Arriving by barge to Bagnoli, La Roche-Posay Racing Team representing the Société Nautique de Saint Tropez, became the first team in this Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup cycle to deliver their AC75 to the Bay of Naples.
It was a trip down the French eastern seaboard from the team’s former base in Lorient, and across the Mediterranean sea with the stunning AC75 arriving wrapped in plastic for the transfer via crane to the team’s new base in Bagnoli.
For La Roche-Posay Racing Team, Naples is now their permanent home as they get ready for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup and co-helm Diego Botín was excited for the move and the arrival of the team’s beautiful AC75 – a sistership of the 2024 winning America’s Cup AC75 of Emirates Team New Zealand, saying: “It’s amazing to have our 75 here with us already. It just arrived this morning. It’s super hard to get such a big boat here in Naples, and it came by water. So we saw the platform with the boat this morning coming at 10:00am, and obviously then they had to go through all the paperwork and everything and now it’s at the base already. So yeah, it’s a big step forward for the team, having it here in the place, in Naples, where the Cup is going to be so far ahead. And yeah, we are also all already placed here. We have our apartments. All the team is setting up to have a good winter here and get ready for the Cup. “
Asked when the boat will be ready and when that first glorious shake-down sail will happen on the Bay of Naples, Diego added: “Well, we’ve been sailing the boat already this summer in Lorient, so it’s not far from being ready. I guess it will take some time, some details here and there, but I hope in the next month we will be in the water.”
The first AC75 is in Naples, and it won’t be long before they are joined by the fleet over the autumn. Stay Tuned. It’s all happening in Naples.
Magnus Wheatley
