Luna Rossa is ‘looking forward to racing … in the next … America’s Cup’

Luna Rossa has issued a statement which begins with reflecting on its ‘intense and emotional campaign’ and ends with looking forward, specifically ‘to returning to racing on the AC75s in the next edition of the America’s Cup’. And in the middle of the statement the team says it’s ‘even more excited at the prospect of coming back stronger, in the hope that the cup will continue to enclose the spirit that has distinguished it throughout all these years.’

Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) competed not only in the water, but also in the media sphere where combative statements were issued to the press – for example the spat about using the inner harbour. It’s not hard to read between the lines, especially since speculative reports are already dismissing multiple teams from the next iteration. A deed of gift match is being mooted for the Isle of Wight. That would see only Ineos Team UK and ETNZ compete, leaving no room for those ‘looking forward to racing’.

While Ineos Team UK financier Sir Jim Ratcliffe says no decisions have been made, speculation has been further fuelled by Grant Dalton (ETNZ’s CEO) saying the Isle of Wight is an option.

“Certainly the Isle of Wight is an option,” Dalton told the New Zealand Herald. “We want to come back, but we also have to think of the team and ultimately my responsibility is primarily to the welfare and the strength and the ability to defend the cup.”

Ratcliffe has been less forthcoming

“Where we’ll finish up and when we’ll finish up is still being debated,” Ratcliffe told Newstalk ZB. “There are different potential scenarios. Whatever it will be, it will be a good cup because I think these AC75s are so exciting and it’s a close competition.

“Everybody’s read the rumours in the press, and they’re things I’m not really at liberty to comment on. All I can say is we’ll engage in discussions with Grant Dalton and his guys and hopefully we’ll come up with a good answer.”

Court case hypothesis

Commodore Christopher Culver from the New York Yacht Club says it would not support a deed of gift match.

“The two previous deed of gift matches, in 1988 and 2010, were distinct low points in the history of the America’s Cup,” says Culver.

“Regardless of the conditions, the New York Yacht Club will not support a deed of gift match or an America’s Cup competition that, due to the schedule and rules for competition, is effectively open to only the defender and challenger of record.

“Each of those America’s Cup cycles drew 10 or more teams to compete for the Auld Mug and the significant commercial interest necessary to support such a grand event. To waste this confluence of opportunity on a two-team event, to potentially once again plunge the competition into the New York State Courts, is not in the best interests of the America’s Cup or the sport of sailing.”

Accept the result

‘Defeat is never easy to accept,’ says Luna Rossa’s statement, ‘but this is sport, this is sailing and this is the America’s Cup. Sometimes it is brutal, but you have to accept the result and learn from mistakes. If you don’t give up you have never really lost, and this is the essence that characterises Luna Rossa.

‘We are happy to have gotten this far and even more excited at the prospect of coming back stronger, in the hope that the cup will continue to enclose the spirit that has distinguished it throughout all these years, making it the most coveted and fascinating sailing trophy of all times.

‘We have proved that we were a worthy challenger, with important values both on land and on the water.

‘We look forward to returning to racing on the AC75s in the next edition of the America’s Cup.’

Medals awarded to wider team

Prada, sponsor of the 36th America’s Cup, has awarded all 150 members of the winning team with a silver medal manufactured by an Italian laboratory. This, it says, is in recognition for all those who have contributed to the final victory. It is the first time in the history of the America’s Cup that such an initiative has been extended to the entire winning team.

The 9cm diameter medal, weighs 150 grams.

Images courtesy of Studio Borlenghi.