Luna Rossa vs. Ineos Team UK: all that matters now is winning

This time we start in earnest, this time there is no more pre tactics to preserve, and the points at stake will be heavy. This time they go on the water to play for the Prada Cup and the right to challenge, in March 2021, Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup.

The first scheduled regatta is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. New Zealand time, when it will be 3:15 a.m. in the Italian night. Official live Youtube broadcasts on the America’s Cup channel, RAI and Sky, however, will begin as early as about 2:50 a.m. It starts with American Magic versus Ineos, continues and ends the day with the British versus Luna Rossa.

A little less than 24 hours ago, the official skippers’ press conference was held, attended not only by Race Director Ian Murray but also by Max Sirena, Therry Hutchinson and Ben Ainslie. Also on the call was Patrizio Bertelli, who missed no opportunity to displace the audience with his sharp opinions, “There is no doubt that if we win the Cup the AC 75 will stay,” thundered the Prada patron, wishing you good luck to all the skippers, “they are all my friends.”

“We are ready for anything,” said Max Sirena, ” to race with the steering wheels or without, we are ready for anything,” he responded to the question calling him out on the steering wheels issue. And indeed that Interpretation 072 (1 ) is a troublesome affair for Luna Rossa. In fact, within days of the start of the regattas, she was forbidden to race without steering wheels, a choice the Italian team had made to reduce the rig’s drag. The Arbitration Panel stated that since the steering wheels are a one design component of the mast and its limb, they should remain in place. Verisimilarly, the Italian team has invested time and resources in this solution, which, at least apparently and barring resounding solutions, it will not be able to use. Sets of sails designed for racing without flyers are unlikely to be deployed, unless invasive modifications are made, with the flyers in tension for reasons of geometry and different sail profiles between use with and without flyers. In short, this is something Italians would gladly have done without, but in fact it does not undermine anything. In fact, Luna Rossa has also sailed extensively during these two years of preparation on steering wheels; in short, this is certainly nothing new.

Ben Ainslie was the special observer at the press conference: he showed confidence and almost swagger. “We have improved a lot, every day we are improving, we are convinced we are competitive in medium and strong wind, but we also want to see where we are in light wind, we are convinced we are doing well.” The Englishman definitely seems to be on the warpath, and tonight Luna Rossa will find out how dangerous Big Ben can be. Certainly it is from a technical point of view the strongest opponent in this Prada Cup for ours. Net of boat speeds, and without taking anything away from Den Barker, Ben Ainslie is by far the most successful sailor in this Cup, and if his boat were also fast, it will not be easy to manage his competitive wrath.

Just a few more hours and we will have answers. The winner of the 4 round robins, which do not end until Jan. 24, will go directly to the Prada Cup final; the other two will compete in a best-of-4 race semifinal. Instead, the finals will be best of 7, Feb. 13-22, the same format as the America’s Cup, which instead will be March 6-21.

Mauro Giuffrè

In the meantime, we at the Sailing Newspaper are preparing. In fact, Il Giornale della Coppa will also return with the regattas, which for this first phase of the Prada Cup will go live every day after the regattas at 1 p.m. on our Youtube channel and on Facebook (with all episodes also visible in the events area of Milan Yachting Week) .

On January 15 we will have Luca Bassani, founder of Wally, and journalist David Ingiosi… And this is just “the appetizer”: over the course of the episodes, to name a few, we will have guests such as Gabriele Bruni, Fabio Pozzo, Martina Orsini, Maelle Frascari, Vittorio Bissaro, Claudia Rossi, Francesco Ettorre… Along with of course our “hosts” Bacci Del Buono and Mauro Giuffrè, and there will be no shortage of contributions from New Zealand. As always, we will answer questions from the audience and all curiosities.

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