America's Cup: the red moon shines on at the end of a determined Italian campaign

To the disappointment of the passionate Italian sailing fans in Barcelona, back home and around the world, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - one of the most detailed and well-planned campaigns of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup - exits the competition after an ultra hard-fought battle in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final against the British Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia.

The Italian challenge came to an end after a series that ended 7-4 and left the Italian team ruing breakdowns and boat damage whilst congratulating their opponent, INEOS Britannia in the most sportsmanlike of manners.

Jimmy Spithill, starboard helm on Luna Rossa, was magnanimous in defeat saying: “I first just want to say well done to Ben (Ainslie) and his team, just an awesome effort. They started that team a decade ago and to bounce back having got close last time when we knocked them out, and then today they were the better team.

"I thought we had a great boat and it's difficult to really put it into words, but all I can do is just thank all of my teammates and clearly congratulate the team for doing such an awesome job.”

Spithill also paid tribute to team Chairman Patrizio Bertelli and his family for their support, saying: “You just look at what Mr Bertelli and his family have done for the sport of sailing in Italy, and just the class that they bring, getting to work with them, getting to know him and the whole family – it has been something special to have been part of these campaigns. I really respect anyone that just doesn't give up and he and his family are definitely like that, very passionate and they really care deeply about the team. It really is a family, so I'm just very, very, fortunate that I got to be a part of such a great organisation.”

From the very outset, this was a team high on experience and with a determined drive to succeed in Barcelona. Having made it to the 2021 36th America’s Cup Match in Auckland and won three races against Emirates Team New Zealand before ultimately succumbing to the Kiwis on their home waters, there was real belief that in 2024 they could go one further and take the ancient America's Cup trophy back to Italy.

With the Protocol for the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup announced in mid-November 2021, the Luna Rossa team were quick to lodge their challenge on December 1 2021 – officially challenging the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron through the Circolo della Vela Sicilia.

Behind the scenes, America's Cup veteran Max Sirena had been confirmed as Team Director and Skipper, whilst a core team of long-standing Luna Rossa designers, boat builders, sailors and shore team members were also retained to start work on the challenge.

The result was an innovative LEQ12 prototype that was launched on October 13 2022 by Mr Bertelli's wife Miuccia Prada, godmother of the boat, who smashed the traditional bottle on the yacht's bow, christening her 'Luna Rossa'. Alongside her were Mr Bertelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera – Executive Vice President and CEO of Pirelli – Agostino Randazzo President of the Circolo della Vela Sicilia, and skipper Max Sirena.

Speaking at the launch Sirena commented: “To see the Luna Rossa Prototype touch the water is a source of great pride. It is a very innovative project in which we will concentrate all our development that will be transferred to the new AC75 with which we will participate in the 37th America’s Cup. It has been a complex process; we pushed in all sectors, drawing also on our experience from the last edition, to optimise the fundamental aspects, define the lines and increase the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic development.”

“For the Luna Rossa challenge this launch is the real kick off. Beyond the technical use of the boat, this prototype also allowed us to restart the campaign in the right gear and team-up immediately, which is essential when you change so many people in different departments. The construction process here in Cagliari at our base has been an excellent exercise also from a human standpoint: the challenge of a new hull to build and refine has given the whole team a strong physical and mental charge. Today we have taken an extra step in our journey towards the 37th America's Cup. The challenge starts today.”

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's Head of Design Horacio Carabelli further added: “We learned a lot from the last Cup, so the prototype condenses all the successful solutions that we have experimented with over time. Once the rules were published, we had to define the basic lines of the boat, so I met with the designers from the naval architecture, structural engineering, performance, VPP (Velocity Prediction Program) and simulator departments to understand what we wanted to achieve; we established the measurements, the shapes of the appendages and the dimensions, the rudders, the sail area, the displacement. In short, all the preliminary technical characteristics of the boat.”

Sailing the LEQ12 from the team’s outstanding facility on the Molo Ichnusa in the port area of Cagliari, Sardinia was captured in detail and beamed around the world via the America's Cup Joint Reconnaissance Programme.

What was revealed was a sailing team operating at the very highest level. Memorable windy days on the Bay of Angels through the winter of 2023 saw capsizes and astonishing speeds, with snow on the mountain ranges behind, and the beautiful hull graphics of the yacht accentuating speed and creating a visual marvel. The team worked relentlessly hard on systems and foil development to define the design of their new, one-build, AC75 that was taking shape in parallel.

Meanwhile, the team took delivery of their AC40 yachts and immediately began the process of preparing their outstanding youth and women sailors. The AC40 was also used for some interesting two-boat practice against the Italian LEQ12 as preparations ramped higher.

