Update: High winds force postponment of first day of quarter-final racing. Ho-hum... 36% of racing days have been postponed due to wind conditions.

Luna Rossa: The deltas between 2000 & 2003

As ITA-80 is in the water undergoing tests to see whether it has improved performance over the already much improved ITA-74, it is time to consider the differences for Luna Rossa, as a challenger, between this edition and the previous one.

In the previous edition, Luna Rossa won all but 3 matches of the first three round robins. This year, Luna Rossa reached that plateau after only 4 races. In 1999, the boat was quickly dubbed the Silver Bullet. That term has not crossed anyone's mind this year. In fact, round robin 1 results were downright depressing pointing to much needed work in view of the quarter-finals.

But a minor miracle happened in the week between RRs. ITA-74 itself was radiacally modified and its competitiveness shored up. Know-how and reactivity can certainly be used to qualify the design/development team.

Nonetheless, the statistics are clear: ITA-74 is still lagging in pure speed. The roles are reversed this time. The competition is another major difference this time around. Whereas last time only Cayard's America One felt like the only real threat, this time LR is the underdog relative to the other three members of group A.

The final dinstinctive difference could be sensed from the audio feeds during the races. Today, the deck of Luna Rossa is much quieter: orders are short and crisp, there seems to be no outright second-guessing or need for clarification and when some minor crisis occurs a few phrases are enough to get everyone moving in some common direction. Experience. The team members know each other, know their tasks. And positive experience breeds trust. Which inevitably leads to better performance.

The task ahead is much harder than last time round. Probably the best scenario for Luna Rossa would be to have a long protracted battle against Alinghi and lose (in 6 or 7). The goal is growth. Slow, continuous growth. The experience and know-how are there. The competitiveness must have a greater edge to it - losing helps. But the team has to have the innate feeling that they are progressing relative to others. Always.