Anyone who followed the Joint Reconnaissance programme over the last two years will be well aware of just how serious Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli is about winning the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Their campaign has been near-faultless, fusing outstanding technology and design with high-intensity pressure sailing day in and day out.
Based out of an amazing facility on the dockside in Cagliari, the Italian team has been a happy collective, revelling in the challenge and pushing relentlessly hard in all areas. The team elected to build a truly stunning LEQ12, almost a scaled-down version of the Cup winning boat ‘Te Rehutai’ of Emirates Team New Zealand and put it to work to hone the sailors and design team. The results were incredible and served up some of the most memorable images and footage of this cycle. In a breeze they were simply sublime and their focus was one of humility and continual learning.
When the team revealed and launched their AC75 with Miuccia Prada performing the naming ceremony alongside Patrizio Bertelli, there were gasps at the sheer beauty of what was before us and immediately the gathered crowd could see the no nonsense intent on winning this America’s Cup and bringing the trophy to Italy for the very first time. Hard to bet against, the sailors translated their LEQ12 performances immediately to the AC75 and since arriving in Barcelona they are the team that everyone is watching.