[Source: America's Cup] On the day the AC Village opened in the historic Arsenale in Venice, Luna Rossa Challenge thrilled the home crowd by winning all three races on the day to grab a commanding lead in the Arzanà City of Venice Trophy, a prologue, invitational regatta to the AC World Series next week.
Chris Draper’s Luna Rossa Piranha dominated the day in extremely light, challenging conditions on the offshore Lido race course, where the wind rarely exceeded 5 knots.
“Today we had some good starts, which is something we’ve been working on,” Draper said. “It was good to put the training into practice. It was great to come through and win the races, but more importantly we learned a lot.”
The afternoon couldn’t have started better for the Italian team when in race one, Paul Campbell-James guided the Swordfish crew to a second place behind Draper, to give the Prada boats a one-two finish.
Luna Rossa dominates the Arzanà Trophy. Venezia, 12 May 2012. Photo copyright Carlo Borlenghi / Luna Rossa
“We felt pretty good after that first race,” Campbell-James said. “It was light winds all day and pretty shifty, with lots of opportunities to slide up and slide down. It’s been a great day for Chris (Draper) but hopefully we’ll be able to push them tomorrow.”
Over the course of the day the Swordfish crew, with skipper Max Sirena on board, held off Loick Peyron’s Energy Team and Jimmy Spithill’s ORACLE TEAM USA to post the most consistent score behind Draper for second place.
Crowds were brisk in the Arsenale, traditionally closed off to the public, on this sunny Saturday, while the race course was ringed by the biggest spectator fleet the crews had seen.
“That was unbelievable. Naples was incredible for the number of people on shore, but the number of boats on the water was ridiculous,” Draper said.
Seven teams were on the water Saturday for the prologue regatta, with ORACLE TEAM USA only fielding one crew on the afternoon and Emirates Team New Zealand forced to remain ashore with damage to their boat.
But ORACLE TEAM USA Bundock is expected to race on Sunday as are the Kiwis, meaning nine boats are expected to be on the starting line for the first start at 1400 CEST.
Two more fleet races are scheduled Sunday, followed by a final race between a starting line offshore to a finish just of St. Mark’s Square, right in the heart of Venice.
(Provisional) Results after three races
1. Luna Rossa – Piranha…27 points
2. Luna Rossa – Swordfish…21 points
3. Energy Team…20 points
4. ORACLE TEAM USA Spithill…19 points
5. Artemis Racing…16 points
6. China Team…12 points
7. Team Korea…11 points
8. Emirates Team New Zealand…0 points
9. ORACLE TEAM USA Bundock…0 points
Luna Rossa dominates the Arzanà Trophy. Venezia, 12 May 2012. Photo copyright Carlo Borlenghi / Luna Rossa
Luna Rossa dominates the Arzanà Trophy. Venezia, 12 May 2012. Photo copyright Carlo Borlenghi / Luna Rossa