Luna Rossa is manoeuvring nicely

Italian challengers Luna Rossa have made the bold claim they are ahead of their rivals in boat handling as America’s Cup action gets set to be real in Auckland.

The start of the world series warm-up regatta is just over two weeks away, set to run from December 17-20 on the Waitemata Harbour. With teams getting to grips with their recently launched second versions of the 75-foot foiling monohulls, attention has switched from straight speed to handling high-paced turns in the tricky craft.

Luna Rossa co-design co-ordinator Martin Fischer feels his boat and team have found an early advantage in this key area.

Mistakes during tacks and gybes, or rounding marks, will prove expensive. Boats dropping off their foils will instantly lose major distances on their rivals in these match-racing situations.

Fischer has done a lengthy interview with French yachting site Tip & Shaft, running through design differences amongst the four teams.

It was all highly technical but when he was asked to conclude about the relative performances of the teams leading into the world series regatta, he was a little cagey before signalling that he felt Luna Rossa had a key edge.

‘‘It’s very hard to say, because we can’t line up with the others,’’ Fischer told Tip & Shaft.

‘‘The only thing we have seen is the quality of manoeuvres and I would say for the moment we have an advantage. Our manoeuvres are carried out perfectly.

‘‘That is very important, as if you are clear about your manoeuvres, you can afford to change tack for tactical reasons, while if you find it hard, you avoid that as much as you can.’’

He pointed out the relevance of the looming regatta and the five days of practice on official courses before it.

‘‘The ACWS [world series regatta) will be very important as will the few days of training before the event. I think everyone will be doing their utmost to find out where they are, because if you have a deficit somewhere, you need to know as soon as possible,’’ Fischer said.