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Small
Judicials troubles for Prada (02/07/01)
(source : Yahoo.it)
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| The operational italian base at Punta Ala
would have been put under sequestration at the request of
an Italian magistrate. It would seems that problems of building
permits are the cause of this decision.. |
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In its second incarnation, Prada Team
is very familiar. It's another $50 million campaign, with
the money directed less at start-up costs and more at development.
Continuity is king. Doug Peterson is in charge of design,
and for the third Cup in a row, he's working with CFD specialist
David Egan. .
Peterson, who helped design the 1992 (America3) and 1995
(Team New Zealand) winners, is investing heavily in innovation
for his fourth run at the Auld Mug. Ian Howlett, who anticipated
the long/narrow/ heavy corner of the IACC Rule back in 1992
and wide chord rigs in 1995 for stillborn British efforts,
is a new recruit. So is free-thinking Frenchman Juan Kouyoumadjin.
Likewise American Scott Ferguson, who played a big role
in Young America's rig program.
Given the individuals, some fiery debates can be expected.
Most of the new blood is in the sailing team, recruits such
Kiwi young gun Gavin Brady, for whom the Italians fought
tooth and nail in face of strong offers from Oracle Racing.
A coach last time, Rod Davis is vying for the helmsman's
job against Brady and de Angelis..
The Neapolitan said the afterguard make-up is his call,
not syndicate leader Patrizio Bertelli's, and that he will
be the skipper. "Mr. Bertelli is the CEO, and he expects
each person responsible for an area to do the best for the
team. So, yes, there is a lot of individual talent. My job
is to make sure the team makes the best use of it," said
de Angelis..
De Angelis has asked Torben Grael back, the man whose high-risk
tactics attracted as much adverse comment as plaudits for
his very high percentages in reading Auckland's breeze.
"I know him really well," de Angelis said. "I've been with
him for six years, and he was a strong player for us. I
respect his skills. He was part of our past experience,
and it always good to build on that." Grael's return will
not be known one way or the other until he finishes putting
together a Brazilian-flagged Volvo Ocean Race entry, using
the spare boat from either Roy Heiner and Mark Rudger's
Assa Abloy campaign or Grant Dalton's Nautor-supported effort.
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Prada
sails back into Hauraki (01/21/01)
(source : stuff.co.nz)
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The Team have just finished a Northern
Hemisphere summer sailing their IACC in Punta Ala and now,
the Prada testing programme begins in Auckland. Prada will
be out on the water again this week, sharing the gulf with
six other boats from Oracle Racing, OneWorld and Team New
Zealand.
But here will be one major difference to their last buildup.
Not only will the Italians have their two Luna Rossa but
they will also be sailing USA53, one of the two Young America's
boats bought following the last America's Cup. USA53 almost
sank during the last challenger series but it is now a fascinating
test horse for the Italians. "Young America has been very
interesting and it has been a good opportunity to see something
which has different characteristics", said the italian skipper.
Francesco de Angelis said Prada teams would compete on the
world matchracing circuit and confirmed Louis Vuitton Cup
winners would be prepared to line up against other teams
off Auckland this summer.
De Angelis is confident the Italians will have lined up
against another syndicate before they pack up and return
to their Punta Ala base in late March. "I would like to
race against other teams," he said. "I believe they may
have the same philosophy."
Asked if Prada would consider racing Team NZ, de Angelis
didn't rule out the possibility (In the 99-2000 campaign,
there was also an agreement between the challengers that
none would test race against Them). "We will race anybody
who we think will help our programme step up," he said.
"We hope to race as much as we can while we are here." The
TNZ, after wiping Prada 5-0 in the America's Cup, would
have to be useful opponents.
De Angelis said Prada had increased its sailing team by
10 members to 35, meaning a crew could be out on the circuit
but the syndicate could still continue two-boat testing.
Brazilian tactician Torben Grael is missing and there are
three Kiwi faces in the crew for the first time. Two of
the New Zealanders - Gavin Brady and Rod Davis - could even
take the steering wheel off de Angelis, but he would still
remain on the boat as skipper.
