America's Cup: Memories of the past - Naples first taste of the Cup

America's Cup World Series Naples 2013 - Race Day 3 - Napoli - April 2013 © Gilles Martin-Raget

The America’s Cup World Series, a multi-city series in the lead up to the 2013 America’s Cup regatta in San Francisco, came to Naples in 2012 and 2013 for two of the most memorable regattas and was a glimpse of why Emirates Team New Zealand awarded the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup to the city in 2027.

Over the practice days and the weekend regattas that included a demonstration ‘coastal race’ as well as both match racing and fleet racing formats, it was officially estimated that over one million spectators lined the outstanding waterfront of Naples to witness some of the closest and most hard-fought racing ever seen in the AC45 catamarans that were used over two years for the World Series, before becoming the class of the Youth America’s Cup in 2013.

Today the America’s Cup is raced in the foiling monohull AC40 and AC75 yachts, but back in 2012 and 2013, non-foiling one-design catamarans were used ahead of foiling becoming ubiquitous after the 2013 America’s Cup where Emirates Team New Zealand innovated and changed the America’s Cup, and sailing, forevermore.

Adding to the competitive fleet, and more than adding to the spectacle was the sight of two Luna Rossa teams that joined the World Series in 2012 and made Naples their starting event in their bid for the 2013 America’s Cup. The series itself had started the year before with events in Cascais (Portugal), Plymouth (UK) and San Diego (USA), but the Italian team spent the winter of 2011 training both in Auckland with Emirates Team New Zealand, and at the former Italian Luna Rossa base in Gaeta, Italy. Coming into the regatta the Luna Rossa Piranha Team and the Luna Rossa Swordfish Team were filled with emerging talent.

The British helmsman Chris Draper, today a key member of the Emirates Team New Zealand afterguard for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, led the Piranha Team supported by David ‘Freddie’ Carr (formerly of INEOS Britannia), and a young Francesco Bruni – who would go on to become a stalwart in the afterguard of the Luna Rossa teams. For the Swordfish Team, Max Sirena – today the CEO of Luna Rossa – skippered the boat whilst Paul Campbell-James of Great Britain helmed, and the two teams came into the series well prepared but seeking to get match-sharp.

The Italian team’s racing inexperience in the catamarans did little to dampen the enthusiasm, nor expectation, of the crowds who cheered from the promenade around the Bay of Naples...

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