Prada's
summer training session is over (08/06/01) (source
: prada-press.com)
The crew of Luna Rossa completed their summer
training session in Punta Ala last Saturday, 4 August.
The team is now busy packing the boats up and de-mobilizing
the operations base which shuts down as the activities
relocate first to England for the America's Cup
Jubilee (18-25 August) and then to Auckland, New
Zealand, by the end of September.
Of the four IACC boats belonging to team Prada,
Luna Rossa ITA 45 (winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup
2000) is now being shipped to Cowes, on the Isle
of Wight, where she will join the celebrations and
commemorative regattas of the America's Cup 150
anniversary. At the end of August she will leave
directly from Cowes for her long voyage to New Zealand.
The shipping dates for Luna Rossa ITA 48 and the
two black boats Young America USA 53 and 58, are
yet to be finalized. Two Tom 28s, small one-designs
used by the team for in-house match race practice,
will also be shipped to Auckland.
Just over one year is to go before the start of
the next Louis Vuitton Cup (commencing October 2002),
and each hour of work, both at sea and on shore,
is extremely valuable for the team in their mission
to reach the goals that have been set.
The Prada design team has had a wonderful set of
tools (an amazing four IACC boats) to work with
over this period of training, with the aim of testing
new solutions, materials and technologies. It will
take a few more months before the building of the
new hulls - two as allowed by the XXXI America's
Cup rules - begins in Italy, and this is the critical
phase when the so-called "wish list" for each new
boat has to be finalized in great detail.
A good part of the crew's sailing program over the
last two months has been devoted to testing and
carrying out various technical evaluations. Thus,
the team has had the possibility of putting the
designers' ideas to the tough and severe test of
sea, wind and waves. Each new modification on the
hulls, rig and sails has been checked almost in
real time. The crew alternated these long and tiring
testing days with intense match race practice both
on the big boats and on the small one-design yachts.
Francesco de Angelis wraps up this session: "We
have just completed a very intense working period
for all the team. In two months of sailing (June
and July) we focused on many different projects
related to hulls, masts and sails. We are satisfied
with the results achieved. Thanks to an outstanding
level of teamwork we have been able to use all of
the four IACC yachts in our possession. This has
enabled us to study and verify multiple solutions,
both from a technical and a design point of view,
in a very short time frame. Despite the huge amount
of work on the America's Cup Class yachts we were
able to fulfill our match race training program
on smaller boats, both in Punta Ala and elsewhere".
"Three complete Prada crews - with Rod Davis,
Gavin Brady and myself as skippers - switched on
the international circuit in Italy and overseas,
racing in a completely different environment from
the one we are used to working with every day. The
experience gained during the last campaign has enabled
us to approach this project from a different perspective.
We can now focus on details that we had no time
to take into consideration in the past due to the
different priorities".
Last
training week in Italy for Prada (07/30/01) (source
: prada-press.com)
An intense week to come for Team Prada, whose
last day of sailing in Tuscan waters is scheduled
for Saturday 4 August. Francesco de Angelis and
his crew will be training on Luna Rossa ITA 48 and
Young America.
Luna Rossa ITA 45 is being shipped over to Cowes,
UK, where she will be competing in the America's
Cup Jubilee (18-25 August).
From next Sunday the team will begin the demobilization
work of the compound in Punta Ala which will be
shut down as the team will relocate to Auckland,
New Zealand, in September..
Prada
evaluates possibility to move italian base (06/19/01) (source
: prada-press.com)
Team Prada confirms that the possibility of
moving their Italian operations base from Punta
Ala to Elba Island is being taken into consiferation.
The website www.joinelba.it
published today the words of Mr Ruggero Barbetti,
Mayor of Capoliveri, according to whom the team
of Luna Rossa is probably going to relocate to Elba.
Prada
is training once again in Punta Ala (05/31/01) (source
: prada-press.com)
Team Prada is training once again in the Mediterranean
Sea with the International America's Cup Class yachts,
unloaded four days ago from the ship which brought
them over to the northern hemisphere. It was only
six weeks ago that Luna Rossa and Young America
were sailing every day in the Hauraki Gulf in New
Zealand, at the opposite end of the world.
