Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Prototype Day 46 Summary

With Ruggero Tita and Vittorio Bissaro both away sailing Nacra 17 ‘s in Palma it was the turn of Jacopo Plazzi, the 49er ace, to partner with Francesco Bruni on the first day back on the water for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s LEQ12 after an extensive ten-day period of maintenance, refit, and upgrade. Immediately out of the shed the newly declared port foil could be seen and offered, perhaps, a distinct clue as to the design direction that the Italians are pursuing. The day was all about early foil evaluation with long runs extracting both the performance and media data that the designers and engineers will be comparing against their computer modelling. Speaking about the process to bring the new foil into commission, design chief Horacio Carabelli commented: “It's a long process, the design of these wings, not only from the hydro point of view but from the manufacturing point of view, it's pretty long. So this month we have worked pretty hard from the engineering point of view and putting things together and today was more a commissioning day for it so we have a lot to learn about it for the next weeks. It’s pretty important that it’s coming along as the ‘last card’ that we have to play on it so pretty happy with today. I think it was very, very, efficient and we got the numbers and expectations. We had all the engineers onboard also taking a look at it, so pretty happy overall.” 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