Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 - The First Sailing

Luna Rossa - Team Activity in Auckland before the first sailing







LUNA ROSSA / Carlo Borlenghi



Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada launch their Luna Rossa AC72




LUNA ROSSA/Nigel Marple

 

With a mighty blow, Miuccia Prada shattered the traditional champagne bottle across the bowsprit of the Luna Rossa AC72 catamaran that will carry her famous fashion brand into battle on the continuing quest to win the America’s Cup for Italy.

Although the Italian flag flew large over the base, this latest addition to the AC72 fleet entered the waters of the Waitemata Harbor in Auckland, New Zealand, where Luna Rossa made its Cup debut a dozen years ago.

By Miuccia Prada’s side at the launch was her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, who earlier said that in the current economic climate Italy had an appetite for something joyful and serene.

Always noted for elegant graphics, the latest yacht to carry the Luna Rossa name cut a dash in the sunset with its hull and wing coated in a dramatic mirror surface. The symbolism from this treatment was appropriate in the sense that this yacht is a mirror image of Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC72, which was launched in July.

LUNA ROSSA/Carlo Borlenghi

The two teams have entered an agreement to build identical boats and conduct trial races against each other in Auckland over the next five or six months of the southern hemisphere summer.

Under the Protocol, the hulls of the Italian challenger were built at the Persico Marine facility in Northern Italy and were shipped to New Zealand in May. Most of the components, including the towering, 130-foot tall wing sail, were built in New Zealand.

As the Italian yacht was lowered into the water for the first time, fireworks erupted and the crowd of invited guests burst into cheers and applause. Among the guests were Regatta Director Iain Murray, Louis Vuitton’s Christine Belanger and a large contingent of Emirates Team New Zealand personnel, including Grant Dalton and skipper Dean Barker.

This presence reflects the close relationship between the two teams, which Patrizio Bertelli said was crucial to the Italian campaign. Having decided to re-enter the Cup arena quite late, Bertelli said the challenge would not have been viable without the technical design sharing arrangement with Emirates Team New Zealand.

Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

“The objective is for us both to get to the Louis Vuitton Cup finals and then we will beat each other up on the water,” he said.

“We have two virtually identical boats that can be mutually beneficial. We can compare boats and improve boats better that way than in isolation. It is going to be very interesting.”

Bertelli, who confirmed that Luna Rossa was committed to competing in the 34^th and 35^th America’s Cup regattas, said the Italian team had also changed some elements of their boat, including foils and soft sails, to test different concepts.

Skipper Max Sirena said the team would take a step-by-step approach to learning how to handle their new boat. “We will not go out sailing in 25 knots on day one,” he said. “In the AC72, there are a lot of tricky systems to test. It is not just the structural part. There are the foils, the rudder systems, the wing – a lot of systems to check before we can start to push.

“We are excited to jump into the water. It is hard to keep the crew under control, because they want to push, but we need to push smartly.”

LUNA ROSSA/Carlo Borlenghi

Mindful of ORACLE TEAM USA’s recent capsize in San Francisco and subsequent damage to the main beam of the Artemis Racing yacht, Sirena said: “It is going to be hard to find the limit of the boats. We will take that step by step. We don’t want to have the same problem as Oracle and Artemis.”

He predicted that this America’s Cup would be won not necessarily by the team with the fastest boats or the best technology, but “by making fewer mistakes than the other guy.”

Asked how long he thought the team would take to get up to speed, Sirena replied: “We have watched Emirates Team New Zealand, Oracle and Artemis very closely. We don’t know how long it will take, but if everything goes well by the middle of the second week in November, we hope to line up around the race course with ETNZ.”

Even though the team is setting up half a world away, Bertelli believed there was support for their campaign in Italy.

“Italy is not going through a very happy period of time in general. We carefully thought about whether it was a good idea to make an investment in the America’s Cup at this time. Fortunately Prada could afford to make that investment, so we decided to go ahead.

“As far as the Italian public is concerned, they would be happy to support a winning team in any sport. Italy has an appetite for something joyful and serene. That is something we would like to do for Italy.”

