America's Cup- Luna Rossa takes World Series result on the chin

by Luna Rossa on 8 Oct 2012
Sunday was the final day of the second America’s Cup World Series of San Francisco. The format of the final regatta is such that the winner scores extra 40 points.

Luna Rossa Swordfish, in spite of its strong start at the head of the fleet, was covered at the first gate and rounded the mark slowly, that cost the boat a loss of five positions. On the first downwind the umpires inflicted Iker Martinez a penalty that further compromised the final result. Luna Rossa Piranha, slightly early on the starting line, was forced to slow down and sail in the back of the fleet. Draper’s boat was unable to regain the delay accumulated from the start and closed the race in ninth place.

Luna Rossa closes this San Francisco event with an elimination from the match race ranking in the qualifiers, and with respectively a ninth place (Piranha) and eleventh (Swordfish) in the overall fleet race ranking.

Massimiliano Sirena, skipper of Luna Rossa Challenge 2013: I’ve already said this recently: we were prepared for the difficulties that could arise from a crew change and from almost a month of inactivity due to the move of our team to New Zealand. This week has been the worst in the history of our team but we consider it an investment in the future: our goal is a strong and homogeneous team and to reach this we must accept that there will be some obstacles on the way. On the other hand you can only measure the true level of your competitors when you’re racing and we wanted our new crew members to make the most of this opportunity. Now we’re ready to move forward and concentrate on the AC 72 with which we will race in the America’s Cup, our ultimate goal.'

Iker Martinez, helmsman of Luna Rossa Swordfish:'I am obviously very disappointed by the result; I know that if this were my standard of performance I would not be here today! Needless to say I was hoping to do better and it could be that my sailing was affected by an 'indigestion' of many nautical miles and by the huge demands of races such as have been the Volvo and the Olympic Games. After this 'under-performance' however I am more determined than ever to reach my habitual level of competitiveness as quickly as possible on this type of boat.'

Chris Draper, helmsman of Luna Rossa Piranha: 'I am very disappointed in the results but most of all in how we sailed. From day one we realized that the other teams had made much more progress than us during the past three weeks. This is because we priviledge the preparation of the AC 72 boat compared to the training on AC 45 catamarans that are only an intermediate step towards the America’s Cup, our ultimate goal. So, although disappointing, we have to take it on the chin and move forward with determination.'

General Ranking – Fleet racing

1. Oracle Team USA - Spithill, 79 pt.
2. J.P. Morgan BAR, 79 pt.
3. Artemis Racing White, 72 pt.
4. Emirates Team New Zealand, 57 pt.
5. Oracle Team USA - Coutts, 56 pt.
6. Artemis Racing Red, 52 pt.
7. Energy Team, 47 pt.
8. Team Korea, 40 pt.
9. Luna Rossa Piranha, 36 pt.
10. China Team, 28 pt.
11. Luna Rossa Swordfish, 20 pt.