Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli set out from their Cagliari base in the early morning with high hopes of a decent day on the water, even setting the smaller M2 mainsail in the expectation of a fluid north-westerly but it was a fickle wind with vast holes that struggled to bother the anemometer above 7 knots. After three failed tow-ups with the J1 set, the team repaired to just off the beautiful Sella del Diavolo beach where legend has it that Lucifer upon seeing the beauty of Cagliari’s Gulf, decided to try and conquer the land, and was promptly stopped by God, who sent his angels to fight him! A perfect spot for lunch and perhaps one of the most beautiful spots in Sardinia.
With the breeze resolutely not playing ball – the team repaired back to base and remained on stand-by, but were stood down at 3pm and called it a day. The recon unit’s Michele Melis manged to catch Philippe Presti, the French ‘supercoach’ to the Italian team for a broad interview afterwards where he talked about the campaign so far, saying: “The campaign to now is very exciting. I think the boats are very exciting especially the little one (LEQ12) we designed and built, and we are super happy with the outcome of this experiment and we believe it’s going to translate into good results on the big boat…I think we learned from Auckland quite a bit. In Auckland everyday was an improvement from the next and all the designers reflected for almost two years, and I think now the boats are way more agile and do all the manoeuvres very, very, quickly and the performance are astonishing at times.”
Section 41. Reconnaissance
a) As a campaign cost reduction measure, COR/D has mutually agreed to cooperatively implement a centralised reconnaissance programme for all teams for the reconnaissance of all Competitors’ AC75 Yachts, AC40 Yachts and LEQ12 yachts including both on-land and on-water imagery (the “Joint Recon Programme”).
b) Each team is assigned a two-person Recon Unit to follow their every on-water move, but it’s not that simple. The cameras are supplied and identical for all Recon Units. Drones are not allowed, and they can’t get that close, plus following a boat and keeping a camera steady at 45 knots isn’t that easy to begin with.
c) A three minute interview follows each on water day, and teams must answer the Recon Unit’s questions while trying not to give too much away. It’s a raw, unedited view of the never before seen behind-the-scenes development of a team and their boat to win the oldest trophy in international sports.
#AC37Recon #AmericasCup #Barcelona2024
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