How do you sail an AC75 and two AC40s at once? Ask Luna Rossa

Last week we asked The Foil community whether Emirates Team New Zealand could be beaten in the 38th America’s Cup. 71% said yes, and on current evidence the Italians are as well placed as anyone to do it.

Luna Rossa have completed ten sailing days on their AC75 out of a 49-day quota that runs until 15 January 2027, when it refreshes. They were the first team to start sailing the AC40 in Naples, just over a year out from the match, set to take place on that very venue from 10 to 18 July 2027.

Uniquely, the team can keep two sailing programmes running at the same time, and geography is the reason. Their current base in Cagliari sits close enough to Naples that the squad can cross over for AC40 sessions and cross straight back again. Compare that with Emirates Team New Zealand, who have also launched AC40s in Naples but whose AC75 is on the other side of the planet in Auckland.

The question is how you make two programmes work without either one suffering. Here’s how it works…

Luna Rossa’s AC75 isn’t moving for now. It stays in Cagliari, and the trips across to Naples are timed during the downtime rather than eating into the AC75 schedule. When the senior squad is away doing two-boat work in the AC40s, the 75 goes into maintenance, then the boat is ready to go when the crew returns.

“This means having two teams operating at 100%, including technicians, shore team, engineers, RIB drivers, communications and more,” says Michele Cannoni, the AC75’s Boat Captain & Shore Team Director. “It is a perfect coordination effort that requires maximum collaboration from all departments.”

Not everything can be doubled up, though, and the coaching group is a case in point, as team coach Jacopo Plazzi explains: “The other coaches and I travel back and forth from Cagliari to follow the two-boat sessions, where we focus on match racing, while some of us support certain coaching and data analysis activities remotely.”

Launching the AC40s in Naples involved more than showing up and sailing. The two AC40s were serviced, taken apart, then after being shipped were rebuilt on the other side by the youth and women's squad, and both boats sailing on day one was, by the team's own admission, no formality.

“The girls and boys have been essential in carrying out this dual programme,” says Plazzi, crediting the women and youth squad. “Without weighing on or interfering with the overall schedule, they have given their all, working together with the shore team and the two coaches dedicated to the youth and women’s programme, Guido Gallinaro and Rocco Falcone.”

The set-up is small by design. “In Naples, there are two containers serving as a workshop and sail loft, so that each department has a small, fully functioning corner to deal with and solve day-to-day issues,” says Gilberto Nobili, Luna Rossa’s Technology & Operations Director. “The two junior boat captains, together with the entire youth and women’s team, are truly very capable, and each of them knows their role perfectly. It is no coincidence that, as soon as the AC40s were unloaded from the ship, they were able to reassemble them in record time and start sailing immediately.”

All of it runs alongside the bigger job of building the actual Cup base at Bagnoli.

This is where the dual programme stops looking like an admin headache and starts looking like an advantage. Everything from boat transport to which doctor travels has to be pinned down well in advance, but the pay-off is time on the water at the venue that matters.

“These first sailing sessions have been essential to establish contact with the city and to gather as much information as possible on the weather and sea conditions ahead of the September regattas and, above all, 2027,” says Plazzi.

Nobili lays out the plan: “Our roadmap envisages the Y&W crews staying in Campania throughout the summer, while the Senior team will travel back and forth from Cagliari to carry out several two-boat sessions in Naples and, in parallel, continue the AC75 programme.”

According to Plazzi, there's a squad-building element to it as well. “Naples will also be an opportunity to test new faces who will complete the youth and women’s line-ups.” It's the same story on the big boat. Peter Burling appears to have starboard locked down, but the port helm is being passed between Marco Gradoni and Ruggero Tita, and with a year to go that's a real contest rather than a rotation.

While most teams are still banking hours in the AC40, Luna Rossa have a real Cup boat on the water and a second programme sharpening their match racing at the venue itself. Whether that's enough to unseat the Kiwis is another question, but nobody is doing more with the time available.