Red Bull presented the new sailing academy and the Italian SailGp team with Ruggero Tita and James Spithill

Monfalcone is the northernmost point of the Adriatic Sea, it is a place of a certain choreography, where shipyards building large ships mingle with those dealing with pleasure boats. And, of course, there are marinas. Within the most important one, the Marina of Monfalcone, the Red Bull Sailing Academy was born, an initiative dedicated to the discovery and training of the world's most talented sailors and their Olympic preparation.

'We do a lot of scouting, we choose who will be able to join the Academy,' says Hans Peter Steinhacher, general manager of the marina, 'we want to choose and find real talent. In other words, he implies, not just children of rich parents but people who prove themselves in the field. The initiative for the world's top sailors will be flanked by a school for kids, intensive 10-day courses during the three summer months.

Actually, the real star of the day was Ruggero Tita, the golden boy of Italian sailing: two gold medals in the Nacra 17 class (Tokyo and Paris Olympics), from this season at the helm of the Red Bull-designed Italian Sail Gp circuit boat whose coach is James Spithill with other Italian sailors such as Maelle Frascari, Andrea Tesei, and Enrico Voltolini. James, a two-time winner of the Cup and helmsman of Luna Rossa in three editions, has been a Red Bull ambassador for years and was certainly the driving force behind the combination of the Italian team he founded and the sponsor.

Red Bull has been sailing at a high level since the 2007 America's Cup until last year still with Alinghi. So it is all connected, to use a modern word, interactive. The Sail Gp circuit is raced by the 50ft flying catamarans created for the 2017 Cup and is very successful, especially in the 'poor' America's Cup years when sailors need to stay trained and have secure contracts to support their families. The Italian crew has paid a price of acclimatisation, they have struggled a little to stay in the middle of the leaderboard fighting against the experts who have been sailing these boats for years. Also sailing with ours are the experts Kyle Langford, Alex Sinclair and Brad Farrand.

Ruggero Tita will be one of Luna Rossa's helmsmen for the 2027 America's Cup in Naples, a goal to which he has aspired since he first joined the team. This time there is less overlap between the Olympics and the Cup, so the goal of Los Angeles with the Nacra 17 can remain active. "My programme for the next three years? - answers Ruggero - so much Sail Gp that I am very involved as an experience. This boat is all manual and it takes a lot of harmony in the crew and maybe that is the most interesting aspect for me coming from a small boat. Then I'll be with Luna Rossa until the America's Cup in Naples which is scheduled between May and June. Then I will think about the preparation for the Olympics in Los Angeles. I would like a third medal but if there are stronger crews than me I will step aside.