Luna Rossa analyzes the just-ended event and prepares for the Louis Vuitton Cup

Having concluded the Final Preliminary Regatta and now approaching the Louis Vuitton Cup, the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team reflects on the event from a half-full glass perspective.

Having scrutinized the defeat to Emirates Team New Zealand in the final match and reviewed the areas for improvement, the Italian challenger can, in fact, look back at the four-day competition in a positive light, having stood out among the challengers in terms of performance and boat handling in all the weather conditions encountered last week in Barcelona.

Even against the Defender, the attitude is certainly not reverential: forced to retire in the first match of the event due to a technical failure, the Italian crew then hold their own against the Kiwi team throughout the final match, only losing it due to a series of avoidable errors. On the positive side, the boat proved to be powerful in all conditions and at all points of sailing, demonstrating the benefit of an all-round design capable of expressing itself well, both in strong winds and in the lighter breeze and large waves encountered on the final day.

Apart from a few imperfections that have already been focused on and resolved, Luna Rossa's crew proved to be highly competitive both in hand-to-hand maneuvers and in the choice of the racecourse and the setup of equipment and sails. The choice of having a sailing team composed of highly skilled and interchangeable professionals  allowed Max Sirena, Skipper and Team Director of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, to start with a highly experienced crew and to swap cyclors during the matches, always maintain a high boat performance. As stated earlier, all sailing team roles can change on any race day, Louis Vuitton Cup included.

Overall, the Final Preliminary Regatta proved to be very useful, allowing the teams to confront each other for the first time aboard the AC75s and test them to the limit, highlighting weaknesses in hulls, equipment and crews ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Now it's time