While de Angelis will skipper the boat, the Italians have
signalled they are not locked into the popular figure helming
their boats during the challenger series which begins in
October next year. Rod Davis, the syndicate's coach from
the last campaign, and Gavin Brady, who sailed for Paul
Cayard's AmericaOne, are definite candidates. De Angelis
declined to reveal how the helmsman would be decided but
he indicated a "philosophy" was in place.
The Italians will pour a $125 million plus budget into the
next Cup but de Angelis, despite his syndicate's increased
experience and Team NZ's loss of personnel, doesn't believe
it will be any easier to wrest the Cup from the defenders.
And he believes winning the Louis Vuitton Cup will be a
formidable task against syndicates who can now match the
Italian budget. "It doesn't seem any easier when I look
down the road. I believe all the teams will be approaching
the next America's Cup with the belief they are going to
do well."
De Angelis wasn't buying into talk TNZ may be weakened by
the loss of so many key personnel from its last defence.
He said the defender had kept people who would maintain
continuity while up-and-comers would ensure its continued
strength. "New Zealand is a very strong team," he said.
"I don't think it will be easy to bring the Cup away. Some
said it was possible last time because challengers were
strong and Team NZ didn't have another team to race against
but eventually they came up with a good result." |
Prada
sails back into Hauraki
(02/10/01)
(source : sailsail.com)
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Both de Angelis and Prada's fashion billionaire
boss, Patrizio Bertelli, were determined that the crew of
Luna Rossa would return to Auckland stronger and more determined
for the 2003 cup.
The Team have just finished a Northern Hemisphere summer
sailing their IACC in Punta Ala and now, the Prada testing
programme begins in Auckland. Prada is out on the water
again, sharing the gulf with six other boats from Oracle
Racing, OneWorld and Team New Zealand.
The team's facilities (the operations base, the gym, the
accommodation...) are still the same as the ones used during
the past America's Cup but three International America's
Cup (IACC) Class yachts two Luna Rossa and one Young America
were sent from Italy to Auckland on a cargo ship.
Francesco de Angelis, skipper of Luna Rossa, met the local
media in Auckland to illustrate the training programme over
the next few months and explain the main focus of the Team
("In a certain sense (we) have to forget the past and
look beyond").
Concerning the future boats, the napolitan said "we
need to focus on the research and development to be carried
out on the old boats in order to define the features of
the new ones" and that The America's Cup formula is
quite restrictive and has already been widely explored.
"All the teams have reached the same high level of
technical preparation, but you always end up with someone
who is a touch faster. Each small innovative solution will
be very important and hard to overcome. The core of our
design team is still the same, but the group has been reinforced
with new people. The builders' team, who did a really excellent
job on the Luna Rossa yachts in the last Cup, is still the
same, too".
Concerning the test, he said that the Prada Challenge will
train in Auckland until the beginning of April and during
this period they will carry out tests and in-house racing
sessions. "We will also race against other teams if
we have the possibility to do so."
Concerning the crew, "Our philosophy was to build on the
experience gained from the past America's Cup and to reinforce
the team with new acquisitions in all the different departments
without nationality constraints. The core of the team is
still the same one that started working on the America's
Cup project three years ago". With this largest Team "A
group of sailors form our team will compete in all the major
events of the international match racing circuit. Last time
we were unable to do so as we had a smaller sailing team
and we had to interrupt the team's activity when we went
racing elsewhere."
If the budget for the next Cup hasn't been disclosed yet,
de Angelis explained "This time the resources will
be allocated differently as the set up costs, such as operation
bases, trial boats, etc., have already been coped with last
time. We will therefore have more money to spend on research
and development." |
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Prada
expected in Auckland (01/09/01)
(source : Yahoo.it)
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Francisco de Angelis will arrive in New
Zealand next Wednesday, with good part of the Prada Team,in
order to begin the new step of training in native place,
to prepare the AC 2003 (before going to Auckland Gavin Brady
and some Prada's members will participate on a Farr 40 to
the Key West Race Week) .
