Luna Rossa skipper talks up Cup boat
Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena says there are “many reasons” why their AC75 will be the talk of the sailing world at the America’s Cup.
Sirena, the Italian syndicate’s team director, was bullish about the Cup boat they hope can end Team New Zealand’s grip on the Auld Mug when Barcelona stages racing between August and October.
The Italians are among the five challenging teams hoping to beat the Kiwis and have followed Swiss syndicate Alinghi in releasing photos of the prized 75-foot foiling monohull, wrapped in a white sheet.
Each syndicate will launch their AC75 in April, with no covering, and show the world Luna Rossa have shared
what innova- pictures of their AC75 boat
tions their design in Cagliari.
team have created to make the fastest boat possible after nearly 100,000 working hours.
It’s a curious time in the Cup cycle. The teams have gone to great lengths to keep their Cup boats stashed away from prying eyes to ensure whatever innovations they might have developed remain a secret from rival syndicates.
Team NZ have been quiet, but the Italians have demonstrated a bold show of confidence after sharing images of their AC75 at their base in Cagliari.
Italian skipper Sirena did not provide much detail, as expected, in a social media post Luna Rossa shared alongside the first pictures of their AC75 in public, but he said they were desperate to get the boat on the water.
“Seeing the boat finally live, taking shape, has a different effect than seeing it always on a computer screen,” Sirena said.
“It takes about nine months to build an AC75. There was a lot of work behind it, from the designers, the shore team and of course the sailors.
“It's an exciting moment, because when the boat comes out of the yard, there's always a lot of expectation.”
Luna Rossa are expected to be among the biggest threats to Team NZ’s defence and have recruited Luca Kirwan, the son of All Blacks legend John, as one of their cyclors.
The Italians are still chasing their first Cup success after finishing as runners-up to Team NZ in the Cup’s last match race in Auckland, with the Kiwis retaining the trophy they won in Bermuda in 2017.
“In the end, sport is beautiful and cruel at the same time,” Sirena, an experienced sailor, said. He was part of Team NZ’s management for Bermuda but was Luna Rossa’s beaten skipper in Auckland in 2021.
“The results will tell us again if we made the right choices and if the boat will be the one to win the America's Cup,” he said. “It will be talked about a lot for many reasons.”
The new French challenger, Orient Express Racing, have released shots of their mast arriving in Barcelona, also wrapped in a white sheet, but only the Swiss and Italians have shared images of their monohull in full, albeit covered up.
There is little to nothing teams can learn from their rivals’ design features until the AC75s are unveiled in full in the coming weeks. Each AC75 will look similar (75ft long, 16ft wide) but the teams will soon know who has advantages, and who doesn’t, from their design.
The AC75s will be raced for the first time in the 37th Cup cycle in the third preliminary regatta in Barcelona on August 22.