Luna Rossa, qualified for quarter finals at the end of the first Round Robin, closed the first series of races in front of Bmw Oracle Racing and Team Aleph, both of which were excluded from the ranking. Unfortunately, due to wind conditions that did not favour the regattas, the race between the first and 8th ranking team did not take place and Luna Rossa, who should have raced against All4One, did not have the chance to compete for a place in the semi-finals.
The race format for the selection, modified during the course of the event, was such that Team New Zealand, Artemis, All4One and Synergy entered semi-finals. Luna Rossa therefore reached the end of the event with three wins and an 8th place in the Louis Vuitton Trophy de La Maddalena.
The next event for Luna Rossa will be the Marseilles Trophy, from June 15 to 20 giugno, in the Audi Med Cup TP 52′ circuit.
Luna Rossa wins the start and chooses the left side of the course, stretching forward with one length of advantage on the French boat.
The wind pressure on the first upwind leg remains favorable on the left side and Luna Rossa controls her adversary, rounding the first mark with a 17” lead. The Italian boat maintains the lead and rounds the downwind mark in front, while team Aleph, still trailing, encounters a problem when lowering the spinnaker around the mark. The distance between the two boats increases and Luna Rossa reaches the finish line with a 1′45” lead on Aleph.
Team Origin wins the start and stretches ahead of Luna Rossa on the leeward side with a margin of one boat length.
Luna Rossa is forced to tack to the right of the course and continues the windward leg on port tack. A 15° wind shift to the left further increases the advantage of Team Origin to 5 boat lengths at the windward mark, an advantage that the British will keep until the end of the race, notwithstanding the multiple attacks by Luna Rossa both on the windwand and downwind legs.
Today’s race was won at the start. Luna Rossa starts windward on its opponent and stretches forward on the first upwind leg. The distance on the American boat increases as Luna Rossa rounds the first mark 41″ ahead. On the downwind leg Bmw Oracle Racing recovers one length and turns the mark 34″ behind Luna Rossa who maintains the control all the way to the finish line, with a 22″ lead on the American boat. With this win Luna Rossa gains its second point in the round robin.
Luna Rossa starts with a comfortable lead in front of the German-French boat who during the first leg remains in front, rounding the mark with 6” of advantage. On the downwind leg All4One extends its advantage and that allows Luna Rossa few chances to catch up on the second downwind leg as well.
The match is won by All4One, with a 35” lead on Luna Rossa.
The match begins with a good control on the Russian boat in the pre-start.
Synergy crosses the start line upwind, whereas Luna Rossa chooses the left of the course. At the first mark Synergy rounds the buoy in front, takes advantage of its right of way and gains a full length on Luna Rossa. For the rest of the race Synergy maintains its lead, and wins by 15″.
Dean Barker (NZL) wins the start at the helm of the New Zealand team, with a fast start on the pin side; Luna Rossa choses to start near the Committee boat on the right and upwind with respect to Team New Zealand. Although the kiwi boat stays in front during the upwind leg, when rounding the mark Luna Rossa stretches forward and rounds the mark in front.
On the downwind leg the wind shifts allow Team New Zealand to move in front again but Luna Rossa, with a good upwind tactic, is able to move forward and leave Team New Zealand behind. On the finish line the delta is of 13” for Luna Rossa, who gains its first point in Round Robin 1.
In this race Luna Rossa crosses the starting line in a good position, staying ahead for the first upwind leg of the race and controlling her opponents. At the first mark her advantage is of 8”. Azzurra (ITA) however takes advantage of a slight delay in Luna Rossa’s spinnaker hoist. The downwind leg is very close and Azzurra turns at the left mark with only 2” of advantage and stays on the left side for the next upwind leg; Luna Rossa goes to the right but is unable to find an equal wind pressure. In the second upwind leg Azzurra gains a further advantage and rounds the mark 30” in front of Luna Rossa. The final downwind does not allow any possibility to overtake Azzurra, and the race closes with a 29”delay of Luna Rossa behind Azzurra.
Max Sirena, runners and manager of the Luna Rossa sailing program, said:
“Obviously we are not happy with this result. The loss of two races wherewe started out in front is disappointing. We will analyze our mistakes andcorrect them. Today we lost against Azzurra, tomorrow we will be back onthe water to win and move forward. This crew has not trained together for along time and all of the teams here are at a very high level. We still haveseven races to go and the will to do better.”
Luna Rossa enters on port side of the committee boat and quickly builds a distance from Mascalzone Latino entering on starboard. The two boats divide immediately, with Mascalzone on the left and Luna Rossa on the right side of the course.
The tactics prove to be correct and Luna Rossa rounds the first mark with an advantage of 16”. On the downwind leg Luna Rossa stretches forward with a 60 meter lead and decides to drop the spinnaker at the left mark, anticipating Gavin Brady (NZL) and his crew by 17”.
The second upwind leg initially shows an advantage for Luna Rossa with a 120 meter lead. Soon after, however, Mascalzone closes the gap and rounds the mark only 8” behind.
