Luna Rossa makes San Francisco debut

Italy team ignores plea of America's Cup Race Management

Despite the request of ACRM for teams to postpone their practicing, the Luna Rossa AC72 went sailing for the first time on San Francisco Bay today.

Setting out early in the morning, Luna Rossa first sailed in light winds of 3 knots that built to 12, allowing the crew to carry out many manoeuvres. The training session lasted about three hours.

Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 skipper Max Sirena commented: “The weather today was ideal for our first trial out on the water. From a technical standpoint it allowed us to test our safety measures, loads and manoeuvres. However the really significant aspect was psychological: it was important for the crew to resume sailing on the AC72 and to get back into its normal training mode to prepare for the upcoming races. In the next few days we will continue with our training and development program as scheduled.”