Luna Rossa Second Place in Naples
Trofeo Grande Vela
Italian Team will help Naples Città della Scienza:
Press Release
| April 14, 2013 | Tweet |
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Francesco Bruni. |
Luna Rossa Piranha takes second place and devolves its money prize towards the reconstruction of the Città della Scienza of Naples.
230° breeze and 10-12 knots of wind. The race starts with the majority of the fleet on starboard, towards the sea, whereas Luna Rossa Swordfish starts on port and takes the right, towards the land.
The typical conditions of southwesterly breeze rewarded the tacks towards the land when sailing towards the Bay of Bagnoli.
Piranha soon moves to the head of the fleet, followed by Emirates Team New Zealand; the kiwi boat, despite her unfortunate start, at Punta Nera (just before Nisida), sails deeper towards the coast and comes up with an excellent angle, taking the lead in front of Luna Rossa Piranha, who will then move in front again on the following tack.
When rounding the mark at Bagnoli, Emirates Team New Zealand and Ben Ainslie Racing optimize on a favorable wind shift and move to the front of the fleet, but soon after Luna Rossa Piranha moves back into second place on Ben Ainslie Racing’s mistake as the British boat misses a mark of the course.
Swordfish, with good tacking, moves up to 4th place.
In the Gulf of Pozzuoli the wind dies almost completely and the fleet is forced to slow down; at this point the gap increases between leading boats Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Swordfish and the rest of the fleet.
The crossing of the Bagnoli Bay, to be sailed in both directions (South-North and North-South), proves to be particularly long and difficult due to the almost complete lack of wind.
Emirates Team New Zealand stays in the lead, followed by Luna Rossa Piranha, who maintains close contact up to the final mark, when a light contrary puff forces the Italian boat to two extra gybes. At this point Emirates Team New Zealand rounds the mark with a good advantage and stretches its lead by several hundred meters.
The rest of the group is distanced in the same positions: Oracle USA 3rd, Luna Rossa Swordfish 4th (in consideration of the fact that Ben Ainslie Racing is no longer in the competition), Energy Team France 5th, all of which in close proximity with each other.
Once out of the Bagnoli Gulf the fleet moves back into fresh breeze: Luna Rossa Piranha gains distance on Emirates Team New Zealand but the kiwi boat is too far ahead and, at this point, unreachable.
The group chasing the leaders has Energy Team France and Luna Rossa Swordfish dueling up to the last mark prior to the finish line and in alternating positions; in the end Francesco Bruni gains the lead on Yann Guichard and maintains 4th place up to the finish, behind Oracle Team USA.
Luna Rossa Piranha will devolve its money prize of 15.000 Euro to the reconstruction of the Città della Scienza of Naples.
Ranking
1. Emirates Team New Zealand
2. Luna Rossa Piranha
3. Oracle Team USA Slingsby
4. Luna Rossa Swordfish
5. Energy Team France
6. Artemis Racing White
7. China Team
Ben Ainslie Racing DNF
--From Luna Rossa Challenge 2013