The complete team is expected in New Zealand from the next
week and will work, in this phase, with two 'Luna Rossa'
(ITA 45 and ITA 48) and one of the two former 'Young America'.
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The Prada sailing team completed their European training
program in their home waters of Punta Ala in Italy. The
crew and the shore team have already de-rigged the boats,
three of which will be shipped shortly to New Zealand.
In the next few weeks the team will be working on a de-mobilisation
plan of the operations base in Punta Ala, which will be
shut down at the beginning of December until May 2001.
The team's activity will start again at the beginning
of January 2001 in New Zealand. The first sailing session
in Auckland is scheduled for mid January.
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-Introducing
Prada challenge (10/21/00)
(source : Sail-Sail.com)
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| For team Prada - who won the Louis Vuitton
Cup on 6 February 2000 after having completed 48 races (38
won) and officially announced their intention to compete
in the XXXI America's Cup as Challenger of Record - the
activity has been full on almost non-stop since the day
they left New Zealand. |
| In the Genoa International Boat Show, Patrizio
Bertelli, Francesco de Angelis and Doug Peterson met today
the journalists during a press conference where they outlined
the programmes of team Prada. |
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Patrizio Bertelli, CEO
of the team, said : "Ours is a challenge of continuity.
Since the end of the last America's Cup we have been working
with the aim of improving certain areas and creating a
team which will be able to sustain the work of the next
two years. Starting in January we will be sailing again
in New Zealand [ until march].
We are aware of the fact that the next challenge will
be more difficult than the last, both from a sporting
point of view and because statistics say it will be so.
The new boats will be called Luna Rossa and will carry
the same colours as before.
Our budget for the next America's Cup will be around 50
million US$. The costs for all the teams have increased
since the last event. This time, however, we won't have
to deal with the set up costs of the operation bases"
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Francesco de Angelis,
skipper of Luna Rossa, said: "We have just started
a new cycle of activity. We now have to face two and a half
years of hard work. Our objective is to build a strong team
which can train together with the maximum effort and dedication.
Individually we all know our strengths and weaknesses and
it is now our opportunity to come together as a team.
The composition of the team and the roles are still 'open'
[see attached Team list]. It would be impossible, at this
stage, to define in detail all the positions.We hired some
non Italian sailors since we have one year less to prepare
than the last America's Cup. We thought this was the quickest
way to improve the level of our team". |
Doug Peterson,
Design Director of team Prada, said: "The Design Team
of this challenge is slightly different than the past. This
time Patrizio Bertelli decided he wanted his own Design
Team. We will create an environment which will enable us
to work to the maximum potential. In the past America's
Cup we were one of the last Challengers to begin operations.
This time we have lots of momentum. We added new people
to the Design Team with the standpoint of bringing new ideas
and being more efficient. More than ever we will work closely
with the Sailing Team".
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THE
TEAM STRUCTURE
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Patrizio Bertelli
- President and C.E.O
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Sailing Team
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Design Team:
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Francesco de Angelis
- Skipper
Alberto Barovier
Paolo Bassani
Lars Borgstrom
Gavin Brady (ex Stars &
Stripes)
Daniele Bresciano
Thomas Burnham
Sean Clarkson
Pietro D'Alì
Rod Davis
Simone de Mari
Steve Erickson
Massimo Galli
Cristian Griggio
Andrew Hemmings
Michele Ivaldi
Albert Jacobsoone (ex Le
Défi Français)
Dario Malgarise
Lorenzo Mazza
Carter Perrin
Matteo Plazzi
Romolo Ranieri
Piero Romeo
Massimiliano Sirena
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Doug Peterson -
Design Director
David Alan-Williams
Andrea Avaldi
William Brooks
Miguel Costa
David Egan
Scott Ferguson
Ian Howlett
Michel Kermarec (ex Le Défi Français)
Juan Kouyoumdjian (ex Le Défi Français)
Jed Lowry
Claudio Maletto
Paolo Periotto
Bruce Sutphen
Sail Design Team:
Alessandro Benigni
Steve Calder
Guido Cavalazzi
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