PHOTOS – America’s Cup, crescent moon in the Gulf of Cagliari. Helm debut for Gradoni

The first two outings at sea had not been idyllic, with some minor physiological technical problems (especially in the second training session aborted prematurely), but the men of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli know well that the first rule of the America’s Cup is that time cannot be bought. The third outing then was the good one, the one where the new Luna Rossa began to show its potential and characteristics, net of the fact that the boat’s true performance is still all to be developed and discovered when the new foils arrive.

A day characterized by an initially light breeze that later increased to 15 knots, with Luna Rossa completing a program with many maneuvers on the foils and several successful “takeoffs.”

AC 75 Luna Rossa, here’s how the third training outing went

Official reports from the spy team tracking Luna Rossa tell of an initial takeoff, without towing, carried out with 8-9 knots of wind, with the boat coming off the water when it hit 16 knots of speed, managing to record a maximum speed of 35 upwind in an initial tack that lasted a few minutes, before deciding to switch to a smaller jib as the wind increased.

In the second “flight,” again with autonomous takeoff this time in 10-12 knots of wind, Luna Rossa performed the first turns and gybes on the foils, which were executed without difficulty and showed excellent control and efficiency in these medium-light wind conditions. During the afternoon, the wind increased to 15 knots, with Luna continuing to sail by performing several maneuvers, of takeoff, tacking and gybing on foils, and resting starting upwind. The top speed that would be recorded at the carriers with 15 knots of wind was 43 knots.

The lineup that Luna Rossa showed was also interesting, with James Spithill being the permanent helmsman on board and Marco Gradoni taking over from Francesco Bruni in the second half of the day. Andrea Tesei and Umberto Molineris were once again the trimmers, with the cycling group instead fielding Bruno Rosetti, Enrico Voltolini, Cesare Gabbia, and Emanuele Liuzzi (later replaced by Luca Kirwan).

A distinctly positive balance of the day, as also confirmed by the crew’s statements at the dock, but one thing should always be remembered: Luna Rossa is still sailing with the foils from the last America’s Cup, the boat’s performance at the moment does not matter much then, because it is likely to be increased significantly with the new appendages that will arrive. The most important thing at this stage is to become familiar with the new boat and test its reliability.

For this edition of the Cup, syndicates will only be allowed to build one pair of foils, plus a spare appendage. Here too, as in the hull, it will be forbidden to make mistakes then, and it will be very interesting to see what kind of appendages Luna Rossa will display.

Mauro Giuffrè