Prada signal America's Cup involvement, Alinghi helmsman hired
by Stuart Alexander on 20 Apr 2010
Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman Dean barker shakes hands with Alinghi helmsman Ed Baird after ETNZ beat Alinghi in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Trophy three races top one. Chris Cameron/ETNZ
http://www.chriscameron.co.nz
Italian fashion house Prada signalled its return to the America's Cup scene when it announced today that it will compete in the Louis Vuitton trophy regatta in La Maddalena, Sardinia, next month.
Racing under the name Luna Rossa, Patrizio Bertelli, a three-time America's Cup campaigner and chairman of the Prada group, has asked the American Ed Baird to skipper the Louis Vuitton crew and, it is thought, the team will go on to contest the third Lous Vuitton regatta this year, in Dubai, and the first in 2010 in Hong Kong.
He will have two Brazilians with nearly two handsful of Olympic medals, Robert Scheidt and Torben Grael, alongside him but will not be with them on the parallel TP52 which joins the Audi MedCup circuit in Cascais, Lisbon, next month.
Emirates Team New Zealand will be in Portugal defending its 2009 title, as Britain's Ben Ainslie leads his home America's Cup team, Origin, at both regattas alongside the Swedish Cup contenders Artemis and Russia's Synergy.
For the rest of this story http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/sailing/prada-signal-americas-cup-involvement-1948632.html!click_here
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