James Spithill joins Luna Rossa

by Di Pearson on 22 Apr 2004 Aussie match racing specialist, James Spithill, has signed with the Italian Luna Rossa America’s Cup Challenge.

Originally from Sydney’s Northern Beaches,
‘Jimmy’ had his first America’s Cup taste at 19 years of age with Syd Fischer’s ‘Young Australia’ team in 1999.

The newly engaged Spithill, who is expected to marry later this year, signed on as helmsman for Luna Rossa at the start of 2004 with the impressive Francesco de Angelis as skipper, and has taken some of those original ‘Young Australia’ crew members with him to the Italian camp, including Joey Newton, Andy Fethers and Ben Durham.

It is interesting to note that although Spithill and his Aussie counterparts have match-raced themselves around the world, their most notable successes have all occurred in Italy, with Grade 1 wins in Garda (twice), Ravenna, Trieste and were runners-p at the 2003 Worlds in Riva (with some Italian crew at some events).

As helmsman of Oneworld, Spithill's highlight was the elimination of Prada in the semi-final repechage – another quirky coincidence.

Also included in the new-look team are the talented American McKee brothers – Jonathan and Charlie. Amongst their many triumphs, the pair won Bronze at the Sydney Olympic Games in the 49er class.

It is envisaged that each person’s position with Luna Rossa will be determined by their performance, as it was with OneWorld and on the face of it, this could be the team to give Alinghi a shake-up.

They are young, talented, very experienced and well funded, so expect to see a very focused and productive campaign.

The former Prada Team is another wealthy campaign led by Patrizio Bertelli and was the first to hit the waters of Valencia – new home of the Cup.

This new-look challenge now has three designers, but only one from the original cast - Claudio Maletto, who will be joined by Bruce Nelson (OneWorld 2003 and Young America 2000) and Roberto Biscontini (Oracle Racing 2003).
Will be interesting to see who is steering the yacht come the first Challenger Series in October – de Angelis or Spithill?

Luna Rossa is set to carry out tests and training in Valencia in the lead-up to the Cup.