RECON LOG: GB1 AND LUNA ROSSA GO LARGE IN CAGLIARI
Taking full advantage of some outstanding conditions in Cagliari, Sardinia, the venue for the first Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta from May 21-24th, both the Challenger of Record, GB1, and Luna Rossa went large.
On Saturday, GB1 found the limit in their AC40 with a capsize which tested out the stringent safety protocols that one of the most experienced teams in the Cup has in place. It was a text-book operation by the GB1 chase boat teams and no issue for the sailors.
Ian Walker, CEO of GB1 who was on the water, commented: “We had a capsize, and whilst that sounds a bad thing, in many ways it's quite a good thing for us because, we spend a lot of time going through safety protocols. We write all the right procedures. We've got a new team. We've embedded them. We've talked about communication habits and things like that. So, for me there as a casual observer, trying not to get too involved, I was delighted to see that the team handled it really professionally and minimised any damage to the boat. And most importantly, of course, absolutely no problems for any of the people out there.”
The capsize aside, GB1 have been pushing ever harder as their training ramps up. Dylan Fletcher noted: It's been stunning, to be honest. Enjoying Italian weather. Shore team and the whole team in reality have done such a great job of getting this far with the boat being recommissioned. We've been pushing hard every day that we've been on the water. We’ve Had some fresh faces in, which has also been good, and it's just been really exciting to get back involved in it all and ticking along some nice projects along the side.”
GB1 TEAM NOTES: w/c 9th March Summary:
GB1 sailed 5 out of 7 days across a wide range of conditions.Top boat speed 48 knots. Operated up to the top end of the wind limit (21–23 knots), with additional sessions in lighter conditions, successfully foiling in 6–7 knots. Experienced varied sea states, including large waves from an offshore mistral and onshore sea breeze conditions. Weather conditions ranged from rain to sunshine, with both flat water and waves. Overall, it was a productive week commissioning the yacht and trialling the Athena Pathway sailors.
Notable incident: Capsize on Saturday at 46 knots
Crew:
GBR 1
Dylan Fletcher – Helm
Ben Cornish – Trimmer
Bleddyn Mon – Trimmer
Athena Pathway Trialists
Finn Dickinson – Helm
Ryan Littlechild – Helm / Trimmer
Meanwhile at the beginning of the week, (Monday 16th March 2026), Luna Rossa took to the waters in 9-16 knots of north-westerly that ended up north-north-east and flat water. The self-reported recon from the team recapped the session saying: “Started the day with a few line-ups for warming-up the crew. We then moved to some drills upwind and downwind. After a small break we then started with few pre-starts and some one lap races. The wind started stable but after few hours it started to get shifty and so we did some drills again.
One more break for changing crew on Boat 2, Vittorio Bissaro jumped in for Maria Giubilei. After few pre-starts and races, Max Antoniacci stepped in Boat2 steering on the port side instead of Margherita Porro. At the end of the day Boat 1 sailed in and Boat 2 made the last 20 minutes of sailing with Margherita Porro steering on the starboard side for Marco Gradoni, sailing back to the harbour at 15:30
Crew B1:
Ruggero Tita
Peter Burling
Gigi Ugolini
Umberto Molineris
Crew B2:
Margherita Porro
Marco Gradoni
Giovanni Santi
Maria Giubilei
Swaps: Vittorio Bissaro, Max Antoniazzi, Margherita Porro