America's Cup - Emirates Team NZ gets AC45 and more from Luna Rossa

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com on 20 Aug 2015 Emirates Team New Zealand has come to an arrangement with former Challenger of Record Luna Rossa to use an AC45 for testing and development.

The Italian boat will be used with a second AC45 the team are believed to have acquired from the former Australian team and is in addition to the AC45F (one Design) used on the America's Cup World Series of events.

That give the team their pre-budget cut AC45 fleet, which will enable Emirates Team NZ the ability to conduct proper testing, and also conduct crew selection trials and in-house racing.

That will get Team New Zealand up to the level of Oracle Team USA and Challengers - Artemis Racing, and Land Rover BAR - who have a similar fleet. It is not known what Softbank Team Japan will have in terms of its own fleet or if the team will continue to collaborate long term with the Defender Oracle Team USA.

Similarly for Groupama Team France, which initially announced that it too would be collaborating with Oracle Team USA and would get a complete design package from the Defender. But since the announcement of the sponsorship with Groupama, the team seems to have moved into a more self-reliant position.

The New Zealand team has also employed several members of the Luna Rossa team, and they will work alongside the existing Kiwi team members in the Halsey St base.

About ten containers are now located outside the Team NZ base. A deal has also been done for a chase boat that will save the cost-conscious team vital cash.

Reconnect with tradtion
Of late the America's Cup has often been accused of stepping away from its traditions. The donation of gear from one Challenger to another re-opens the convention that a Challenger, who has exited the Cup competition offers to donate its resources to another Challenger, who is still in contention. The thinking being that they all share, or should share, the common objective of beating the Defender for the America's Cup. The same applied in the US Defence Trials from 1956 to 1983, as the Defenders worked together to retain the Cup for the New York Yacht Club.

The acquisition of the resources from Luna Rossa should come as no surprise to Cup-watchers. Sail-World.com predicted the move from the time the Italian team, and then-Challenger of Record announced that it was withdrawing from the 35th America's Cup. That shock move came after four teams voted to were arbitrarily change the class of yacht to be used in the Cup from the AC62 to a smaller boat - which is now announced as the AC50.

Luna Rossa did not believe that the boat should be changed without the consent of all teams. Emirates Team NZ agreed with that position, and within hours of making a statement to that effect on social media lost the Qualifier that had been agreed to be sailed in Auckland.

Ironically Luna Rossa had generously agreed to a Protocol change that would allow the Challengers to use the veto of the Challenger of Record on a democratic basis. Had Luna Rossa not made their offer, and had retained the right of Veto as Challenger of record, then they would have been able to block the change and would still be in the America's Cup.

The price of their support of Luna Rossa, and consequential loss of the Qualifier series, in turn, cost the team a multimillion sponsorship package from the New Zealand Government. That loss in turn triggered a massive restructuring of the team's budgets and strategy.

Acquisition of the Italian AC45 means that Team New Zealand will be able to catch up some of the valuable time lost over the tumultuous two years since the 34th America's Cup.

Three other teams have already commenced their on the water design development programs using the AC45 surrogate boats. These have been modified to mimic the characteristics of the larger AC50 - of which the Challengers will be allowed to build just one boat and the Defenders two. The Luna Rossa boat is tiller steered and will need to be modified to be a proper trial horse. The modifications required to change a 2013 vintage AC45 into an AC45S include wider D section beams, an adjustable foiling system, fitting of wheel steering and grinding pedestals and new wingsail. About 50% of the boat is modified.

Luna Rossa has only released one of their two foiling AC45's, the other is expected to remain in storage, at the team's base in Cagliari, Italy. The highly principled Patron of the Italian Team, Patrizio Bertelli is unlikely to let his remaining boat go to one of the teams that voted for the change of boat, nine months after entries had closed.

A longstanding relationship
Luna Rossa has a long association with New Zealand, going back to the 2000 America's Cup, where they were the Challenger and skipper Francesco de Angelis became the first foreigner to receive an Honorary ONZM.

That relationship continued for the 2013 America's Cup when the Italian team decided to make a late entry and came to an arrangement with Emirates Team NZ to acquire one of the team's designs. That move sparked the ire of Oracle Team USA and Artemis Racing, who complained to the International Jury and were successful in having some restraints put on the sailing and training arrangements.

Team NZ principal and Dalton's close friend, Matteo de Nora is an Italian and is believed to have played a key role in the transaction.

The move keeps Luna Rossa in the America's Cup game and positioned to contest the 36th edition of the Cup. The Italian team members will help keep the Italian nucleus up to speed, reducing the gap when they re-enter the America's Cup.

'We obviously are extremely grateful to Luna Rossa,' said ETNZ CEO Grant Dalton. 'Naturally we hope that such a great team and valued part of America’s Cup history will be back in the Cup for the next edition.”

Dalton is now based in Lymington UK to allow him to pursue sponsorship opportunities for the team in Europe.

?In other moves, the Emirates Team New Zealand sailing crew begin to depart this week to begin preparations for Gothenburg for the second Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series, where Glenn Ashby and crew aim to build on their strong performance in Portsmouth.

Meanwhile Peter Burling and Blair Tuke continue to lead the 49er fleet at the Olympic Test event in Rio midway through the regatta.