WELLINGTON – High winds and harsh reality blew away American Magic’s hope of a fairytale return to the America’s Cup challenger series when Italy’s Luna Rossa won both races Friday on the first day of the best-of-seven semifinals.
The return to competition of the U.S. team’s race boat Patriot only 12 days after it capsized, was holed and came close to sinking during a round-robin race against the Italian team was enough to spark the admiration and imagination of any sporting romantic.
But pragmatism intruded when Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli sailed clinically in tough conditions at Auckland to win the first race by 2 minutes, 33 seconds and the second race by 3 minutes, 7 seconds.