The Passion

First things first.

Endless thanks go to Luna Rossa, the crew and all those behind the wonderful adventure. It was, if not an entirely successful campaign, an event that stirred many passions. A lot of mail was received to this effect and it should be known publicly.

Will Luna Rossa Be Back?

Pertinent question.

Bertelli will certainly think this decision through a lot before making up his mind. It certainly won't be like the previous campaign when, immediately after the 5th defeat in the AC, he signed a check to be the Chalenger of Record. He would be wise to wait and see the outcome of the America's Cup before coming to any conclusion.

If TNZ loses, moreso if the loss is at the hands of Alinghi, he cannot avoid returning. The European exposure is too powerful a magnet, the logistics cost less and a new playing field may be more forthcoming. A America campaign, although positive for the exposure, is less appealing on all the other aspects, particulary TV coverage (networks will not fork over their prime time for 60-70 dates of match racing).

If TNZ successfully defends the Cup, a whole different set of motivations come to play. As noted earlier, the Kiwis have good reason to avoid changing the rule set: they cannot afford anything else. So the name of the game will be how to build a boat under those conditions. For the 2000 campaign, Luna Rossa was the silver bullet. For this campaign, focus was put on building a boat that could be competitive in the AC with weak wind conditions. One can conclude that they were too successful in reaching this goal.

The ideal scenario would be to build three boats: one targetted for stronger winds of the LV Cup, one targetted for the Kiwi summer and a third that could be adjusted to help train the other two. The rules only allow for two boats; however nothing impedes the team from using a previous boat to be that third 'training' facility. One focus of engineers between now and the end of this competition would be the feasbility of conducting such a strategy and building boats accordingly.

However, if the rules perpetuate the condition whereby the Challengers must sail the AC with the boat used in the LV Cup semi-finals, as TNZ now contends, we suspect that Bertelli would pull out. Winning is everything, but against those rules, chances are slim to none.