A week of training focused on manoeuvres, tactics, scouting and the development of the Youth & Women crews
Luna Rossa’s Youth & Women team has completed its scheduled July sailing session in Naples. The work focused on manoeuvres, strategy and crew preparation, rotating sailors on board and assessing new profiles to strengthen the team. Federico Figlia di Granara and Lorenzo Sirena have joined the Youth crew, while the scouting process is still ongoing. Rocco Falcone and Guido Gallinaro, who are both members of the sailing team and coaches of the Women and Youth crews, said they were very pleased with the week.
«Training with just one boat allows us to focus on the group rather than on individuals, and to build a well-balanced crew», explains Guido Gallinaro. «At this stage, for example, we rotated the sailors on board several times a day, pairing experienced team members with newcomers and testing different combinations to understand which worked best. Each day, based on feedback from the sailors and from us coaches, we set out a schedule that alternates starting simulations, manoeuvres, wind analysis and other activities. On average, we spend almost five hours a day on the water, giving everyone the opportunity to try different roles and gain an in-depth understanding of the boat. Seeing young sailors join the team is a great feeling and, naturally, takes us back a few years to when we were the “young ones”. Today, we all work together to build a winning team, with great mutual respect: they learn from us, just as we continue to learn from the more experienced coaches working alongside us. It is a great example of teamwork».
«We are working to build the Youth and Women crews, both in preparation for the Preliminary Regatta in September and for next year’s Youth America’s Cup and Women’s America’s Cup», adds Rocco Falcone. «When we sail with two boats, we focus more on match racing; with just one, we work mainly on basic manoeuvres, such as starts and mark roundings, while at the same time defining the different roles on board and integrating the new sailors. I am very pleased with the two young sailors who have joined the Youth team: they are very young, but already highly skilled. Both have experience on foiling boats and immediately understand what is required of them. I remember very clearly the excitement I felt when I joined Luna Rossa as a Youth sailor a few years ago, and I am sure they are experiencing the same feeling».
«The session with Boat 1 proved extremely productive», said Max Sirena, CEO of Luna Rossa. «The Y&W crews made the most of every available moment to train, familiarise themselves with the Gulf of Naples and test a range of manoeuvres and racing tactics. The session also gave us the opportunity to assess new talent for the sailing team, and at the end of it we selected two sailors who will strengthen the Youth crew. They are among the youngest sailors we have ever chosen, but both already have an excellent track record on foiling boats, and we are confident they will make an important contribution not only to the Youth programme, but more broadly to Luna Rossa’s entire campaign. Scouting activities will continue over the coming months, including the search for new female talent. From a sporting perspective, training will resume in a few days and will involve both the Y&W team and the Senior team, sailing with two boats. Running the AC40 and AC75 programmes in parallel between Naples and Cagliari is extremely demanding. I am therefore proud of the effort made at every level to remain on the schedule we had set ourselves».
