America's Cup- Luna Rossa sails on San Francisco Bay
by Sail-World on 19 May 2013
Luna Rossa (ITA) goes foiling on San Francisco Bay for the first time, May 18, 2013 Carlo Borlenghi/Luna Rossa
http://www.lunarossachallenge.com
On Saturday morning the Luna Rossa AC72 sailed for the first time in San Francisco in the bay where the Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup regattas will take place starting July 7th.
After an early morning roll out, Luna Rossa sailed in light winds (3 knots) that increased up to 12 and allowed the crew to carry out an extensive number of manoeuvres.
The training session lasted about three hours.
Yesterday the America's Cup Review Committee, set up after the fatal incident involving another AC72, Artemis Racing (SWE), recommended that teams should not sail their AC72's or AC45's for another week. No reasons were published for the recommendation. Clearly the reasons, if any, given to the teams were not sufficiently compelling to prevent the Italians from proceeding with their intended sailing program.
Yesterday Luna Rossa's team principal, Patrizio Bertelli, said he had asked his team if they were confident in the safety of their boat.
'The weather today was ideal for our first trial out on the water; from a technical standpoint it allowed us to test safety measures, loads and maneuvers,' said Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 skipper Max Sirena.
'However the really significant aspect was psychological: it was important for the crew to resume sailing on the AC72 and to get back into its normal training mode to prepare for the upcoming races. In the next few days we will continue with our training and development program as scheduled.'
Emirates Team New Zealand are expected to sail on May 23, and will be the last of the four teams to sail on San Francisco Bay.
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