America's Cup trailer instead of motorboat: "Luna Rossa" pulls wakeboarders - video goes viral
YACHT-Redaktion
· 04.09.2023
The video of the America's Cup prototype "Luna Rossa" and wakeboarder Nikolas Plytas has been circulating as a viral hit on Instagram and co. for days. The Greek is pulled by the foiling regatta prototype at an incredible speed. The reel of the action on the Luna Rossa team's account alone already has an incredible 1.9 million views.
Plytas spent around an hour and a half travelling behind the foiler on the Mediterranean Sea in front of the team base in Cagliari. The athlete prepared the project carefully to ensure that everything was perfect: before the wakeboard session, he rode along on the prototype to understand how the boat worked - "an incredible feeling", he said - and to have a clear idea of how and where he needed to position himself, the team wrote in a statement.
Complex challenge for board and rider
During the action itself, the boat and wakeboarder then had to deal with a wide variety of conditions, ranging from light winds and flat seas to a strong breeze with waves. This made the challenge considerably more complex, especially during the turns when the board came out of the wake and reached the highest speeds. Sometimes Nikolas Plytas even overtook the prototype, the team writes.
In addition to a customised and specially designed wetsuit, Nikolas Plytas used a specially made wakeboard. The board was also designed and built by the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team itself to be fast and stable at high speeds. Umberto De Luca, designer at Luna Rossa and responsible for the project, explains: "It's a directional carbon board that is abrasion and impact resistant and has angled edges to be fast while ensuring better grip in turns. After speaking at length with Nikolas to understand his needs, we made it slightly longer than normal to give him a larger surface area and land safely after big jumps."
Wakeboarding behind this boat is a dream come true"
"I've always liked going fast behind the boats and pushing my limits," says Nikolas, "after visiting the base last year and meeting Max Sirena and the team, it seemed like a project I absolutely had to do." Wakeboarding behind this boat is a dream come true for him. However, it wasn't easy on the water: "You can't think at certain speeds, you just do what you have to do almost automatically," says Plytas.
Pre-regattas for the America's Cup start in September
The first pre-regattas for the America's Cup 2024 will start on 14 September in Barcelona. The pre-regattas will take place in a mixed format of fleet and match racing. The first two events will be sailed with the One Design AC40s, so the clear focus will be on the performance of the sailors.
