Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Prototype Day 29 Summary

With the wind Gods not playing ball for most of the week in Cagliari, the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli sailors were keen to make up for lost time and hit the water on Saturday for a full-on day of foil and cant testing onboard their lavishly adorned LEQ12. The interaction with the foils is something clearly on the Italian design team’s mind and there were some interesting take-aways in the recon interview with naval architect Andres Suar who clearly has one eye on the conditions in Barcelona saying: “Basically in your design process you give quite a bit more weight to any event that is related to any crash down or hull touching so you need to take that into account and also how the boat will behave once (off the foils), the chances of dropping on a pre start and things like that you need for sure to take that into account as it will be a big difference, and also the interaction with the foils will be quite different.” 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