Jimmy Spithill, the two-time winner of the America’s Cup and long-time Luna Rossa sailor was back to lead a star team of sailors and was joined by his helming partner from 2021, the talented and experienced Francesco Bruni. Snapping at their heels however were the burgeoning talents of Olympic double Gold Medallist Ruggero Tita and three-time Optimist world champion Marco Gradoni who enjoyed extensive AC75 training time in Cagliari.

By the time of the first Preliminary Regatta in Vilanova i La Geltrú in September 2023, Luna Rossa was a team performing at a high level. Spithill and Bruni were joined by the flight control and trim team of Umberto Molineris and Andrea Tesei but this quartet’s lack of training time in the AC40 was exposed in the light airs that prevailed.

The team finished fourth overall and Sirena was immediatley seeking improvements saying: “We knew it was going to be tough, but clearly, we aren’t happy about the final outcome of this event. What ultimately determined the result were some bad starts. We’re now heading home and will analyse what happened through various debriefs in order to reach Jeddah as prepared as possible and achieve results worthy of the team.”

Sirena played a master stroke in the Jeddah Preliminary Regatta, bringing to Saudi Arabia his young stars that will, for certain, play a very big part in future Italians America’s Cup challenges.

Ruggero Tita and Marco Gradoni sailed out of their skins, determined to prove a point and give Sirena a selection headache, finishing runners up to Emirates Team New Zealand after a thrilling final race showdown.

At the time, Sirena commented: “This result is the outcome of the collective work of the whole team and is an additional boost to continue to improve for the next Cup. Personally, it gave me great satisfaction to see such a high level of performance and I congratulate the crew for the way they conducted the races. For sure, when you compete you do it to win, and not having achieved the goal is disappointing, but this ‘hunger’ for victory will be useful for us to reach the next events even more prepared and competitive.”

The team returned to Cagliari from Jeddah and doubled-down on their LEQ12 programme, bringing in refined new foils and pushing the boat hard. It was impressive and relentless all through the winter but as Spring dawned, excitement built as the new AC75 came to a reality.

On April 13 2024, exactly twenty-five years after the launch of the first Luna Rossa in 1999, the Italian challenger's America's Cup hull No.10 first touched water. Once again Miuccia Prada, Patrizio Bertelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, Max Sirena and Agostino Randazzo were on hand to reveal and christen a truly aesthetically beautiful AC75 – to gasps of wonder from the assembled team, media, friends and supporters. A reflective silver hull echoed but enhanced the Luna Rossa’s of old campaigns and the carbon deck detailing was exquisite and a true testament to Italian craftsmanship.

Speaking at the launch, Bertelli commented: “The boat we launched today is the tenth America's Cup hull that we christen ‘Luna Rossa.’ This name, that has marked important milestones in my life, has also become an iconic name in sailing worldwide.

"It is a beautiful and radical boat, that represents a step forward in terms of design and technology, born from an incredible collective effort. For this I congratulate the team at all levels for its achievement. In these 25 years I have accomplished a goal that I had set for myself a long time ago: to create a team of extraordinary technicians and sailors capable of shaping the future of sport in our country and leaving a legacy for future generations. Now, with this new Luna Rossa, I also hope to achieve my sporting ambition, to win the America's Cup.”

Sirena further added: “Today is the most important day of our America's Cup campaign, we finally have before our eyes the result of three years of work 'in the dark'. This Luna Rossa is an Italian challenge in terms of design, technology and aesthetics.

"With only one boat at our disposal, we had to make brave choices, pushing ourselves to extremes of development and research in all areas, thanks also to the know-how acquired with the LEQ12 prototype. Luna Rossa is a boat that all of Italy should be proud of because it incorporates so much of our country's excellence and is an ambassador of ‘Made in Italy’ all over the world. This is the boat we wanted, potentially perfect to win the 37th America's Cup. Now it's our turn.”

The team were quick to confirm selection of their power unit cyclors with the likes of Romano Battisti (Olympic Silver medallist in London 2012), Emanuele Liuzzi (Bronze at the World Championships in Sarasota), Bruno Rosetti (Bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics), Nicholas Brezzi (seven world championships and multiple medals), Cesare Gabbia (several medals between world and European championships), and Luca Kirwan (participation in the 2019 U23 World Championships). Furthermore, Paolo Simion was brought in from professional cycling having won three times at the Giro d'Italia, alongside Enrico Voltolini who completed two Olympic campaigns in the Finn and Star classes and Mattia Camboni, an Olympic windsurfer.

The first sail of the AC75 was completed on April 19 2024 in Cagliari with the team running asymmetric foils, but by the time they arrived in Barcelona this was rectified and after the first sail on May 24, Umberto Molineris commented: "It was a very important day, and I would say it went more than well. We fitted our second wing, so the boat is now in a symmetrical configuration that allows us to get into competition mode and work on performance. The first day of sailing you never push too hard, but we did a very good training on a virtual course and tried different manoeuvres. The feelings are really very good.”