— Ivor Wilkins - Americascup.com

Volvo Ocean Race: Plugging in the new one-design – first pictures

Work on the new 65-foot one-design that will contest the next two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race is underway in Italy. Here, we get a first glimpse of the process.

How do you build the new one-design Volvo Ocean Race monohull? You start with a hull. Yet, you need a mould to build that hull. And you need a plug to build that mould.  

That’s the ongoing task at Persico Spa, in Bergamo, Italy – one of the four boatyards responsible for the manufacture of the high-performance racing yacht that will take the start line in Alicante in 2014. Built out of a polystyrene block, the plug is now being shaped by a high-tech milling machine. “Pretty cool to see it there looking like a giant slab of marble waiting for Michelangelo to come along and create his David,” said Rick Deppe, reporting for the Volvo Ocean Race from northern Italy. “Of course this block of marble is actually a huge piece of polystyrene and Michelangelo is a 5 axis milling machine.”

Persico specialises in pieces of equipment such as moulds for the automotive and marine industries. Most of their processes are automated and their work is extremely accurate. Persico was involved in the last edition of the race, building Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Volvo Open 70 Azzam. This time, they are responsible for the hull only.  

It is a three-stages process: first the plug, then the lamination of the mould over the plug and finally the construction of the hull itself. That is scheduled for the end of November: when the mould is removed from the plug, the hull is laminated inside the mould.

Persico Operations Manager Mark Somerville is a veteran of numerous America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race builds.

"We are really enjoying the process of working with Volvo and also the other members of the consortium," he said. "It’s a new challenge for us."

RICK DEPPE/Volvo Ocean Race

Luna Rossa: A Passion for Performance

When, on the evening of May 21st, the hulls of the AC72 Luna Rossa emerged from the gates of Persico Marine on the backs of two huge trucks, the cameras flashed and the photographers surged in true celebrity style even though the two stars of the show were encased in huge containers. The two publicity-shy celebrities were on their way to Auckland. "I’m sorry," said Marcello Persico, Managing Director of the Persico Marine. "I’m sorry to see them go: it was such an extremely interesting project."
He could make no further comment, however, as he is bound by the usual secrecy surrounding anything to do with the America’s Cup. The same vow of silence applied when the Luna Rossas for the Valencia Cup, the Abu Dhabi Ocean Team’s VOR 70 and the wingsail of the AC72 Artemis all departed those same sheds at various different times. "They are all extremely sophisticated constructions in which research into composite materials and lightness are key factors. In all those instances, we didn’t just do the construction but we were part of a group focused on the design with the team and the designer. That’s our speciality, in fact. We have a set-up that will also work for private owners who want to build a performance-oriented custom sailing or motoryacht."
That set-up spans around 50 specialist technicians, milling machines that can work on components of up to 25 metres, the group’s wealth of technical know-how and R&D, and a unique portfolio.

Top constuctors and designers form consortium to build next generation of Volvo Yachts

4 world leaders in race yacht construction have formed a consortium to produce the monohulls for the next 2 Volvo Ocean Races.

Now it is official: the Organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race have introduced the New Volvo 65 Class for the world’s toughest ocean race. The new high tech yachts will be 65 foot (20m) long monohulls designed by Farr Yacht Design.

8 boats in less than 2 years

To guarantee the production of 8 boats in less than 2 years, Decision (Switzerland), Green Marine (UK), Multiplast (France) and Persico (Italy) have formed an organisation that was inspired by production programmes in the aeronautical industry. Each yard will provide pre equipped sub assemblies in order to reduce the construction time while at the same time guaranteeing extremely tight tolerances for dimensions and weight between the boats.

Decision boatyard in Switzerland will produce the bulkheads and internal structural elements. At the same time, Persico will mould the hulls and lay the longitudinal stiffeners in Italy. The decks will be constructed and fitted out at Multiplast in France before sending to Green Marine, the UK leader of the consortium, in charge of assembly, who will also finish and launch the boats. Green Marine will be the sole contactor for supplying the boats to the racing teams.

The consortium is committed to deliver one boat every seven weeks from June 2013; the eighth boat being delivered in May 2014, four months before the beginning of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014/2015.

A logical choice...

