 5.

At the top of the fleet, Luna Rossa Women and Youth have finished outside the top two just once across all six races. ETNZ have been slightly more variable, with the foil loss in Race 3 leaving a meaningful dent in their points tally. Two fleet races remain before the final, and if the pattern now taking shape holds, it will be Luna Rossa Women and Youth and ETNZ who contest it.

One question that continues to linger is whether GB1 will appear on the water tomorrow, if only to gather some racing experience.