The Italians, who won the Louis Vuitton Cup as rookies off Auckland in 2000 and with it the right to challenge for the Cup, have thus returned to the place of their triumph. "It's nice to be back in New Zealand after some of us have spent five years of our lives here," skipper Max Sirena was quoted as saying by the press office. "We want to train alone for ten days first and then sail races against Team New Zealand to get a bit of a competitive atmosphere. We have to make good use of the time because we are practically starting from scratch with the AC 45."
Of course, zero is rather relative, as the Italians sponsored by Prada are well-funded and have not been lax in hiring competent sailors. Firstly, there is the Brit Chris Draper, a former 49er world champion and until recently helmsman of the underfunded Team Korea, with whom he sailed sensationally in last year's America's Cup World Series. The Italians then brought Paul Campbell-James on board, who has already been very successful in the Extreme 40 series (for The Wave, Muscat and Luna Rossa, among others). He is joined by match race specialist Francesco Bruni and Matteo Plazzi, both veterans of previous Cup campaigns.
According to Sirena, the large vehicle, the AC 72, is currently being produced in Italy and is to be shipped to New Zealand for assembly and further training. This seems to have split the four certain Cup contenders into two camps. On the one side, defender Oracle Racing and the official challenger from Sweden, Artemis Racing. On the other, Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa. Only time will tell whether one of the smaller and financially weak ACWS teams will join this illustrious quartet.
