Luna Rossa wins the Prada Cup: full speed ahead towards the America’s Cup

With a resounding 7 to 1, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli overwhelms the English team from Ineos Team UK and wins the Prada Cup. The America’s Cup against Defender, Team New Zealand, is the next goal. Few in Italy and aboard Luna Rossa itself would have bet on such a crushing victory, with the British only able to score the point of the flag. Much safer in Great Britain, where a journalist had recklessly predicted before the final: we will make the Italians cry …

For the record, it is the third time that a tricolor boat has won the Challenger Series, the first time was in 1992 with Paul Cayrad’s Il Moro di Venezia, then in 2000 it was the turn of Luna Rossa, making its debut in the America’s Cup with Francesco De Angelis at the helm.Prada Cup

The first race of the day, with about 11 knots and a slight short wave caused by the current contrary to the direction of the wind, involved the entry from the left of the British team, which therefore takes advantage of 10 seconds earlier than those entering starboard tack. with right of way. Team UK was therefore able to position itself on the starting line exactly where it wanted, on the pin on the left, the favorite side. But Luna Rossa responded by increasing the lateral distance thus being able to resist on the same side receiving less rejection from the opponent. At the first turn, the recovery of the small gap of about one length began, passing in front of the next intersection, highlighting a better VMG – Velocity Made Good or the speed of wind ascent towards the buoy – which immediately projected it forward, placing Britannia in the waste of its sails. An immediately difficult situation that prompted the British to try to outwind by returning to the left, but at that point Sir Ben Ainslie had no more escape. The Luna Rossa cockpit, led by Checco Bruni, James Spithill and Pietro Sibello, began to mark the opponents in a timely and ruthless manner, and already at the first mark the delay of Ineos Team UK totaled 16 seconds, about 120 meters. From then on the Italians limited themselves to controlling the race, always looking for the best wind but never losing sight of the opponents, so that the race slipped away lightly, with a constant increase in the gap which in the end was almost 1,400 meters: an enormous amount. An immediately difficult situation that prompted the British to try to outwind by returning to the left, but at that point Sir Ben Ainslie had no more escape. The Luna Rossa cockpit, led by Checco Bruni, James Spithill and Pietro Sibello, began to mark the opponents in a timely and ruthless manner, and already at the first mark Ineos Team UK’s delay amounted to 16 seconds, about 120 meters. From then on the Italians limited themselves to controlling the race, always looking for the best wind but never losing sight of the opponents, so that the race slipped away lightly, with a constant increase in the gap which in the end was almost 1,400 meters: an enormous amount. An immediately difficult situation that prompted the British to try to outwind by returning to the left, but at that point Sir Ben Ainslie had no more escape. The Luna Rossa cockpit, led by Checco Bruni, James Spithill and Pietro Sibello, began to mark the opponents in a timely and ruthless manner, and already at the first mark the delay of Ineos Team UK totaled 16 seconds, about 120 meters. From then on the Italians limited themselves to controlling the race, always looking for the best wind but never losing sight of the opponents, so that the race slipped away lightly, with a constant increase in the gap which in the end was almost 1,400 meters: an enormous amount. led by Checco Bruni, James Spithill and Pietro Sibello, he began to mark his opponents in a timely and ruthless manner, and already at the first mark the delay of Ineos Team UK amounted to 16 seconds, about 120 meters. From then on the Italians limited themselves to controlling the race, always looking for the best wind but never losing sight of the opponents, so that the race slipped away lightly, with a constant increase in the gap which in the end was almost 1,400 meters: an enormous amount. led by Checco Bruni, James Spithill and Pietro Sibello, he began to mark his opponents in a timely and ruthless manner, and already at the first mark Ineos Team UK’s delay amounted to 16 seconds, about 120 meters. From then on the Italians limited themselves to controlling the race, always looking for the best wind but never losing sight of the opponents, so that the race slipped away lightly, with a constant increase in the gap which in the end was almost 1,400 meters: an enormous amount.Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, Photo Credit: COR36 / Studio Borlenghi

So we approached the eighth regatta of the Prada Cup finals with a score of 6 to 1 and, therefore, with even greater pressure on the shoulders of the English team, practically put against the wall by the match point favorable to the Italians .

Very aggressive English at the start, given with a slightly increased wind, around 12 knots. Convulsive preliminary phases, with a spectacular crossing between Luna Rossa and Britannia just a few meters from the start line, cut by the Italian boat with a few fractions of advance – however not highlighted by the augmented reality of live television – which led her to take a penalty. The eighth match race between the two teams therefore seemed to begin with more than a few difficulties for the Italian boat, which however, along the lines of what was seen in the previous regatta, immediately began to recover, highlighting better performance by the tricolor hull, beyond tactics and flawless maneuvers. Thus, inexorably, Luna Rossa first bridged the gap from Britannia, which had reached about 70 meters, and then detached it, demonstrating the great technical level reached by the appendix-rigging ensemble, capable of remedying the uncertainties of the start. The rest of the race thus seemed a sort of catwalk that led us to lead in constant control, with great advantage until the last stern, when Luna Rossa crossed the finish line with a 56-second advantage over Britannia, thus closing the game against Ineos Team UK and winning the first edition of the Prada Cup.

“We promise you that we will do everything to win the Cup – said helmsman Checco Bruni – we will leave no stone unturned!” 

The appointment with the first regatta of the America’s Cup is March 6, the night of the 5th in ItalyBritannia