America’s Cup: Watch as Luna Rossa takes to Barcelona waters

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli has conducted its first sailing session at the 37th America’s Cup venue. It joined NYYC American Magic and Alinghi Red Bull Racing, which were all out training.

Luna Rossa sailor, Francesco Bruni, says: “It was a very good day, nice sea breeze, we had a very good first part of the sailing session and we did a lot of manoeuvres. The boat was behaving very well, it was our first day in Barcelona which is a very important moment for the team. Then we did a crew swap and in one of the gybes the rudder came out of the water, maybe the sea state was becoming a little bit bigger and just a little mistake ended up in a capsize, which for these boats is quite normal, but we wanted to do a shorter session anyway. We broke the wind instruments on the bow sprit, so we decided to go in.”

Bruni says: “I think today was not a crazy day for waves, there were some waves for sure, it was not a flat spot, but I’m sure that we will see more than today. Definitely, it was more waves than the wind, a little bit of the sea state… was a little bit confused, but yeah very interesting conditions for sure.”

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli will maintain its base in Cagliari for the continued work on the LEQ12 development prototype and split its time between training in Barcelona and Sardinia.

The 37th America’s Cup will take place between August and October 2024 in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia.

Three preliminary regattas will take place before then. The first is in Vilanova i La Geltrú between 14-17 September 2023, the second in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (30 November to 3 December 2023) and the third in August 2024 in Barcelona. The first two regattas will be raced in strict one-design AC40s. All the America’s Cup teams will race in their new AC75s for the final preliminary regatta in Barcelona.

All six of the confirmed entries for AC37 in Barcelona will be fielding both Youth & Puig women’s America’s Cup teams, representing their confirmed clubs from New Zealand, Great Britain, America, Italy, Switzerland and France. The six remaining teams that form the other side of the grouping come from Spain (Royal Barcelona Yacht Club), The Netherlands (Royal Netherlands Yacht Club & Royal Maas Yacht Club), Canada (Royal Vancouver Yacht Club), Germany (Kieler Yacht Club 3.V & Norddeutscher Regatta Verein), Sweden (Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club) and Australia (Cruising Yacht Club of Australia). The Youth & Puig Women’s America’s Cup events will take place through September and October 2024 with finals expected on 2 October (youth) and 16 October (women).

Organisers of the cup are looking for a huge number of organisational roles to be filled by volunteers such as supporting the America’s Cup trophy as it travels around Barcelona; ‘green angels’ promoting sustainability; VIP and America’s Cup village support; marshal support out on the water; stake boat support to manage the America’s Cup racecourse; Port Olímpic fan zone support; and superyacht programme support.