Marco Gradoni, with Women’s America’s Cup winners Margherita Porro as co-helm, and Maria Giubilei and Giovanni Santi on trim, sailing the Luna Rossa Women & Youth team AC40 were the story of the day.
The speed they could generate and hold left the rest of the fleet reeling in conditions that were near perfect for racing – 12 knots and a mild sea state.
The opening practice race was a wire-to-wire win for Luna Rossa 1 who started cleanly, established a lead and then stretched to what looked like an unassailable early lead. By the end of the race, the lead was 26 seconds from La Roche-Posay Racing Team with Emirates Team New Zealand senior team in third.
Race two and the startline was a busy place with everyone nailing their time-on-distance and hitting at around 32 knots of boat speed. After expunging their 75 metre penalty, Gradoni and Porro went to the far boundary and came in with clear air to stun the fleet and lead at the first gate.
The Luna Rossa boats looked a class apart. Then came what can only be described as “the moment” with Gradoni just crossing Tita on starboard tack and calling for a slam-dunk tack, tacking directly on the wind of the Italian Burling team. It was an aggressive move, and it won the race ultimately.
GB1 snuck in at the far end of the finishing line with Dylan Fletcher and Ben Cornish sailing a remarkable final leg to grab second from Burling and Ruggi Tita in Luna Rossa 2.
The final race of the day saw GB1 with Dylan Fletcher absolutely acing the start and heading to the left boundary. With great pace, GB1 established a lead that they simply wouldn’t lose all race.
Over six legs, it was nip and tuck between GB1 and Luna Rossa 1 who stretched away from the pack, but GB1 kept their tactics conservative, covered every move and sailed to a memorable 18 second victory, flying across the finish line and concluding the day in style.
Yes it was only practice racing, but today revealed the pecking order.
Luna Rossa 1 of Marco Gradoni and Margherita Porro are the team to beat. Luna Rossa 2 is fast with Peter Burling and Ruggi Tita, but Dylan and Cornish in GB1 look right in the fight.
The first Preliminary Regatta starts in earnest Friday with three races starting at 15.13 local time.
