Ivo Rovira / America’s Cup
SIRENA: “I’M FOCUSED ON OURSELVES...WE DON’T WANT TO BE DISTRACTED.”
Luna Rossa closed out their October training block on Sunday, their 28th day of a possible 49 days of sailing before the 14th January 2027, with a lively session in Cagliari, Sardinia that split straight-line tuning with race training. With a forecast of a building mistral wind through the afternoon, the Italian challenger took every opportunity through the morning having docked-out at 0950 into a patchy wind and bruised skies.
Ivo Rovira / America’s Cup
The session was concluded just before 3pm with the wind up at 17-19 knots after a blistering run back to the team’s impressive base on the Molo Ichnusa in downtown Cagliari. The plan now, as reported by the on-water Recon team, is for the boat to be sand-blasted and re-painted as the relentless 28 days of training have left the magnificent ‘Silver Bullet’ looking well-worn in places!
A relaxed Max Sirena, the CEO of Luna Rossa, gave the Recon interview after sailing saying: “I’m focused on ourselves. We have already too much to do. We don’t want to be distracted. I don’t want to be distracted by the other guys. I know there are a few teams sailing in Naples. We’re going to be there in the next couple of months. So, I think everyone is pretty busy with his own programme, which is not just sailing. Now everyone, sooner or later, they’re going to start to build the new component. So let’s see. I think everyone is going to push until really the end and even during racing in terms of development. So I think it’s too early to make any comment on the others. I think we need to make sure, first of all, we’re going to work well on our side, and then we will see what’s going to happen next year.”
Ivo Rovira / America’s Cup
When asked about what upgrades were coming, Max joked saying: “We’re going to extend the bow a couple of meters and make the stern wider,” but before Cup aficionados get excited – that was in jest! More seriously, Max added: “Now we’re going to start sailing with the youth and women again. We’re going to have a few new names coming up to try, female and boys, so we’re looking forward to having them on the water and see how they go. In the meantime, we’re going to work on the 75 to be back in the water before Christmas.”
Ivo Rovira / America’s Cup
As for final team selection, and with such a talented group of sailors to select from, Max was coy, saying: “I don’t think we’re going to make the call that soon. I think we have the privilege to have so many good sailors in the team, in the youth, women, and in the senior. And we want to make the right call at the right time for the program. So it’s an ongoing process still, and we want to make sure we’re going to pick the best for the job, which doesn’t really mean it’s going to be the best sailor. I think we really want to focus on what is the best thing for the boat and for the team.”
We will be looking forward to seeing the re-polished Silver Bullet sailing again before Christmas.
Magnus Wheatley
