Ideal conditions greeted Luna Rossa on their first full day of testing in the revamped AC75 the squad has nicknamed the 'Silver Bullet', with a mistral breeze delivering 13–17 knots across the scenic Bay of Angels.
Youth America's Cup champion Marco Gradoni took his maiden run in the new configuration, joining skipper Peter Burling on the helms with Gradoni steering from the port side. Later in the session he handed over to Ruggero Tita, the double Olympic Nacra 17 World Champion, and the team put together an impressive display, settling into flight and progressively sharpening their tacks and gybes.
Scuff and skid marks were visible along the underside of the AC75's otherwise immaculate hull. The Italians are treating this boat as a development workhorse, bedding in the systems housed within the hull that must handle the enormous rigging and control loads these AC75s carry in race trim. The outing was the 46th of the 47 permitted sailing days allocated to Luna Rossa under Protocol rules this year, making every development moment count.
Cameras and LiDar devices were positioned throughout the boat. Umberto Molineris and Vittorio Bissaro, the team's two ace trimmers and flight controllers, sat forward of the helms and remained buried in the data. Maria Giubilei occupied the port 5th person seat once again, which may signal that the Italians have settled on a different arrangement to Emirates Team New Zealand. In Auckland, Jo Aleh has been seen seated in the aft starboard pod.
Across approximately four hours on the water, the team accumulated 70 minutes of flight time, a productive day on the Bay of Angels for the hometown favourites heading into the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup.
RECON REPORT: Luna Rossa rolled out at 10:25 with the offshore Maestrale still blowing, targeting their first proper sailing session of the day. The hull showed considerable paint loss. Foil cameras remained fitted, and white strips had been added to both flap elements. An additional camera was spotted on the hull just before the transom section, angled downward toward the rudder and elevator.
The boat was in the water by 11:15, with dock-out scheduled for 12:15. A sailors check followed, incorporating minor cant movements combined with mast rotation.
Once docked out, the crew on board was as follows: on port, Marco Gradoni on helm, Umberto Molineris on trim, and Maria Giubilei as 5th; on starboard, Peter Burling on helm, Vittorio Bissaro on trim, and Gigi Ugolini as 6th.
By 12:20 the sea breeze had begun filling in, reaching 9–10 knots from 195°. The MN1-8 mainsail was paired with the J2-9 jib. After swinging onto starboard tack, the boat achieved self-take-off at approximately 16–17 knots boat speed. Every one of the day's five take-offs was executed autonomously on starboard tack.
One pattern that emerged throughout the day was the occasional and excessive immersion of the rudder, occurring during both downwind and upwind sailing as well as through bear-aways and round-ups.
The opening session centred on straight-line sailing with a limited number of manoeuvres. Bulb-to-bulb transition times came in at approximately 9 seconds for gybes and 7 seconds for tacks. During gybes, Luna Rossa occasionally struggled with the catch on the board-up command when exiting the manoeuvre. Windward cant was also employed to balance the boat in certain modes on the straight. As the sea breeze strengthened to 13 knots from 165°, the J2-9 was swapped for the J3-9. Despite the freshening conditions, the sea state remained relatively flat throughout the day.
The second session shifted focus toward manoeuvre execution, with tacks generally cleaner than gybes. During the third and fourth sessions the team appeared to push into more aggressive bear-aways and round-ups, again producing instances of excessive rudder immersion.
At 15:30, Ruggero Tita replaced Marco Gradoni on the port helm, and the fifth session produced the highest number of manoeuvres of the day. The team docked in at 16:40, wrapping up approximately 70 minutes of foiling time and around 40 manoeuvres, with only a handful resulting in touch-and-goes.