With more than 100 years combined experience in the construction of grand prix racing yachts, these four boat yards have the aim of producing the best series of ocean-going monohulls ever. The designs will deliver close racing on very strong and competitive boats.

Each organisation brings a wealth of experience to the project to meet this challenge:

Persico

PERSICO is one of the world's most experienced and versatile mould-engineering specialist companies with automotive, rotomoulding, engineering, marine and aerospace/aeronautics divisions located in an area of 60.000 square meters in Nembro (Bergamo), Italy.
Persico Marine has been involved in projects including Moro di Venezia, RC44, Luna Rossa, Abu Dhabi, Artemis Racing...

5,000 square meters of air conditioned hangars with 3 large CNC milling machines (25m, 17m & 8m) and 20 other internal milling machines.

Decision S.A

Around 60 composite boats since 1984

Builder of the Maxis Whitbread UBS Switzerland, Merit, Merit Cup and La Poste

Builder for the team Alinghi from 2000 to 2009

Builder of the solar planes Solar Impulse

3 series productions (Grand Mistral, Decision 35 & MOD 70)

45 employees in Ecublens near Lausanne in Switzerland

Green Marine

Around 160 composite boats since 1982

Builder of Pirates, Kosatka, Ericsson 1, Assa Abloy, Intrum Justicia, Ran II...

120 employees in Hythe, near Southampton (GB)

6,000 m2 production capacity

Multiplast

More than 30 years experience in the design and production of boats and large compos

ite parts (since 1981)

Builder of Groupama 4, Groupama 3, Club Med, Orange 1 & 2, Geronimo, Brit Air, Generali,...

Series production of competition multihulls (MOD70 project, 7 boats)

60 employees in a 5,000 m² air-conditioned hangar in Vannes, France

Reactions:

Marcello Persico, Managing Director of Persico Marine:

"Persico is proud to have been selected to build part of the new generation Farr designed yacht, made for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015. The Persico staff led by Mark Somerville are ready to start with the new challenge. For this new adventure Michelle Marie comes on board with Persico. Having already worked closely with Farr Yacht Design in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012, we are happy to be working with them again for the next Volvo Ocean Race."

 

Bertrand Cardis, Director of Decision:

"After an initial meeting with Knut Frostad in Alicante in October 2012, it was clear: A One Design Class must be developed for the next Volvo Ocean Race.
We shared this idea with the managers at Multiplast, Dominique Dubois and Yann Penfornis, with whom we have had an excellent collaboration within the project MOD70. We imagined creating a network of boatyards including Green Marine, Persico, Multiplast and Decision, capable of constructing on time and to the high standards required by the fleet.
We are very enthusiastic to be involved in this innovative network which has rationalised the construction of these race boats.
We are delighted with this project and hope to contribute again to the success of this legendary race having been heavily involved in the past as a maxi yachts builder for all of the Whitbread races from 1984 to 1994."

Marcel Muller, Managing Director of Green Marine:

"Green Marine is very pleased to be involved in this historic project. Working together in a team with some of the worlds best boat building professionals gives us the capacity to deliver a new generation

 of ocean racers that will guarantee for speed, and reliable excitement at an unknown level of economy. Green Marine has built a number of successful Volvo Ocean contenders in the past and we are committed to help raising the world’s most legendary ocean race to a new level."

Yann Penfornis, Director of Multiplast:

"This project started with a proposition from Multiplast and Decision to Knut Frostad, Head of the Volvo Ocean Race, at the race start last November in Alicante. We then strengthened the group with the arrival of the Green Marine and Persico teams, and we are now very happy to be part of this European consortium selected by Knut to take on this challenge. With Dominique Dubois, the President of Multiplast, we are putting everything in place to satisfy the most demanding teams in the world in the field of ocean racing."

The New Volvo Class One Design

Persico will produce the moulds, the hulls, structural bulkheads, keel boxes and other things.

The Volvo Ocean Race has unveiled details of the high-performance new boat that will be used for the next two editions of the Race.

The 65-foot (19.8-metre) monohull racing yacht will be strictly one design. It will be designed by

the United States-based Farr Yacht Design and constructed by a consortium of leading boatyards in the United Kingdom (Green Marine), France (Multiplast), Italy (Persico) and Switzerland (Decision).