Patricio Bertelli actually wanted to give up the America's Cup adventure. But now the Prada man wants to give it another go. Following the announcement by his skipper Francesco de Angelis that he would be making another attempt to win the Cup in 2007, he surprised everyone with the news that he had signed up a large part of the former OneWorld team from Seattle.
OneWorld took third place in the Louis Vuitton Cup after points were deducted for espionage and eliminated Prada from the competition. The helmsman was the Australian James Spithill. The 25-year-old was regarded as the new discovery of the 2003 Cup and has now signed with Prada, bringing along three of the men with whom he caused a furore in 2000 on the Young Australia, which had no chance of success.
Also returning from OneWorld are the American McKee brothers, who won 49er bronze in 2000 and the World Championship title a year later. Jonathan McKee was making a mockery of the mini-transat scene until he was in the lead and had to retire shortly before the finish with a broken mast.
After the trouble with Doug Peterson at the last Cup, Bertelli is now relying on three designers. The Italian Claudio Maletto was on the team in 2003, Bruce Nelson also comes from OneWorld, and Roberto Biscontini most recently worked for Oracle BMW.
Prada has not yet officially registered for the America's Cup. But the team is the first to have already set up its training camp in Valencia.
