News Around the World
SPAIN Never, never, never say never The second preliminary regatta in Jeddah once again offered us interesting surprises. While in Vilanova i La Geltrú American Magic and Orient Express caused smiles, in the Red Sea Luna Rossa smashed the bookmakers’ predictions. The Italians opted for a young crew, with Ruggero Tita and Marco
Gradoni replacing Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni steering. After the first three races their performance was already looking remark- able – results of 3,4,1 placed them in second overall. Gradoni’s words before the event proved prescient. ‘We have no complexes about competing against these good and famous sailors. Respect, yes, the same whenever you compete in a regatta, be it Nacra, Optimist or Moth.’ Many thought that perhaps their first day was mostly good fortune
and that they would soon lose steam. Returning to the marina with three more races after the second day, they had been forced to swallow their words. This time the young Italians scored 1,2,4, better than the first day and locking the team into second place. Almost perfect if it weren’t for the dominance of the Kiwis. Now the questions are: how far can they go? Will they be able to beat TNZ in the final? Would they avenge the defeat suffered in Auckland? Another bullet in the penultimate race confirmed Luna Rossa’s
presence in the match race final, but alarms rang out when in the last fleet race a problem with the Italians’ hydraulic systems prevented them from completing the course. Without a doubt the uncertainty about their technical problem had
to affect concentration in the ‘race of their lives’ that followed. Now Gradoni, Tita, Umberto Molineris and Vittorio Bissaro faced the possibility of crushing the superstars Peter Burling, Nathan Out- teridge, Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney. The Italians had only one person with previous America’s Cup experience between them. But whatever happened their triple Optimist world champion
helmsman Marco Gradoni would leave Jeddah with his name engraved in gold in the record books, the youngest skipper at just 19 years old. Yes, friends, 19 years old! A bad start in the final match and it already looked to be over
for the Italians. But with patience, and tremendous speed upwind, they were soon back in the hunt. Then a technical error, but not by the racers… the second robot leeward gate mark had failed, which left the Italians with no choice but to trail their rivals around. But the young Luna Rossa crew still somehow reached the last weather mark just 11 seconds behind… Now it was death or glory
22 SEAHORSE
as this brilliant young team threw everything at the Cup defenders with one last heroic effort. Sadly, going for a last high-speed gybe back at their opponents the Italians lost grip in the rudder foil, pitch- ing them into a violent nosedive, any hope of victory disappearing beneath the 2 or 3m of solid green water that washed over the crew and instantly filled all four cockpits to the brim. The Italian press is very passionate and loves to stir up contro-
versy. Even before moving into the team’s winter months of testing in Cagliari there have been weeks of debate in the press about giving this ‘rookie’ crew the new AC75 for the America’s Cup itself. The debate has begun. Stay tuned. What else? Well, this time American Magic did not find its rhythm
and suffered a disastrous first day, with a DSQ, DNS and last place on the scorecard. They then did improve, and at one stage it seemed they could steal third place on the final podium from the Swiss Alinghi; in the end fourth place ahead of Ineos was the best they could do. And the British, well, they improved considerably compared to the humiliation in Vilanova i La Geltrú… But surely their fans expect more from them.
Xabier Fernández – Ineos Britannia Seahorse: Your America’s Cup journey to date… Xabi Fernandez:My first Cup was 2013 with Luna Rossa, followed by the Volvo Race with Mapfre. During the round-the-world event Luna Rossa withdrew from the 2017 Bermuda Cup so I joined Ben Ainslie’s operation (then BAR). I stayed with the British team for Auckland 2021 and now I continue for the 37th Cup in Barcelona. For the 2017 Cup campaign in the foiling AC50 cats I arrived a
little late, after the Volvo. Most of the equipment was built and I came in as wing trimmer on the second boat. Obviously we did not succeed. Then I went back around the world with the second Mapfre. While I was away Iain Jensen (another 49er gold medallist) had
joined the British team for 2021 in the AC75, so I moved to the test boat. I also did not comply with the strict nationality rule; the same as now in Barcelona where my position is as a coach alongside Rob Wilson who leads the performance group. Now when the race team – with Rob – go away to compete in SailGP I stay behind so that training doesn’t stop. SH:Your current role means a lot of data to get through and analyse… XF: Too much, that’s the problem. These boats have so many sensors and so much telemetry that your experience and common- sense must somehow be applied to make so much information usable. Rob and I are on the water watching the training, taking
CARLO BORLENGHI/LUCA BUTTO/ALEA
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