The silver and red boat, which was launched in Auckland at the weekend, should do the fashion house Prada credit, at least visually. It is the fourth and, for the time being, last AC72 currently in the water. The Italians had the cat built in New Zealand and will also be training on site with Team New Zealand over the next few months.
Sponsor Patrizio Bertelli, who already won the Louis Vuitton Cup here in Auckland in 2000, commented on the event calmly: "It's our fourth challenge and probably the most revolutionary compared to the previous ones." The Italians arrived late and concluded a strategic pact with the Kiwis to co-operate on design and construction and now also on training, with comparative races to be held off Auckland.
"Our aim is to get to the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup so that we can fight each other to the death," continued Bertelli "We have two virtually identical boats, which helps both sides. This makes comparisons and improvements easier than in isolation."
And it is precisely this that is particularly upsetting for the third challenger team, the Swedes from Artemis, who not only seem to have major technical problems and have not yet been able to sail a single day with their AC72, but who also have no training partner. And the rules stipulate that teams are not allowed to bring a second boat into the game until February 2013.
"We continue to believe that the jury is allowing these teams to circumvent the rules for training that have been written into the protocol since 2000," said Paul Cayard, head of the Artemis syndicate. "What Patrizio is announcing is exactly what our team and Oracle Team USA claimed in the protest last February. But the jury found that nothing useful could be observed about the design and sail performance, so the deal was upheld." It's still a long time until the first race of the Louis Vuitton Cup, but behind the scenes there's a lot of arguing going on again. So it's like always with the America's Cup.
Data Luna Rossa
Hull length: 22 m
Width: 14 m
Wingmast height: 38 m
Draught: 4.40 m
Displacement: 5,900 kg
Crew: 11
Wing sail area: 260 square metres
Jib: 80 square metres
Gennaker: 320 square metres
Top speed cross: 25 kn (estimated)
Topspeed space sheet course: 42 kn (estimated)
Employees: 300
Man hours: 52,000
Titanium consumption: 500 kg
Length of standing and running rigging: 2000 m
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