Great Britain and Italy trade blows on opening day of Louis Vuitton Cup final

Ineos Britannia and Luna Rossa shared the spoils on a fascinating opening day of the Louis Vuitton Cup final, winning one race each in big conditions in Barcelona to set up what should be a gripping week of racing.

Winds of between 18-21 knots – right at the upper wind limit – combined with waves of between 1-1.5 metres made for extremely challenging sailing. But both teams acquitted themselves well, the Italian challenger winning the first race of the day before Ben Ainslie’s British challenger of record bounced back to win the second race and leave the series locked at 1-1.

The first team to seven race wins will go through to face defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in next month’s 37th America’s Cup. Britain has never lifted the Auld Mug – the oldest trophy in international sport – in the competition’s 173-year history.

Ainslie had told Telegraph Sport on Wednesday that the opening day of the series could be “fruity” with the forecast for heavy winds and a choppy sea state. He was not wrong.

Race one: Italians snatch advantage at start

As the boats arrived for the first pre-start, the wind was gusting at more than 20 knots and the boats, equipped with their smallest J5 headsails, were slicing through the waves at well over 40 knots.

As we have seen throughout the challenger series so far, winning the start is paramount. Luna Rossa did a better job in Race 1, hugging the right boundary of the box before heading back up ahead of Ineos, who were late to the line and forced to tack away to escape the Italians’ dirty air.

By the top mark, Britain’s deficit was 11 seconds but hopes were high that they could make that up on the first downwind leg. The predictions beforehand were that these conditions would suit the British boat which has shown a liking for heavier conditions.

Worryingly for British fans, Luna Rossa extended their advantage, and it did not appear simply to be a case of the leading boat getting first pick of the wind shifts. The Italians’ ‘Silver Bullet’ – the nickname given to their boat – actually appeared to be quicker.

It was exceptionally testing, with the foils regularly reaching the point of cavitation at around 50 knots when the surrounding water starts ‘boiling’ due to the difference in pressure between one side and the other. This creates a loss of lift, and instability. But Luna Rossa looked better equipped to deal with it initially, going on to win by 46 seconds and leading to some grim looks on British faces.

“At the moment if I’m honest it feels as if they have the legs on us in this stuff,” Ainslie admitted after the race. “So we need to do a better job at the start because that won’t do it for us.”

Race two: Ineos takes edge on downwind speed

He was as good as his word. After a delay caused by too much wind – not a phrase we have heard much during the challenger series so far – a much more even start to the second race saw the two boats cross together. Britain just about got their noses in front on the left hand boundary  and were able to squeeze that advantage sufficiently that they were able to hit the Italians when they tacked again off the right boundary, giving them their dirty air.

By the top gate they had a seven-second advantage and the race then turned into a mirror image of the first one, with Britain picking the shifts correctly and extending that lead.

Encouragingly, they appeared to have the edge on downwind speed this time, with a final average of 44.8 knots compared with Luna Rossa’s 44.5 knots.

Ineos coach Rob Wilson admitted the team had made “a few little tweaks” to the boat between races.

“We had a good chat with our coaches about what went wrong in the first race, and that certainly helped,” Ainslie admitted later. “And I think we sailed better as well. We were better off the line and managed to get a good jump at the top of the first beat.”

It remains to be seen how the boats compare when the conditions die down but it is already clear that the margins are incredibly tight.

Friday is scheduled to be a reserve day with two races on Saturday and again on Sunday.