“There is no upper limit,” insists team leader Luca Devoti. “In my experience, the fact that you train 300 days doesn’t automatically mean that you’re going to win. The fact that you have unlimited resources certainly helps, but it creates a lot of additional pressure, they have to beat us… I mean how would they look? Our boat has been designed with no fear, the mast concept has been made with no fear, and the crew has no fear whatsoever. So if we have a little bit of luck, I think we could do very well. On the negative side, I don’t think we can change a lot - we don’t have the time or the money - but I’m very confident.”
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The Italian +39 Challenge is one of the most interesting teams involved in this 32nd America’s Cup. A surprising first challenger to join BMW ORACLE Racing, +39 Challenge is a team filled with Olympic sailors and medallists, some of the strongest dinghy sailors in the world. But it is thin on America’s Cup experience.
The team has been sailing the oldest boat, ITA 59, in the fleet in the Louis Vuitton Acts to date, and finished in ninth place in the 2006 Louis Vuitton ACC Championship. On the challenger rankings, the team is in seventh place.
While helmsman Iain Percy and his mates struggled just to get the boat out of the pre-start in its first matches in 2004, since then, the team has made great strides, sailing quite well, winning some starts, but frustrated on the score sheet by the hard limits of having an old boat.
Iain Percy
Now, ITA 85 is ready to sail. Training in the new boat begins this month and is scheduled to continue in Valencia throughout the winter, begging the question, how far can this team go in 2007. Team leader Luca Devoti says the goal has to be a berth in the Semi-Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
“I would say that’s the minimum,” the irrepressible Devoti said earlier in October. “When you have guys of this quality, what other goal are you going to set? And I think it’s totally possible. If we’ve done things right, there’s not going to be huge difference between the teams in terms of boat speed, and then it comes down to how you sail. We’re certainly not scared of winning.”
Devoti points to a win over Emirates Team New Zealand, and good performances in races against Luna Rossa as proof that his team has what it takes.
A Semi-Final berth might seem to be a stretch based on the previous performance of this team, but with a roster filled with Olympians – most from the Finn and Star class – there is reason for optimism in terms of moving up the standings.
“When you have an Olympic culture in terms of how you prepare, I think that helps us very much. You need to be confident in your capabilities and know when to train,” Devoti says. “Our record is not so bad. We’ve won a few races. We’ve had some problems with things breaking due to the age of the boat. But we certainly haven’t lost all of our matches. I think it’s incredible what the guys have been able to get out of this boat (ITA 59).”
Which brings us to ITA 85. The boat was christened at the end of the 2005 Louis Vuitton Acts, and has been in the shed since then, undergoing finishing touches and waiting for more equipment to arrive. In the meantime, the sailing crew has been training in other classes, From TP 52’s to Finns and Stars. That will keep the sailing instincts sharp, but the team remains shy on hours on the water in the America’s Cup Class.
“There’s no doubt that we have to train really hard over the winter,” Devoti admits. “We’re going to do a lot of match racing on the 30-footers we have. We have Stig Westergaard as our match racing coach and he’s going to help us out, and we’ll be sailing the new boat throughout the winter.”
So, as with all of the teams in the America’s Cup, hopes ride on the new boat. But perhaps more than any other team, results will depend on how well the sailors can translate their success in Olympic classes to the America’s Cup.
"The spirit on this team is very special. The quality of the guys involved is incredible."
Luca Devoti
“The spirit on this team is very special. The quality of the guys involved is incredible. They are a very special group of people. They have a history together and they have depth. It’s no secret that we’ve had some problems with funding at times, but all the guys are still here, they’re still behind the project 100 per cent,” Devoti says with a smile.
“With all of the difficulties we’ve had this year, I’m very proud of the guys. This season, we suffered breakages, and didn’t train as much as we might have liked. Considering all of that, the race I’m most proud of was against the French, Areva. We went out and broke something and had to come back. We changed it out, fixed it, and got out just in time for the race. And them the mast track breaks so we were 50-seconds behind at the start. But we just about caught them. We were just one-second behind. On the final run, I’ve never seen anyone sail a Cup boat downwind like our guys did on the last run. The quality of the guys and the way they never give up is incredible.”
They’ll need all of that spirit and more, along with a good boat in ITA 85, to reach Devoti’s ultimate goal.
Statistics
+39 Challenge won eight out of 16 races in 2006 against China Team, United Internet Team Germany, Areva Challenge and Team Shosholoza. Four of the wins were against the German team.
+39 Challenge led its race against Emirates Team New Zealand on the first upwind leg during Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 10. Then the superior boatspeed of the new NZL 84 prevailed over the oldest boat in the fleet, ITA 59.
+39 Challenge didn’t finish one race in 2006. It was against Areva Challenge in the first race of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 Division Three Final.
With the oldest boat in the fleet +39 Challenge has crossed the starting line first nine times in 26 races.
+39 Challenge raced exactly 100 legs in 2006.
+39 Challenge lost a race by only just one second against Areva Challenge in the second race of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 12 Division Three Final. This is the closest margin so far in all races in the 32nd America’s Cup.
+39 Challenge achieved a third place in the first fleet race of the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 11. They finished fifth overall.
+39 Challenge has always crossed the line first in 2006 against Emirates Team New Zealand, the 2006 Louis Vuitton ACC Champion.
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