Luna Rossa's youngsters still in the lead in Cagliari
In the preliminaries of the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup ahead of the 2027 Naples challenge
The regatta course in Cagliari these days is exactly that of grand occasions: lots of competition, lots of spectators, lots of live TV. Something suggests that very little time has passed since the conclusion of the regattas in Barcelona. A couple of days. Of course, that's not true. So much has happened, the world has changed outside and inside the Cup, which is racing to find a new value. His own, his public, the teams. Met at the dock, Grant Dalton winks and says 'here you can see why the Cup had to be brought to Italia.
One of the VIP ships seen in Cagliari is the famous Cristina O, which when it belonged to Aristotle Onassis was named just Cristina after his daughter. This may be a symptom of the attempt to 'elevate' the target audience of the Cup, which, however, then lives on social with 400 thousand followers and a millionaire TV audience. Elevating is sort of the mission of any marketing expert who puts his hand to something that is already famous. The pundits should be reminded that the American JP Morgan paying for the first American boats saved the United States from bankruptcy, or that John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1962 gave a famous opening speech at the Cup's inaugural dinner. "we are connected to the ocean and we want to return to it because we have the same percentage of salt in our blood as the sea". In short, the Louis Vuitton America's Cup is already extreme, it is already lifestyle, it is already the tycoons' gym. Interesting news also arrives: after the preliminary races in Pozzuoli / Nisida in September, an event is being prepared for May 2027 with fleet racing among the AC75s.
But back to the good news coming from the water: Luna Rossa junior's crew of Marco Gradoni, Margherita Porro, Maria Giubilei and Giovanni Santi is the most consistent, after six fleet races in the lead. They know how to recover from mistakes, they know how to start in the lead and stay there. They are always very fast. Behind them the seniors of Emirates Team New Zealand with Natan Outtridge and Seb Menzies and then again the seniors of Luna Rossa, with the great Peter Burling and Ruggero Tita. After the two fleet races the most likely match is between Luna Rossa juniors and ETNZ or a dreamed of derby between the Moons. The other teams still have to get in tune with the boat. GB1 had a mechanical accident, a hydraulic pump broke. Alinghi also capsized. The young Kiwis and the French are learning.
The Italia team administers all the advantages of having been based in Cagliari for years. The sailors know how to look for a wind current coming down the hills in a certain way. They have many hours of 'flying' on the AC 40. They prove that an automatic control that works is not enough to stay ahead. Fortunately, it still takes a little bit of head.
The word goes to young Marco Gradoni: "In the first race there was strong wind and waves, a similar scenario to yesterday. Unfortunately, at the start we gybed where there was no wind and stopped. But we were very good, really all of us, recovering positions and winning some important points. The other two races were difficult because there was much less wind and, especially in the last one, we were really good at staying in the game until the end and then winning it. In these conditions, it is very important not to fall off the foils and to stay focused. You can't afford to make mistakes, because if you mess up a manoeuvre today, you lose the race. If I finish in the final, I have no fear of running into a senior crew."
