Tudor Team Alinghi made a confident start at the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup Preliminary Regatta off Cagliari, banking enough points across three fleet races to sit fourth overall after day one, level on points with the team in second place.
Paul Goodison, Phil Robertson, Nicolas Rolaz and Pietro Sibello were racing together as a crew for the first time, facing an AC40 fleet that represented some of the toughest opposition the class has seen assembled in one place. Their performance grew steadily across the afternoon, with the boat handled with growing confidence as each race developed.
Conditions off Sardinia offered no favours. Steep chop and building breeze stretched every team to its limits, and several boats paid the price with capsizes or significant errors. Tudor Team Alinghi came through all three races cleanly, returning the AC40 to shore dry and undamaged. For a crew still accumulating experience together, that outcome mattered as much to the shore crew as to the sailors.
The best result of the day came in Race 1, where the Swiss challenger claimed third place, crossing behind the Italian women and youth team and the French. Two fifth-place finishes followed in races where tight margins and unforgiving conditions kept the entire fleet honest.
Race 2 was the most frustrating of the three. Glitches in the onboard tactical software generated boundary penalties that buried the team deep in the fleet before they could properly get racing. The problems were difficult to accept because they originated in supplied equipment rather than the crew's own decisions, yet the team steadily recovered and remained competitive as the race developed.
Skipper Paul Goodison came ashore in high spirits, offering a candid assessment of everything the day had thrown at them.
"I think we've had a good day. At the time, it felt like there was plenty going on, plenty going wrong, bits to repair and a near capsize; it was full of excitement. But coming back in, it was probably one of the most fun days I've had racing in a long time. So, I'm super happy, and the team did a great job today. Obviously, we have a lot to work on. For our first time out there in that much wind as a new group, I think we did okay."
LEADERBOARD – DAY 1 – paste into WordPress Classic Editor > Text tab
| Louis Vuitton PR1 Sardinia – Leaderboard After Day 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Team | Points |
| 1st | Luna Rossa 1 – Women & Youth | 29 |
| 2nd | Luna Rossa 2 Principal | 20 |
| 3rd | Emirates Team NZ – Women & Youth | 20 |
| 4th | Tudor Team Alinghi | 20 |
| 5th | Emirates Team New Zealand | 20 |
| 6th | La Roche-Posay Racing Team | 19 |
| 7th | Athena Pathway | 10 |
| 8th | GB1 | 9 |
Phil Robertson put the day into context by recalling how far the team had come since the previous day's practice session, and was straightforward about the Race 2 disruption.
"The first race was fantastic. Yesterday, during practice, we were clearly the slowest boat on the racecourse, so to work hard overnight and then come out and be competitive, fighting for the lead and racing inside the top three, was really cool. It was a nice confirmation that the hard work is paying off. We had a few strange software issues during Race 2, which was unfortunate because that's supplied equipment."
Swiss trimmer Nicolas Rolaz pointed to the team's growing cohesion under pressure, given how little time they had spent together on the water before racing began.
"We're pretty proud of what we achieved today. We made some costly mistakes and had some penalties, but in these conditions, everybody was making mistakes. We have to remember we really haven't sailed much together before today, so overall it was a solid effort from the team."
With Tudor Team Alinghi sitting level on points with second place overall after day one, the fleet heading into Saturday's racing looks tight from top to bottom.
