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The Luna Rossa appears to have taken a leaf out of the New Zealand team book after making some modifications to her boat ahead of the Prada Cup challenge series later this month.
Italian sailing website Navigation Luna Rossa reported that it had built fairings around the cockpits of its AC75, copying a Team NZ approach in an attempt to “optimize aerodynamics” and “reduce crew drag.”
Phil Walter / Getty Images
Luna Rossa has reportedly modified her boat since the World Series regatta.
The website posted a photo of the modified boat in the water, adding that “the age measure was hypothesized by various observers after seeing the best fairing in Te Rehutai.”
Not surprisingly, the Italian union has looked to its rivals to find an advantage.
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The America’s Cup has never been a game where teams are shy about stealing a better concept from an opponent and all teams would have been reviewing footage from last month’s World Series regatta, the first time these AC75 radicals met. compete in a competition.
“You look around the fleet and there are a lot of really good ideas on the other ships,” American Magic Captain and CEO Terry Hutchinson said last week.
“It’s good to see that some of our ideas seem to be working. At the same time, [we may] grab a couple of others that we can implement in our own sails or techniques. “
It also wouldn’t be the first time Luna Rossa has altered her design as they compete to earn the right to challenge Team NZ for the Auld Cup starting March 6.
Phil Walter / Getty Images
The New Zealand team in action during last month’s World Series.
While the Luna Rossa made the smallest and least obvious changes to its second boat compared to the other three teams, they modified the skeg that ran down the middle of the hull almost immediately after it was launched. That brought them closer to their rivals’ helmet theories.
There has also been talk that they may have devised a more economical grinding system that gives more influence to the movement of the arms of their grinders.
The rest of the fleet will have a better indication of the changes the Italians have made when the Prada Cup kicks off on January 15.