When racing got underway in the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta and the opening Round Robins of the Louis Vuitton Cup, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were very much the team to beat. At times in the opening flights, it appeared that only Emirates Team New Zealand could match the Italian’s pace, point and sheer power.

They topped the standings amongst the Challengers at the end of Round Robin 1 but towards the end of the second Round Robin succumbed to their first Challenger defeat when INEOS Britannia beat them in heavy conditions. A break down onboard on the final day of the competition saw Luna Rossa lose by default against Alinghi Red Bull Racing and this created a tie at the top between the British and Italians. In lighter airs, the British won the race and also won the right to choose their opponent in the semi-finals.

The British selected the Swiss, leaving Luna Rossa to battle against NYYC American Magic for a place in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. An immediate string of four race wins put Luna Rossa on the cusp of glory but a fightback in lighter conditions saw the Americans close to 4-2 before a dramatic mainsail traveller failure in race seven gifted away another race, with the standings at 4-3, as the shore team got set to burn the midnight oil ahead of a final showdown the following day.

As befitted what Jimmy Spithill described as ‘a champion team,’ Luna Rossa came out fighting and won another hard-fought race to defeat the Americans and advance through to the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.

Jimmy Spithill, skipper of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli was proud of what his team had achieved saying: “It was an incredible effort from the guys on the shore when you look at what happened yesterday, and a lesser team really could've crumbled, and I've seen this happen.

"This is my eighth campaign in a row now and you always face a couple of moments in a campaign where you kind of find out what you're made of, and I really felt like yesterday was one of those for the entire team. We had to react and the guys in the shore team really took the lead and just worked all through the night to get our boat ready to race and go on and win. You’re usually pretty motivated when you go out there but when you see that and how you live it as a team, it's a very, very powerful thing.”

With the Louis Vuitton Cup Final being a first-to-seven points series, many pundits shoreside found it hard to split the Italians and the British. And so it proved with the first eight races being shared equally as the first four days were dead-locked. Luna Rossa suffered batten failure before the third race and was forced to retire, whilst also losing significant deck fairing after a nosedive that forced them out of Race 5. The team kept on bouncing back to level in subsequent races but the momentum shift occurred on Wednesday October 2 when, in shifting easterly breezes and a solid sea state, INEOS Britannia scored two desperately close wins and advanced to match point.

The story of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final however was far from being finished, and with no room for error and with the Italian team requiring three wins from three races, they came out for what would be their final race, knowing that it was now or never in the competition.

INEOS Britannia took control off the start and then defended doggedly against a Luna Rossa team that kept it close but ultimately couldn’t make the crucial pass. A final delta of 17 seconds underscored how tight the battle had been, but Race 11 was the end and the hopes and dreams of the Italian nation were extinguished as their team was eliminated from the competition.

Iain Murray, Race Director, spoke about the Italian’s exit from the Louis Vuitton Cup, saying: “Luna Rossa has been just relentless in the pursuit of the standard of the America's Cup for a very long period of time and I think they have held everyone to account as to what the historical importance of the Americas Cup is.

“Clearly they've been here for a long time at a super high-level and almost become the gamekeeper of the America's Cup which has just been incredible in my opinion. For Luna Rossa to conclude here is probably well short of their expectations as I think we've all seen them as one of the very big favourites in this competition. I certainly hope that their enthusiasm, their colour and their passion carries on.”

Talking about that talent coming fast through, Jimmy Spithill, who announced his retirement from America's Cup sailing, is certain that the Italian sailing is on the up, saying: “I think Italian sailing is in incredible hands, if I just look at the guys and girls that are coming up, this next generation, seeing them at first hand and getting to work with them, this next generation is so far ahead of where of where I was in my generation, and clearly this is the end of the line for me, so it definitely feels right because it's in such great hands.”

The validity of Spithill's confidence in Italy's emerginging sailing talent was perfectly illustrated by the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Youth Team – led by Marco Gradoni – who put on a stunning performance in Barcelona to win the UniCredit Youth America's Cup after a final race showdown against the NYYC American Magic youth squad.

Likewise, the team's potent Women's crew will start the Puig Women's America's Cup amongst the favourities to for this event's inaugural staging.

With such incredible sailing potential coming through the ranks of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, the future is surely bright for this passionate team with the most outstanding of patrons in Patrizio Bertelli and his family.

The lessons learned in Barcelona will, without doubt, make the team stronger for the future as their ruthless determination to win the oldest trophy in international sports, the America’s Cup, continues.

Forza Italia!

(Magnus Wheatley)