America’s Cup: Luna Rossa dominate – the Azzurri get into the Cup spirit

The scenes of jubilation in the Gulf of Naples this Sunday, both on the water and on land, offered another wonderful taste of what is to come in Italy next year: A celebration of sailing and the America’s Cup! Team Luna Rossa is sailing from victory to victory in the pre-regattas for the 38th America’s Cup. After following their success in their own training grounds off the coast of Cagliari in May The Azzurri have now also won their second pre-season race on the smaller AC40 foiling boats.

On course for the America’s Cup: thrilling sailing against the backdrop of Vesuvius

For the first time, the nine crews from six teams competed against one another in the new America’s Cup race area. Light and shifty winds caused delays to the start, particularly on the first but also on the last of the three race days in Naples. However, these were at least partly due to the late September fixture. The Challenger Series for the 38th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup and the Cup Match itself will take place next year from 22 May until the end of July.

In the Gulf of Naples, the final Sunday of the second pre-regatta saw another thrilling display of sailing on the AC40 speedsters against the backdrop of Vesuvius. The La Roche Posay Racing Team seized its chance, following the two capsizes on Friday and on Saturday to step it up once again. Bleu-Blanc-Rouge scored points in the last two races, races seven and eight on Sunday, finishing third and second respectively.

Quentin Delapierre, Diego Botin, Jason Saunders and Flo Trittel were once again incredibly fast. Had it not been for the two capsizes, the Franco-Spanish quartet could well have challenged Emirates Team New Zealand for the second place in the final. Even one fewer capsize – such as the one they had to abandon whilst in the lead on Saturday, for example – would have made a difference, given they were eight points behind the Kiwis. “It’s our best result since the start of the campaign,” noted coach Philipp Mourniac.

The La Roche-Posay Racing Team shines through after two capsizes

The French thus finished the preliminary regatta in third place with 48 points, ahead of four teams tied on 44 points each: ARC Team USA, Emirates Team New Zealand Women & Youth, Luna Rossa 2: Women & Youth and Tudor Team Alinghi. The Swiss suffered a bitter setback on the final day with two eighth-place finishes. Having moved up to third place the day before, they slipped back to seventh place in the final standings.

The British boats could not manage better than second-last and last place at the first America’s Cup Mini Summit in Naples. Nevertheless, in the final sprint, Dylan Fletcher and his crew on “GB1” (42 points) still managed to finish just ahead of their women’s and youth team, Cobham-Ultra GB2. The senior team managed to improve on the final day with two fourth-place finishes, having experienced technical problems during the regatta.

However, the standout team in this second pre-regatta was Luna Rossa. Helmsman Peter Burling said on Sunday shortly after the victory: “It was a great day for us. We put together three solid races. We worked really well as a team and showed what we’re capable of.” Among the Final results and individual race results Click here.

The winners are the only team in the cup to have a woman in their sailing quartet

With Burling on board, port-side helmsman Marco Gradoni, Maria Giubilei and Gianluigi Ugolini put their foot down on the race course. The two two-time Nacra 17 world championship runners-up and trimmers slotted into the Italian main team just as seamlessly as Youth America’s Cup winner Marco Gradoni. With their crew, the Italians were the only senior team in Naples to have a woman in their starting quartet.

In the final, Luna Rossa defeated the defending champions, Emirates Team New Zealand – with helmsmen Nathan Outteridge and Seb Menzies and trimmers Andy Maloney and Iain Jensen – following a dominant run through the eight fleet races, also put in their place in the match race final. During the pre-start phase, there were some thrilling chase scenes to watch, with both teams having their chances.

Luna Rossa, however, gained the upper hand in the final seconds before the start and once again crossed the starting line with perfect timing, a few seconds ahead of the Kiwis. The Kiwis were unable to challenge this early lead for the rest of the race due to Luna Rossa’s highly focused marking. With a lead of around 250 metres, the Azzurri surged across the finish line, cheering and laughing with joy.

“Today was a big day for our team. We set out on this journey with Pete, Maria and Gigi many months ago. I think we showed the world at this event that we were by far the best.” Marco Gradoni

Luna Rossa’s CEO, Max Sirena, put his team’s success into perspective, saying on Sunday evening in Naples: “On the one hand, this shows that we have an extremely talented team, whose members are perfectly interchangeable in various roles.” Sirena was referring to the fact that, between the preliminary regattas in Cagliari and Naples, the senior team had swapped three of their four sailors – and still managed to win.

"I think Luna Rossa has a great chance of winning the America’s Cup next year." Marco Gradoni

“On the other hand,” said Max Sirena, “it’s a reward for the work we’ve put in over the last few months, whilst running two programmes simultaneously between Cagliari and Naples with the AC75 and the AC40. The crew was exceptional: the standard of our opponents was very high and the race course was anything but easy to read. The new crew line-ups worked just as we’d expected.”

America’s Cup Junior Series: New Zealand and Italy neck and neck

However, this time round, the Kiwis (5th) won the unofficial competition between the three women’s and youth teams from Italy, New Zealand and Great Britain, finishing level on points with the Italians (6th) and ahead of the British team Cobham-Ultra GB2 (9th). The New Zealand Women & Youth Team is led by the 20-year-old skipper and Motten ace Jake Pye.

At the wildly celebrated prize-giving ceremony, there was also a well-deserved tribute to the host city, which all the teams joined in with. Max Sirena said: “Congratulations to Naples, a wonderful city which, as I had expected, gave the event that special something. The support from the Neapolitans definitely gave us a few extra knots.”

Highlights from the final day of the second preliminary regatta for the 38th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup: