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The appointment is for 3 (Italian time) on December 17 and 15 in New Zealand, one of the few Covid-free countries in the world. The Prada America’s Cup World Series begins, the first and last regatta in which the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, will be able to compete twice with each of the three Challengers, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, American Magic and Ineos Team UK, before the 36th. America’s Cup scheduled for March 2021.
At that point of the three aspiring challengers, only one will remain, the one that for the first time will have raised to the sky the brand new Prada Cup designed by Marc Newson and manufactured by Florentine silversmiths that replaces the Louis Vuitton Cup that from 1983 to 2017 crowned. the winner of the challenger selections.
Moor of Venice 1992 and Luna Rossa 2000 included. The America’s Cup, has been repeated countless times, is one of the oldest trophies in the world of sport. From 1851 until today, three centuries have passed, it has overcome two world wars, it has lived through profoundly different social, economic and technological times.
The America’s Cup, “The old Mug”, the old mug – renamed after the winner Schooner America, not the continent – in the intention of those who conquered it under the stars and stripes of the new world, beating in a regatta around the The Isle of Wight, the then dominant British navy, would be given away in perpetuity to reward the best, in terms of men and technological evolution, that individual nations could express. The first guardian of this tradition was the New York Yacht Club, the Trustee, who guarded and defended it for 132 long years.
Then in 1983 the Azzurra era, the Men of Australia II, after a couple of decades of trying, with a brilliant design solution, brought it down. Since then it has changed hands 6 times. After 1987, the last time of the fascinating 12m SI, we raced with different types of boats. We also passed the flying catamarans of San Francisco and Bermuda, when the Kiwis, who had lost the Cup in 2003 to the passionate sailor businessman of Roman origin Ernesto Bertarelli, that with Alinghi he had beaten them. Tonight, at first, there is a new class of boats that no one had imagined before, the AC 75 foiling, which many cannot even call boats.
Luna Rossa, the America’s Cup left New Zealand
Luna Rossa, second ship launched in Auckland
The truth is that somehow, although with some slack in the rules, the America’s Cup continues to advance according to the guidelines set by those who won it and put it into play in the mid-nineteenth century: those who run it represent the best in men and evolution. technology that the nation’s challenging yacht club – in the case of Luna Rossa, President Agostino Randazzo’s Circolo Vela Sicilia – knows and manages to express. THE AC75 To understand something about these flying objects that on the Italian night between December 16 and 17 we will see each other in a regatta for the first time in a first test that will see Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli face off, such as 20 years ago. , You need to study.
Being sailors, sailors, enthusiasts is not enough. Here we try to understand concepts such as “ground effect” “air effect” “center of lift”, “lift”. Terms not found in nautical dictionaries for now. The weight of the hulls of these vehicles is barely 6/7 tons, nothing compared to boats of the same length, that is, 22.86 meters with a 26 mast. total weight that cannot exceed 990kg. All because AC 75s have to take off, float on water. In fact, they have the hull that acquires studied shapes in terms of aerodynamics, which however must also be strong, muscular at the bow, because falling into the water, “delfinaggio” is a moment and the impact must not cause damage to the structure. Sailing? It is a wing formed by two skins that replaces -because it can be raised and lowered without the need for a crane at all times- the rigid one seen in multihulls in recent editions. But it is always a wing, hoisted on a tree in turn from the aerodynamic. The speed of these hulls with a wind of 6 knots reaches 30 in an instant. It can reach 50, which calculates that the apparent wind means a very high speed in the face.
Acceleration and power output are enormous. The candle settings are developed by human energy, those sailor-dynamos who operate the coffee grinders. The old rudders have in part given way to video game sticks. These helmets no longer straighten due to multi-ton bulbs. Everything becomes a game of take-off, of balance in the lee foil, of flight management, because what emerges from the team’s bases is that whoever flies first and most, possibly near the water, and manages to turn more smoothly , He is the right one. which has the advantage. It is no coincidence that the role of the strategist who once smelled and felt the wind changes changes and the “flight controller” becomes important. Due to Covid, all teams have a shortage of hours in the second boats launched in October (the regulation only allows two hulls and a limited number of predefined pieces, some the same for all and others, such as foils, left to the technological creativity of the individual teams) and without a doubt what begins today is a path of exponential growth in the performance of each vehicle.
Regattas
Patrizio Bertelli has always said that he wanted to go back to monohulls, to racing. Those of the 36th America’s Cup are very sui generis monohulls and it is not clear how “tight” the exit maneuvers, the circuits, can be. In fact, the entry times in the exit zone are only 2 minutes with 10 seconds of advantage for those who enter from a predefined side. The navigation instructions also set up a kind of virtual magical rumble around the helmets and movable arms that mount the blades and give the AC 75 an appearance of sci-fi animals. If the competitors cross the magical rumble, the judges fire at the Water. sanction, which will be fulfilled by stopping the vehicle during the defined and communicated seconds. The high speeds to which, say the men in the team, without women in the crew, get used to, require unusual reaction speeds and the need for automatisms.
From a safety point of view, helmets, oxygen canisters, respirators, protections, first aid kits, are now the look that makes you smile when you think of the blazers you wear over white or burgundy pants by the patterns of the America’s Cup. Newport. The duration of the regattas also changes, in principle around 25/30 minutes. As for the intensity of the wind, for these races – it will increase slightly for the final – it must be at least 6.1 and a maximum of 21 knots. A lower intensity than phosphorous to protect the media. Yes, because in addition to the dexterity of the men and the tuning and performance of the vehicles, one of the great variables is breakdowns. Even those who have had fewer failures and accidents will prevail and prevail. For years, America’s Cup boats have been talked about as the Formula 1 of the sea. It was not true. It was just a saying. These AC75s, on the other hand, yes and from tonight we will understand how much.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE RACES
Rai will follow the event with Rai Play and Rai 2 live from 2.50 to 6 and reruns on Raisport + HD from 8.15 to 11.25. The conductor Giulio Guazzini who via Skype will involve experts: from Edoardo Bianchi, to Ruggero Tita, world champion of the Nacra 17 Olympic flight class, passing through De Angelis and Pelaschier, to the protagonists in Auckland in the post-race.
Last update: December 17th at 00:50
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