Davide Cannata from Cagliari: “It was a wonderful adventure, thank you my brothers for the Italian boat”
AUCKLAND. Davide Cannata, the sailor from Cagliari from which the “Luna Rossa” adventure started, and the only Sardinian on board Prada, entrusted his message to Facebook after the end of the adventure on the Gulf of Auckland: “It was a wonderful adventure, thanks my brothers of the boat ita @lunarossachallenge, thanks my brothers “.
Beaten, but not defeated, the ‘Luna’ of Patrizio Bertelli and Max Sirena, of the double helmsman Bruni-Spithill, has somehow entered history: first of all, because it was the first boat to win the brand new Prada Cup, the trophy that gives the challenger the right to play for the ancient pitcher; and then, because he scored the first points of an Italian crew in an America’s Cup final, a feat that has never been achieved so far neither by the Prada-branded team itself nor by the Moro di Venezia. New Zealand, which as a ‘defender’ chose the most congenial terrain to give away the cup, but also the boats and the rules, was the team that deserved the victory, from the top of an extraordinary competitiveness, but also of a very performing and very fast vehicle.
The New Zealanders, after being nailed race after race on the 3-3 by the ‘lunatics’, acquired more and more useful and convincing information about their AC75 and literally took off, both in strong winds and in a lighter breeze. Luna Rossa did what she could against real match race totems: she fought, she almost always prevailed at the start, but she couldn’t shake off Peter Burling and his teammates.
It was a Moon first aggressive and then increasingly hidden behind the clouds of the Auckland sky, finally waning, opacified by the class of ‘kiwis’ who, not surprisingly, are at their fourth success. The ‘All Blacks’ of sailing have dropped poker in less than 26 years: after their 1995 triumphs in San Diego; in 2000, in Auckland (just against Luna Rossa); in 2017, in Bermuda, against Oracle, they folded Luna Rossa again. The four successes are superimposed on three lost endings: none like them.
«Thanks for the opportunity, thanks to the guys on the team, it is an experience that I will carry in my heart forever – the warm comment of Max Sirena, the skipper of Luna Rossa -. I’m sorry, it didn’t go as we wanted, but it’s a sport, so one wins and one loses. I thank all the Italians who have followed and supported us ».
Francesco Bruni, co-helmsman of the Moon, has instead renewed the appointment with the America’s Cup. «It was truly a fantastic experience, congratulations to New Zealand for the exceptional work. Congratulations to us too: we have shown that we can do it. We’ve been a bit unlucky in the last few days, but we’ve done a great job. This is not an end, Bertelli and Luna Rossa will try again ».
The official challenger of the 37th America’s Cup is already formally designated (only the official is missing): it will be the English of Ben Anslie and the tycoon Jim Ratcliffe (‘Mister Ineos’) to interface with the New Zealanders to write the rules. The New Zealand government would like to confirm the cup dispute at home, despite the advances of some sheikhs. But what matters is that Luna Rossa will be there.
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