The last leg of the course is decisive for the outcome of the race. The boats divide once again and Mascalzone choses to sail downwind on the left side, forcing Luna Rossa to stay on the right. At this point Mascalzone, now in front, gybes and crosses, reaching the finish line with a 5” lead.
Moderate morning winds in La Maddalena decreased progressively as the day went on, obliging the Race Committee to cancel the races scheduled for Flight Two.
After a lengthy postponement the Luna Rossa crew returned to the Arsenale docks at 3 pm and was unable to race against Team All4One.
Tomorrow, Sunday May 23rd – the schedule foresees an all-Italian match between Luna Rossa and Mascalzone Latino. Patrizio Bertelli’s team will race on board of ITA 99 and will enter the box starboard of the committee boat.
If all of the three flights scheduled for Sunday were to take place, Luna Rossa will be allowed to make up for its postponed flight and race against All4One.
Today was the last day of practice before the start of the Louis Vuitton
Trophy races.
In this last session Team Luna Rossa raced against Team Artemis (SWE).
The opening ceremony for the event will take place tomorrow starting at 18.45; the ceremony will begin with a formal flag hoisting ceremony with the Italian Navy, to be followed by the first Press Conference that will introduce the ten skippers from the competing teams.
Saturday May 22nd racing begins. The format of the event foresees a first selection in a round robin where each team will race against every other team. Only the first 8 teams will move on to the second phase, from which the teams moving
on to quarter finals, semi finals and final will be selected. The final race will be the best result out of five races.
Antonio Marrai, Luna Rossa Team Manager, commented:
“I am very pleased with the results of the training sessions: it has been
time well spent. Our goal was to get the team back together, as the understanding within the team is very important in these races. Our goal is to understand whether we can direct our efforts towards more important projects once this event is over. Ed Baird (Luna Rossa’s helmsman) is intelligent and understands the people he works with; he is doing an excellent job”.
Ed Baird, skipper and helsman of the Team Luna Rossa:
“These boats are great. They make for close racing and it’s going to be exciting competition. We have a real blend of people sailing on our team this week and it’s going to be fun to learn some new styles. We know there are a few teams that are on top of the heap right now. Emirates Team New Zealand is very strong. The BMW Oracle guys are very good. Mascalzone Latino had a good event in Auckland. Azzurra is sailing very well this year. We have a big hill to climb to catch up to those guys in a short amount of time.”
Unstable weather conditions, topped by heavy rainshowers in the afternoon, did not stop Luna Rossa from completing its second day of training in La Maddalena, where the team was engaged in a series of practice races on board of USA 87, put forth by the Louis Vuitton Trophy organization and BMW Oracle Racing.
Tomorrow the crew will engage in one more training session against Team Artemis (SWE). Racing to commence on Saturday.
Torben Grael, Luna Rossa’s tactician, commented:
“The feeling is overall positive; our recent training sessions in Valencia were aimed at getting the team back in sync after not having sailed together in a while… we all remember the moves but we need to familiarize with a number of automatisms.
We have stared working with Ed only very recently and we need to develop a new communication processes. We have already reached a good understanding that will progressively increase.”
First training session today for Luna Rossa on board of the America’s Cup Class boats made available to the teams by the Louis Vuitton Trophy Organization .
“We sailed in a ten-twelve knot breeze during the morning, then the wind went up to almost twenty knots – commented Max Sirena – We are pleased because we had a chance to train with a good range of wind conditions, although some time was lost due to some minor technical problems on board of the boats.” For Max Sirena, winner of the 34th America’s Cup, the ACC racing is a return to where he started from: “The ACC boats are slower, but it is always exciting to sail in them: they are beautiful boats, ideal for match racing”.
Training on the water will resume tomorrow, whereas the first event press conference will take place on Friday. The first Round Robin instead will start on Saturday.
The Team Luna Rossa announces its participation to the races of the Louis Vuitton Trophy WSTA which will take place from May 22nd to June 6th in La Maddalena.
Luna Rossa’s afterguard will include helmsman Ed Baird, tactician Torben Grael and strategist Robert Scheidt.
The revised Team will include Luna Rossa’s core group of sailors, as follows:
Patrizio Bertelli Team Principal
Ed Baird Skipper and helmsman
Torben Grael Tactician
Robert Scheidt Strategist
Matteo Plazzi Navigator
Manuel Modena Runners
Max Sirena Runners
Benjamin Durham Mainsail trimmer
Claudio Celon Trimmer
Lorenzo Mazza Trimmer
Romolo Ranieri Grinder
Emanuele Marino Grinder
Marco Montis Grinder
Wade Morgan Grinder
Rodney Ardern Jolly / Grinder
Simone de Mari Pitman
Cicco Rapetti Mast
Greg Gendell Bowman / Mid-bowman
Sofuku Kazuhiko Bowman
Antonio Marrai Team manager
Max Sirena Head of the Technical and Sailing Programme
