Sirena concerned by soured relationship
SAILING
AUCKLAND: Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena is relieved the Prada Cup final will continue today, but feels the extended conflict over the rescheduling has done further damage to an already fractious relationship.
The saga developed an unseemly tone on Wednesday and Thursday, with all kinds of implications conveyed through rival press releases and interviews, and words such as ‘‘honour’’, ‘‘fairness’’, ‘‘respect’’ and ‘‘sportsmanship’’ thrown into the equation.
Something that might normally be hammered out behind closed doors became uncomfortably public, provoking accusations and counterclaims.
Sirena is grateful America’s Cup Events (ACE) backed down from its proposal to reschedule the races to next weekend, which would have also entailed moving the America’s Cup match, but said the process had been avoidable.
‘‘I’m pleased. I thank them [ACE], but it was unnecessary,’’ Sirena said.
‘‘Everyone was ready to go and the teams have been sailing since Tuesday, so it has been hard for me to accept.’’
Sirena also rejected the inference the challenger of record’s stance reflected a singleminded desire to see Luna Rossa progress from the Prada Cup final.
‘‘We are here to race and there was no real reason why we shouldn’t race,’’ Sirena said.
‘‘They always drop on us all this bulls*** about fairness and loyalty. We are the first ones that want to go out on the water, even today. There is no way Luna
Rossa wants to win without even racing.’’
The relationship between ACE and the challenger of record, and by extension Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa, has been difficult for months, with the parties at loggerheads over several different issues, and Sirena does not know if it is repairable.
‘‘For sure, this doesn’t help,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s like having a family where the husband and wife are fighting every day for no reason. So why do you keep staying together . . . for what? It is hard to keep a relationship with someone, hard to have a dialogue.’’
ACE argued it wanted to shift the event dates to have the biggest possible event — hopefully under Alert Level 1 in Auckland — and ACE chairwoman Tina Symmans said on Thursday the economic impact of racing under Alert Level 2 would be significant, with the America’s Cup village closed this weekend, limited patronage in bars, restaurants and cafes and a reduction in domestic tourism.
Sirena agreed it was unfortunate fewer people would be in the village — and no crowds on North Head — but said the global audience was paramount.
‘‘We invest millions in TV productions and the TV contract,’’ Sirena said.
‘‘But now that production and all the TV channels around the world . . . we don’t care about them?
‘‘Before it was the main goal for Grant Dalton and ACE and now you want to postpone a week of racing and tell all the television stations worldwide, ‘I decided not to race this week’.
‘‘It’s like the Australian Open. That’s up and running. Why postpone if you can run the event? We built three different levels of [Covid19] protocols to operate under, which we agreed months ago.’’
He also rejected the idea Luna Rossa had not been respectful to the people of New Zealand, whose diligence around Covid19 enabled this event to be staged.
‘‘You cannot always drop on us, [that] since day one we are the bad guys, the ones that don’t respect the nation,’’ Sirena said.
‘‘I saw a breakfast TV show [this week] with three journalists saying Luna Rossa should leave the country. Really? Is that the game we want to play? Do you know how much money we have invested in this campaign and in this country?’’
Sirena estimated Luna Rossa had added ¤20 million ($NZ33.45 million) to the New Zealand economy since the first team members arrived in July.
Luna Rossa leads Ineos Team UK 40 in the firsttoseven Prada Cup final, with the first of two races today scheduled for 4.15pm. — The New Zealand Herald