The most challenging Tour yet for Francesco Bruni

Bruni thumbs up after winning Match Race Germany © Felix Kastle / MRG

Italian Francesco Bruni may not have done much keelboat match racing in recent years, but the talented match racer has always shown a remarkable talent for learning the ropes quickly. As the 2014 Alpari World Match Racing Tour prepares to kick off in Germany next week, we speak to the America's Cup skipper from Luna Rossa about his most challenging Tour ever;

There are few better ways to keep yourself race sharp than competing on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour, says Francesco Bruni. While he and his Luna Rossa team mates currently train in Sardinia as they wait to learn the details of the next America's Cup edition, they know it is just as important to keep racing in high-level competitions. Which is why Bruni wanted a Tour Card for this season on the Alpari Tour.

"As a sailor, you can really choose different paths for keeping your mind sharp," he says. "You can choose any kind of circuit, as long as it's high quality. The Alpari World Match Racing Tour is definitely one of those high-quality circuits, even if the boats we race are not the same as the multihulls we are training in for the America's Cup."

After a frenetic summer racing aboard Luna Rossa's 40-knot foiling AC72 in San Francisco, it would be hard to think of more of a contrast than the classic International One Designs used in the Argo Group Gold Cup. Yet in Bermuda last October, Bruni battled a path all the way to the final to find himself face to face with Sir Ben Ainslie, fresh from America's Cup victory with Oracle Team USA, and perhaps the most feted sailor of the modern age. Unbowed by the weight of Ainslie's living-legend status, Bruni got the better of Sir Ben to win the final 3-2 despite having done little keelboat match racing in recent years. Bruni created history that day as the first Italian ever to be named on the oldest match racing trophy, the King Edward VII Gold Cup.