Sailing team, shore team, staff, boats and equipment
are now back at "home" in the operations base in
the secluded village of Punta Ala, in Tuscany. All
is ready for intense training to commence once more.
Over the next few months the team will focus on
tests, technical evaluations and in-house racing.
This period will be of great importance for the
Prada design team who are working on the new boats
that shall be launched in approximately one year's
time.
Francesco de Angelis has had the difficult task
of putting the boats together (the keel, bulb and
mast are taken apart when shipped), rigging and
fine tuning them with the help of the shore team
and his crew. Early next week both Luna Rossa and
Young America should be sailing together once again.
In the meantime the crew has kept in top shape with
match race practice on small one design boats. Rod
Davis and Gavin Brady yesterday finished racing
in Split, Croatia, for the ACI Ronhill Cup included
in the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour. Gavin,
together with Alberto Barovier, Sean Clarkson, Steve
Erickson and Lorenzo Mazza, finished second behind
successful title defender Dean Barker (New Zealand)
after a very intense series of round robins, semis
and finals. Rod Davis, racing with Francesco Bruni,
Thomas Burnham, David Blanchfield and Carter Perrin,
finished sixth.
In August team Prada and Luna Rossa will be in Cowes,
Great Britain, for the America's Cup Jubilee, the
event organised by the Royal Yacht Squadron and
the New York Yacht Club to celebrate the 150th "birthday"
of the America's Cup.
With the partying over, team Prada will have to
move "home" once again. From mid September boats,
equipment and people will relocate to the operations
base in Auckland for the southern hemisphere summer.
.
Prada
: Work in progress (05/23/01) (source
: prada-press.com)
Team Prada is back, once again, in their home
waters off the coast of Tuscany. While the shore
team is working hard to prepare the IACC boats and
all the equipment, the sailing team practices match
racing on the "small" Tom 28. The first sail with
an IACC boat is scheduled for Monday 28 May.
Two crews left today from Punta Ala to compete in
the ACI Cup in Split, Croatia (24-30 May), grade
1 match racing included in the Swedish Match Grand
Prix Sailing Tour. Rod Davis will team up with David
"Rat" Blanchfield, Francesco "Checco" Bruni, Thomas
Burham and Carter Perrin. Gavin Brady will race
with Alberto "Albi" Barovier, Sean Clarkson, Steve
Erickson and Lorenzo "Lo" Mazza.
Prada
Challenge is ready to restart (04/07/01) (source
: prada-press.com)
All is ready, once again, for team Prada to
commence training at their operation base in Punta
Ala. All the crew is back home and in two weeks
time they will be sailing again in the Mediterranean
sea.
Rod Davis and his crew - Paolo Bassani, Gavin Brady,
Sean Clarkson, Massimo Galli and Carter Perrin -
have just returned from Long Beach, USA, where they
competed in the Congressional Cup finishing fourth
overall behind Peter Holmberg, winner of the event,
Bertrand Pacé and Ken Read.
The next scheduled match race is for Francesco de
Angelis who will be competing in Rimini, Italy,
from 6 to 9 June for the grade 2 event "BluRimini".
Last
training week for Prada in Auckland (04/06/01) (source
: prada-press.com)
For Team Prada this it
was the last training week with Luna Rossa and Young
America in the Hauraki Gulf before the departure
to Italy for the summer session. At sea this week,
italian IACC with Francesco de Angelis, Rod Davis
and respective crews. Gavin Brady was back from
the Australia Cup he finished second
together with Sean Clarkson, Lorenzo Mazza, Steve
Erickson and Alberto Barovier.
A series of low pressure systems has been storming
through Auckland for the past three days. The wind
is blowing at over 40 knots with violent rain squalls.
The only time when the team can go out sailing is
at sunrise as the wind eases during the night. After
a few hours the wind starts blowing again.
From today everybody is busy packing up all the
equipment which has to be shipped to Italy - boats,
sails, tenders, rigs, etc... Five weeks are necessary
for the cargo ship to reach the Mediterranean sea.
