Luna Rossa LEQ12 is back on the water

Perhaps the best Christmas present of all for fans and the entire Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli family was the re-launch today of their repaired LEQ12 looking almost better than new and ready to complete the deep-testing foil programme that the team were well into before their nosedive crash that caused extensive damage to the bow on the 4th December.

It was a surprise to all but the inner coterie of the Italian team but a strong message to send out to the rest of the America’s Cup community that Luna Rossa has real strength in depth and the Italians mean business in this cycle.

Much credit goes to the Shore Team and boatbuilders who pulled incredible shifts to facilitate the repair of the LEQ12 and the sailing team acknowledged their efforts with a Christmas box decal on the big M1-1 mainsail simply saying: ‘Grazie Shore Team.’ Classy touch from the sailmakers but a heartfelt thank you from the whole team who, it was thought, would not be sailing until the New Year at the earliest.

Docking-out at 10.30am into 20 degree Sardinian sunshine, blue skies and a beautiful building sea breeze that started at just 9-11 knots, the sailing team of helms Marco Gradoni and Francesco Bruni, and Flight Controllers Umberto Molineris and Vittorio Bissaro were joined by members of the hydraulics and cyclor teams for a brilliant session lasting just over three-and-a-half hours where they pushed the LEQ12 hard, despite stopping to let the technicians come onboard to check that structurally everything was holding up fine. It was. Great effort by the boatbuilding team.

Over the course of the session, the intensity ramped up with the Chase Boat team eventually laying down marks and letting the hard-driving sailors get in the laps, eat up the re-commissioning miles and basically get back to business.

A new rudder profile was evident that featured shorter wings and an updated elevator but the same wing configuration as before the crash was evident with the first iteration (Wing01) on starboard and the current thinking (Wing04) on port. These are important days for the programme ahead of big wing decisions being made for the raceboat so getting the team’s LEQ12 back into service is a big milestone for the team.

Speaking afterwards, Team Director Max Sirena, was delighted to see the boat back on the water saying: “Well obviously it’s a great day today because we came back in the water after a couple of weeks of big repairs and first of all I would like to thank the shore team because they did a really impressive job to make it happen. I mean the day after, most of the guys they were thinking we were supposed to be back in the water in the New Year and thanks to the big effort of the whole team, today we splashed the boat back in the water and we had a pretty good day and I'm pleased to look at the boat able to go around marks after a couple of weeks like the day before. So, I think it's a big signal and a big motivation for the team to have one week off during the Christmas period and come back stronger in January.”

Talking specifically about the repair effort, Max said: “It was big because it was a big portion of the boat and so it was quite big and it takes time to fix it because there is a few process you cannot cut during the rebuild or the component of the boat. I think everyone understood since day one there was a big request from the team and from everyone to do a big push and be back in the water and I think again it’s an important signal not just on the outside but mainly for the team itself. We are just ten months away from the Cup, so it’s pretty important to keep the momentum and the pressure up. I think it was a big reaction and is a learn for the future and for the big boat, so is a big lesson. I think obviously it’s never a good day when you have big damage like that but at the same time it’s a big lesson and a big learning process for the big boat, so I think it happened in the right moment of the campaign.”

And talking about the analysis of the nosedive that looked to happen in a fairly benign sea state, Max confirmed: “It was a number of factors, it was a pretty big nosedive that was more than 2G force in the nosedive so it was quite big and in reality we never had sent it that big like that, so it was something new but again I think it happened in the right time of the campaign, so I mean is a lesson.”

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli are scheduled to sail again tomorrow before the team, and particularly the outstanding Shore Team, take a well-earned Christmas break before re-setting again in 2024. (Magnus Wheatley)