Luna Rossa gear up for Extreme 40 circuit

by Team Luna Rossa Media on 13 Jan 2011
Team Luna Rossa has annnounced that they have started to prepare for the 2011 'Extreme Sailing Series', the championship designed for Extreme 40' class catamarans. The Extreme Sailing Series is one of the most challenging and spectacular circuits in world-class professional sailing; its 9 international events calendar spans over the entire year 2011, starting on Feb 20th in Muscat, Oman, with a final race scheduled from December 9th to 11th in Singapore.

The ultra-light Extreme 40' catamarans (about 12 meters long) have a crew of four and can reach 25 knots of speed; each event provides spectacular fleet racing in which duels are often won at just a few meters from the finishing line.

'Luna Rossa's skipper will be Max Sirena, with Paul Campbell-James, current Extreme Sailing Series Champion, at the helm. Completing the crew are Alister Richardson (tactician), Manuel Modena and Giulio Giovanella. The team is coordinated by Antonio Marrai - Team Manager - , with Ben Durham in the role of coach and Gianni Tognozzi in charge of shore operations.

Team Luna Rossa will be sponsored by Prada.

Sail-World: Luna Rossa competed in several Louis Vuitton Cups and were the Challenger in the 2000 America's Cup in New Zealand. In the others they always a semi-finalist or finalist. The team has been competing in various monohull circuits since 2007, and this is their first move into multihulls. It could be an indicator of a prospective Challenge for the 34th America's Cup, to be sailed in catamarans, from the Italian team led by the fiery Patrizio Bertelli. Several other former competitors in the America's Cup have signed up for the 2011 Extreme 40 circuit, including Alinghi and Emirates Team NZ.