Part of the team is still training at sea with in-house
match racing sessions on the small MRXs. By mid
April the operations base in Auckland will be shut
down for the southern hemisphere winter season..
Torben Grael, tactician on Luna
Rossa during the last America's Cup, has re-joined
team Prada and is training once again in the Hauraki
Gulf. Grael will remain in Auckland until the beginning
of April when, with the Southern hemisphere summer
over, team Prada will return once again to Italy.
After winning the Louis Vuitton Cup and sailing the
America's Cup with skipper Francesco de Angelis, Torben
immersed himself into his Olympic campaign for Sydney
2000. With his crew Marcelo Ferreira he won the bronze
medal in the Star Class. After a short rest with his
family in Brazil, Torben decided to devote himself
again to the America's Cup with the same team.
"I am extremely happy to be amongst so many friends
again," Grael said. "We worked hard together for three
years overcoming many difficulties and achieving excellent
results. Winning the Louis Vuitton Cup wasn't easy
and it would have been a great pity not to give it
another try. At the Sydney Olympic games I tried hard
to repeat the gold of Atlanta. Unfortunately, due
to the lack of training and the premature start in
the last race, we weren't able to reach the same result.
"However we won a bronze medal, which adds to my other
three Olympic titles. After the prolonged stress and
physical fatigue of the America's Cup and the Olympic
games I needed a good rest with my family in Brazil.
I am now ready to tackle a new America's Cup challenge
with team Prada."
Grael has won one gold, one silver and two bronze
medals at Olympic Games from 1984 through to 2000..
Prada
sails back into Hauraki
(02/10/01) (source : sailsail.com)
Both de Angelis and Prada's fashion
billionaire boss, Patrizio Bertelli, were determined
that the crew of Luna Rossa would return to Auckland
stronger and more determined for the 2003 cup.
The Team have just finished a Northern Hemisphere
summer sailing their IACC in Punta Ala and now, the
Prada testing programme begins in Auckland. Prada
is out on the water again, sharing the gulf with six
other boats from Oracle Racing, OneWorld and Team
New Zealand.
The team's facilities (the operations base, the gym,
the accommodation...) are still the same as the ones
used during the past America's Cup but three International
America's Cup (IACC) Class yachts two Luna Rossa
and one Young America were sent from Italy to Auckland
on a cargo ship.
Francesco de Angelis, skipper of Luna Rossa, met the
local media in Auckland to illustrate the training
programme over the next few months and explain the
main focus of the Team ("In a certain sense (we)
have to forget the past and look beyond").
Concerning the future boats, the napolitan said "we
need to focus on the research and development to be
carried out on the old boats in order to define the
features of the new ones" and that The America's
Cup formula is quite restrictive and has already been
widely explored. "All the teams have reached
the same high level of technical preparation, but
you always end up with someone who is a touch faster.
Each small innovative solution will be very important
and hard to overcome. The core of our design team
is still the same, but the group has been reinforced
with new people. The builders' team, who did a really
excellent job on the Luna Rossa yachts in the last
Cup, is still the same, too".
Concerning the test, he said that the Prada Challenge
will train in Auckland until the beginning of April
and during this period they will carry out tests and
in-house racing sessions. "We will also race
against other teams if we have the possibility to
do so."
Concerning the crew, "Our philosophy was to build
on the experience gained from the past America's Cup
and to reinforce the team with new acquisitions in
all the different departments without nationality
constraints. The core of the team is still the same
one that started working on the America's Cup project
three years ago". With this largest Team "A group
of sailors form our team will compete in all the major
events of the international match racing circuit.
Last time we were unable to do so as we had a smaller
sailing team and we had to interrupt the team's activity
when we went racing elsewhere."
If the budget for the next Cup hasn't been disclosed
yet, de Angelis explained "This time the resources
will be allocated differently as the set up costs,
such as operation bases, trial boats, etc., have already
been coped with last time. We will therefore have
more money to spend on research and development."
>> Beautiful
pictures from Carlo Borlenghi at: www.seasee.it
