America's Cup Recon Diary: March 17 - Luna Rossa report on AC40 training. ETNZ tweak rig.
by Richard Gladwell, ETNZ Recon and Luna Rossa 18 Mar 18:32 PDT
19 March 2026
Luna Rossa - AC40 - Bay of Angels - Cagliari - March 17, 2026 © Giulia Caponnetto/Luna Rossa Team
No formal reconnaissance Recon is being undertaken by the ACP Recon teams for AC40 training. It is over to the teams to self-report on these sessions. The Italian Challenger has been diligent with these self-reports and has provided images of the sessions.
On Wednesday, Emirates Team New Zealand rigged their AC75, with more rake. But due to a light air forecast, gave away sailing for Wednesday. Today, Thursday, the team launched at 1000hrs and headed out into the Hauraki Gulf, after rigging up off North Head. The AC75, hoisted what looked to be a #2 jib, and we able to get self-foiling easily despite only light winds. Our guess is that they are on auto-pilot for foil control (normal for consistency in speed and performance testing), or they have devised a new manual foiling control mechanism which appears to be very good indeed. After rigging, Emirates Team NZ headed between Motuihe and Motutapu Islands, headed for the outer Hauraki Gulf. Where they would expect to find a stable breeze, and flat sea state - ideal speed testing conditions.
However, that breeze didn't have much substance, and on the Waitemata harbour the breeze died progressively, and the Kiwis returned home mid-afternoon. An update will be provided later.
It would seem that the Kiwis are making some setup changes to improve their Barcelona 2024 configuration, and want to run comparative testing to see if these changes have a positive effect, without muddling that data with performance data once they begin altering wingfoil shapes later in the summer/autumn sailing sessions.
On Tuesday, Luna Rossa trained in two AC40s, with Peter Burling and Josh Junior co-helming against each other. It was the first time in the eight session that the Italian time has reported, on two-boat AC40 training, that Burling and Junior have sailed against each other. Josh Junior has been sailing one boat, for part of one session since training started on February 13.
The session indicates that the Italians are putting a harder edge onto their program. The alternate helms paired with Burling and Junior were Ruggerio Tita and Marco Gradoni, designated as the next Italian afterguard following the team's demonstration sail after they were eliminated in the Challenger Final in Barcelona.
Luna Rossa Report - March 17, 2026
Description: Luna Rossa 2 Boat sailing session - Self report by the team.
Dock out: 13:30hrs Dock in: 17:30hrs
Conditions: 7-18 kts Southerly with flat water at the beginning, choppy in the end
Comments: Started the day with the J1 and a few line-ups for warming up the crew with very light wind. We then moved to some drills, upwind and downwind. After a small break, we then started with a few prestarts and some 1-lap races. The wind was around 7kts for the first 15 minutes of sailing, but was building quickly to 18kts. Some more laps with the J2 and some starting drills.
One more break to change the crew on Boat2 and the batteries on both boats, and put the J3 on both boats.
The wind slowly dropped after 3.00pm. The team finished the day with the breeze at 8-10kts. Boat 2 (B2) sailed a bit longer (around 20min after B1 dock in).
"It was an awesome day sailing today," said Peter Burling on video. "We got a lot more wind than we thought on after 20 knots at times and a bit of bump. It was nice racing the two boats against one another. And a super fun day."
Sail selection: J1; J2; J3
Crew B1: Gradoni, Burling, Ugolini, Bissaro
Crew B2: Josh Junior, Tita, Santi, Molineris
Crew Swaps: Giubilei (B2) and Porro (B1)
Emirates Team NZ Report - by the ACP Recon Unit assigned to ETNZ.
Summary: No sailing - Boat roll out and rig check process.
The Recon Unit were advised that Emirates Team New Zealand intended to roll out and step the rig but that the team was 50/50 as to whether they would sail.
The forecast and wind strength for this week in Auckland has been very light and the Recon Unit were updated this morning to say that they will not be sailing.
At the time of writing this report (Wednesday afternoon), it is currently "mirror calm" on the Hauraki Gulf - showing that ETNZ made an informed decision not to have potentially wasted a sailing day in these conditions.
Activities timeline:
Roll out 0855hrs, Rig #3 rolled out and hooked up to the crane.
At 0910, it appeared the team were experiencing a technical issue communicating with the crane operator. This put a delay in the process until it appeared their radio was replaced, and the process could resume.
The mast was lifted into the boat, connected, the rake was checked, the boat was lifted up and then removed and put back into the shed.
It appeared there was an adjustment to the mast rake - rake aft. This was indicated by the mast being pulled a long way further aft than previously to pin the stays. The back stay purchase system was also shortened when attached.
The mast rake was measured using an electronic level on the back of the mast. It was unclear, but there was some technical difficulty with what appeared to be the forestay load reading.
The Recon Unit walked around Wynyard Basin to try to get a clear 90° shot of the mast to capture the mast rake.
Looking ahead - ETNZ intend to sail tomorrow (Thursday 19th March), where the forecast is looking a little more promising [S-W: Which they did, see some comments above].