Youth America’s Cup, the duel is always Luna Rossa – American Magic!

Unicredit Youth America’s Cup, the “youth America’s Cup” on the AC4o flying monotypes, has begun in Barcelona.
On the first day, two races under threatening skies and with a stiff breeze for the first six competing teams, those in Group 1 (where the six crews representing America’s Cup teams are represented, namely Italy, France, Switzerland, Great Britain, the United States, and New Zealand). Good debut for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, which won the first race and finished second in race 2.

America’s Youth Cup – Race 1

Hours of waiting for the wind, finally the boats started at 5:38 p.m. a nice tight air for the first race of the day.
While New Zealand takes a penalty for crossing the line early, immediately Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli takes the lead and holds firmly with a lead over American Magic always over 200m.
As the wind increases to 16 knots, so do the waves and the acrobatic numbers of these fantastic AC40s with Gradoni, Ugolini, Colaninno and Falcone showing a clear superiority over all the other crews, with quite a few acrobatic numbers, some splash downs promptly recovered (as the boats are very agile), an adventurous turn around the buoy and the enthusiasm of all those who are following the race.
Our people carry the boat so well, with such confidence that they deserve the applause of the audience.
It is really nice to witness this first trial in which Marco Gradoni showed great confidence.
He is the only one to have the Jeddah preliminary behind him with a fine 2nd place.
Experience gained At the finish, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli is first with a lead of 1’03” over American Magic and 1’23” over New Zealand.

Race 2

Second trial with ominous and worrying skies.
Only 4 in the race, Italy, Great Britain, USA and New Zealand, and with a start that sees the 4 well lined up on the line.
Wind around 15 knots and wave make for impressive sailing.
Initially the Americans lead but the Italians on the second side take the lead.
New Zealand slows down for a bad splash down but the situation is challenging for everyone.
Americans overtake again and cross the finish line 22″ ahead of the Italians and 2.39 ahead of the British.

• Here are the provisional rankings of the Unicredit Youth America’s Cup

All about the Unicredit Youth America’s Cup

The six AC40 one designs and twelve crews that are engaged here in Barcelona in the Unicredit Youth America’s Cup are based in the Olympic Port, the one built for the 1992 games. But the atmosphere among the docks was completely different than one one harbor and mile to the west, where the America’s Cup team facilities are located.
Here at the ‘young’ harbor, fans and supporters roamed the docks, talked to crews, took photos, collected selphies, totally experiencing the excitement that the event created.
With thousands of supporters arrived to follow the races, not only from Europe but from North America and ‘down under’.
The result is that special party atmosphere that only sport can generate. In the presentation of this 37th America’s Cup, the New Zealanders and the British (Challengers of Record) had specified that each America’s Cup team would also have to purchase a smaller hull than the one in which they would race the selection races, namely an AC40 (length 11.80m).
With this scaled-down version of a monohull with two foil-equipped booms, the challengers were first to participate in the approach regattas and then make them available for these two events in Barcelona for the youth and women.
Preliminary regattas were held in September 2023 in Vilanova i La Geltrù, Catalonia, with little wind, and in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between October and November 2023, where the regattas featured fair winds.

The regattas

The racing format calls for competitors to be divided into two groups, each of which will have the six boats owned by the six America’s Cup teams available to race.
Group 1 includes the six crews representing the America’s Cup teams, namely Italy, France, Switzerland, Great Britain, the United States, and New Zealand.
Group 2, on the other hand, contains the six crews that have been invited, namely Spain, Holland, Sweden, Germany, Canada, and Australia.
The crews swap boats because, in addition to the Cup teams, only the Swedish team could have du its own AC40 (on which it trained).

Youth America’s Cup – The Boats

Each of these foil-equipped hulls is manned by four crew members, with a helmsman and a trimmer in sunken positions on each of the two sides.
This makes a total of 48 people, who by regulation must be under the age of 25. However, it is interesting to note that out of all the participants to race on these AC40s, 46 men are certain and we may see 2 women on board as well.
One of them is Alessandra Stadler, who lives between Peschiera and Verona, races for Circolo Vela Torbole and should be aboard Alinghi, the Swiss boat.
The other is Maru Schell of the AC Germany team, who at the press conference said she would be helming but was not given among the crew of her boat this morning.

The Italian team with the Gradoni phenomenon

The Italian crew lines up the two helmsmen Marco Gradoni, who until a few months ago always trained on the AC75 Luna Rossa, and Gianluigi Ugolini, and the two trimmers, Federico Colaninno and Rocco Falcone.

The boats will compete in fleet races over four days, and four fleet races per day are scheduled for each of the two groups of six boats.
At the end, the best three crews from each of the two groups will meet in a final of four races, also fleet races.
A final match race between the two best-ranked teams is scheduled for day 26. From our correspondent in Barcelona Ida Castiglioni