That time Luna Rossa disalberated against Paul Cayard.
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Our story starts in Auraki Gulf, Auckland, New Zealand. It is January 5, 2000, the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup are taking place in New Zealand waters, and the menu for the day includes the challenge between Luna Rossa and America One. De Angelis and Torben Grael choose to start in left field, Paul Cayard and John Kosteki go to the right. The boats are sailing at almost identical speeds, very few meters difference, at one point, with only 13-15 knots of wind, Luna Rossa’s mast collapses. Giving way is one of the starboard diagonals that leaves the mast no chance. Because of that incident Luna Rossa almost didn’t make the top two boats in the semifinals and was eliminated, but we all then know how that turned out. The narrative serves to explain that disembarking is a normal mishap, surmountable even in critical situations such as a Louis Vuitton Cup semifinal.
THE DISMASTING OF CAGLIARI
As is obvious, Luna Rossa’s dismasting in Cagliari (read HERE) made noise. The more the Italian team seeks privacy, the more fans and curious people increase their attention, and it is obvious that at the first public photo of Luna Rossa with the mast in the water the news flooded the web. All normal. How normal is what happened in the water. Having plenty of time to sail before official races means having the opportunity to take the boat under stress to explore its limits, even with the possibility put on the line of breaking something to figure out what better solutions can be adopted. From the photos released by the team, and those circulating on the web, it is noticeable among other things, at least apparently, that the tree is healthy along most of its length. The feeling is that it fell backward and not broke, rather than a problem with a rigging it seems more likely to be a defect in the forestay. In short, the balance of this incident for the men of Luna Rossa could be more positive than negative: experience made, criticality identified, boat brought toward its limit, and possible solutions identified to make it more efficient. Of course, there is also a downside.
As the class rule in step 5 states each team has 3 trees (One Design component). Breaking one therefore puts some pressure on the design team and the sailors, and it is therefore logical that a repair will be attempted, which by the way, as described above, seems more than plausible. The date circled in red on the calendar is April 23, the opening day of the Cagliari World Series, the America’s Cup appetizer races. Luna Rossa will be forcibly grounded for a few days, but we are sure that on April 23 Luna will have every intention of making a good impression in front of her fans.
Mauro Giuffrè
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