By Greg Pearson
Team New Zealand are about to get some company on the Hauraki Gulf, with Italian syndicate Luna Rossa launching their AC72 in Auckland tonight.
“It’s hard to keep everyone under control because everyone wants to get the boat in the water and try to go out sailing as soon as possible, but it's a pretty fragile machine and we have to do everything carefully because we don't want to have a stupid mistake,” says Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena.
The fallout from those mistakes is all too clear for defenders Oracle, still picking up the pieces after becoming the first team to flip an AC72.
While capsizing is a danger for all crews, Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton has more confidence in the Kiwi boat.
“If you look at their design there was more chance that it could happen to them,” he says. “We're not immune to it but we're probably further away from that position than they are with that design.”
That's good news for Luna Rossa. Their boat will be near identical to Team New Zealand's as part of a partnership deal between the two teams - a deal Dalton says they could have only done with Luna Rossa.
“We don't even talk to the other teams and they don't talk to us, we just fire legal emails at each other. There's no way we could've worked with any other team except the Italians.”
And with Oracle waiting on a new wing and Swedish challenger Artemis delaying their launch, the Italians are more than happy to be partnered with the Kiwis.
“From a technical point of view, from a sailing point of view, it's enough to go out on the water and watch them sailing. It's incredible the level they have achieved after just twelve days of sailing,” says Sirena.
The Italians plan on sailing their new boat by the end of next week, before joining Team New Zealand in the middle of next month.
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