Luna Rossa have confirmed a crew line-up for Naples PR2 that puts real substance behind the pathway from the Women's and Youth America's Cups into the main event.
Maria Giubilei has been named to the Principal Team, having featured onboard the team's AC75 during training in Cagliari and played an integral role in the AC40 programme since the start of this cycle.
It's a significant call. Giubilei arrives with serious form as the current Nacra 17 World Champion, having won alongside Gianluigi "Gigi" Ugolini in Quiberon, France, earlier this year.
Ugolini himself has also made the Principal Team. He'll trim in the port pod, just behind his Youth America's Cup co-helm and skipper Marco Gradoni, who steered that winning Luna Rossa crew.
For Giubilei, Ugolini and Gradoni, this is a step up to the top table of the sport. Naples PR2 will show how this team handles pressure.
Dockside, it's the only topic of conversation. Three winners of the Youth and Women's America's Cups coming together with three-time America's Cup winner Peter Burling is a combination nobody in Naples is taking lightly.
There's more movement in the Women's and Youth ranks too. Margherita Porro, the winning co-helm from the 2024 Women's America's Cup in Barcelona, has been confirmed to skipper the AC40, partnered on co-helm by the highly rated Massimiliano "Max" Antoniazzi.
Trimming behind Porro will be Maria Vittoria Marchesini, who was part of the Luna Rossa Women's America's Cup squad in Barcelona as a reserve. Giovanni Santi, who impressed in Sardinia back in May at PR1, has been confirmed as port trimmer behind Antoniazzi.
The first start of PR2 is due just after 2pm on Friday 25 September. Official Practice Racing gets underway the day before, on Thursday 24 September, and that's where these new combinations will first show their hand in the Bay of Naples.
The 38th America's Cup is increasingly being shaped by exactly this kind of talent, sailors forged in the Women's and Youth events now pushing hard for a seat in the top team.
