America’s Cup spy: which scotch saved Luna Rossa and the youtube commentators cheering Ineos

you want to know all about the America’s Cup in Barcelona and what’s going on at sea, don’t miss our Trial of the Cup and all the news in our “The Cup Newspaper” section.
But if you want to know what goes on behind the scenes of the America’s Cup circus, in the hidden corners of the bases, envies and friendships among sailors, good deeds and snubs, gossip, here you are in the right place.

America’s Cup Spy

Our Barcelona correspondent Ida Castiglioni tells you everything no one else is telling you.
Here is “Spy America’s Cup,” follow it every day!

• Spy America’s Cup, the first installment (a 100-foot Alinghi)
• Spy America’s Cup, the second installment (adieu fromage!).
• Spy America’s Cup, the third installment (Soldini in the Cup?).
• Spy America’s Cup, the fourth installment (Mr. INEOS’s megayacht)
• Spy America’s Cup, the fifth installment (food and wine tips)
• Spy America’s Cup, the sixth installment (the sands of Barceloneta)

Here’s the superscotch saved Luna Rossa

There has been much talk about the tape used by Max Sirena and his men to repair Luna Rossa yesterday (we told you all about it here.
According to our sources, the tape used to wax Luna Rossa was not, as quoted by many, the classic “grey tape” (American tarpaulin tape used extensively on boats, by everyone).
We made two assumptions: one is that it is rather Speed Tape, which is an aluminum tape used to make emergency repairs on aircraft.
All consistent.
These boats fly, don’t they? The second hypothesis, perhaps this the most likely, is of a more classic cuben fiber, dyneema basically in adhesive format, a material used by sailmakers for finishing sails and their repairs.
It comes in sheets or rolls, and has an outer appearance that partly resembles Speed Tape.

Youtube commentators cheer Ineos on

Shirley Robertson, 56, from England, and Glenn Ashby, 47, from Australia, are the two commentators of the live America’s Cup telecast, the one we listen to in the newsroom and which is broadcast by YouTube worldwide.
Except for the United States, where rights holder is the pay television network ESPN. Shirley Robertson and Glenn Ashby[/] They are super-experienced sailors with clear voices and brilliant commentary.
Glenn is often witty and has engaging laughs; Shirley, a beautiful blond woman, is a true supporter of Ineos Britannia and in the finals matches these days has not spared the jokes directed at Luna Rossa and the Italians who cheer for our national team. “How come there are so many Italians, don’t they work?” (Cheering there are just as many Britons.)
Or, with Luna Rossa leading the way at Gate 7 and the Italians at Plaza del Mar cheering in front of the screen, “They celebrate too early!” And many other jokes, nice and sharp.
That being said, Shirley is used to entertaining audiences because she has her own successful podcast in England.
She has been a great sailor and has won two Olympic gold medals: the first in 2000 in Sydney in the Europa Class, the second in 2004 in Athens in the Yngling Class. The Europa Class, 3.35 m long, was born in 1967 from an idea of Belgian builder Alois Roland, became an Olympic boat in Barcelona in 1992 and continued to be used for a few editions of the Games, only to be replaced by the Laser at the Beijing Olympics.
The Yngling class is the women’s version of the Soling class.
This keelboat measures 6.35 m and requires a crew of three.
It was created in 1967 from a design by Norwegian designer Jan Herman Linge and was used by women only at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Worldwide, 2,800 Yngling are still sailing, and many of them (because of the safety provided by the keel) are used to teach sailing to the disabled.
Glenn Ashby, born in Bendigo, Victoria state, is not only an America’s Cup benchmark but one of Australia’s most prestigious sailors.
He has won 17 gold medals in World Championships in a variety of boat classes, from A-Classes to Formula 18s to Tornados.
Glenn has been a key part of New Zealand’s America’s Cup team for more than a decade.
In 2013 in San Francisco he was wing trimmer on the rigid-wing catamaran that missed the Cup by one point.
In 2017 in Bermuda he was skipper of ETNZ when the Kiwis won the America’s Cup on the AC50 that had cyclors on board.
In 2021 in Auckland he was mainsail trimmer of the New Zealand AC75 that successfully defended the prized trophy.

Flags in the wind

Thanks to the Youth America’s Cup (first), and now thanks to the Woman’s America’s Cup, competition continues even for those national teams that were eliminated from the Vuitton Cup.
Here in the harbor, a competition launched decades ago, at the end of World War II, by the American victors, who began raising oversized flags.
Which only works well aesthetically on ships at sea or in very windy places.
Such is the case in Barcelona, where the various consortia display their national flags on very tall poles.

The winner is once again the flag of the United States, with stars and stripes, in the shape of an elongated rectangle, I would say 600 cm by 360, Next, our tricolor, just a bit smaller in size, a 450 cm x 300, towering over our base and visible hundreds of meters away, and the classic Union Jack, hoisted by the Ineos team over the base of Great Britain.
And then, somewhat more modestly sized Swiss, French and New Zealand flags, with the top corner towards the mast occupied by a small Union Jack (indicating Commonwealth membership) and on the navy blue background, representing the Southern Cross, the 4 red stars with white outline.
But next to the Kiwi base flies a second New Zealand flag: it is the huge one, hoisted on the forestay, of Imagine II, Matteo de Nora’s stunning 44 m flash deck sailing yacht, moored along the base’s dock, which goes out every day to watch the challenger races. Update. Today the U.S. flag no longer flies; it has been taken down.
On the other hand, the British people of Ineos have hoisted an even more exaggerated Union Jack.
It may be 600 x 800 cm.
Visible for miles.

Everyone wants this glass

It is likely that there is a lot of research behind this object, the study of the material, the intervention of creatives, designers and graphic designers, and of course dozens of meetings of advertising and marketing agencies with the client.
The result is a very light and stackable tumbler, with a rolled edge as if it were paper, that weighs 19 g and holds up to a pint of beer.
It is made of a beautiful matte aluminum, printed in color: the Coca Cola version features designs in red, which appear to be screen-printed and represent the AC75 and the city of Barcelona.
The Estrella version, for beer, on the other hand, has images in red and turquoise. When you drink a Coke or Estrella beer at one of the bars in the Village Vuitton, which runs parallel to the harbor for 500 meters, in addition to the drink you pay a deposit for the glass.
If you return the glass you get the deposit back, but it almost never happens that someone doesn’t keep it, or at least it only happens to those who, after drinking too many beers, forget their glass on the bar.
And that’s where ingenious kids come in who, if they see an abandoned glass, immediately retrieve it.
And then there are collectors, supporters and family members who, in order to have the object (an ideal gift for those who couldn’t come to Barcelona) stop by the bar systematically, and by now toward evening we see groups of America’s Cup fans walking around with stacks of empty glasses after drinking more than a few beers together.
We end up being forced to invite friends to have a Coke at the Village on one condition, that they give us the glass as a gift.

Spy America’s Cup, all bets

Follow us for more tidbits, trivia and indiscretions from Barcelona in the next installment of Spy America’s Cup.

• Spy America’s Cup, the first installment (a 100-foot Alinghi)
• Spy America’s Cup, the second installment (adieu fromage!).
• Spy America’s Cup, the third installment (Soldini in the Cup?).
• Spy America’s Cup, the fourth installment (Mr. INEOS’s megayacht)
• Spy America’s Cup, the fifth installment (food and wine tips)
• Spy America’s Cup, the sixth installment (the sands of Barceloneta)