America's Cup Recon: Luna Rossa has near capsize in AC75
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ 30 Jul 22:55 BST
Luna Rossa (ITA) - Day 12 - July 29, 2026 - Cagliari, Sardinia © Ivo Rovira
Italian Challenger Luna Rossa has resumed training in their AC75 off Cagliari and had an eventful day.
Luna Rossa - Day 12, July 29, 2026 - Cagliari, Sardinia.
Luna Rossa - Sailing Day 12, July 29, 2026 - Cagliari, Sardinia
Crew List:
- Port Helm: Ruggero Tita
- Starboard Helm: Peter Burling (NZL)
- Port Trimmer: Umberto Molineri(ITA)
- Starboard Trimmer: Vittorio Bissaro (ITA)
- Pos: 5: Maria Giubilei (Port)
- Pos 6 Martin Jacobi (CFD Engineer)
Wind & Sea Conditions:
- Weather: Sunny
- 12:45 11-13kts 180°,
- 13:55 10-12kts 170°,
- 15:00 13-15kts 175°,
- Flat seas
Key times:
- Dock Out: 1210hrs
- Dock In: 1640hrs
- Time sailed: 240 mins
- Foiling time: 126mins
- Tacks: 39; Gybes 36
- Touchdowns: 1 Tack; 1 Gybe
Sails Used:
- Mainsail MN2-1 4hrs (1230hrs-1630hrs)
- Jib J3-1 4hrs (1240hrs - 1640hrs)
Recon Unit Report: Luna Rossa - Day 12, July 29, 2026 - Cagliari, Sardinia
After two weeks spent in the shed, the team rolled out their mast at 10:45. The following was noted: new Gopro camera placed on port side mid height, deck has been sanded, perhaps to remove anti-slip paint, and new camera mounting on the centreline below the jib foot. Yet to be confirmed, but some smaller updates are noted on spray rails on arm stock and torpedo. Overall, this was not the most consistent sailing day for the team; some control instabilities and occasional touch-and-gos were recurrent throughout the day, perhaps due to system modifications.
At dock-out, the starting crew consisted of Ruggero Tita (helm), Umberto Molineri (trim), and Maria Giubilei (5th) on port, and Peter Burling (helm), Vittorio Bissaro (trim), and Martin Jacoby (CFD engineer) (6th) on starboard. Later in the day, Ruggero Tita swapped with Marco Gradoni, Umberto Molineri with Gigi Ugolini, and Martin Jacoby with Nitin Garg. The forecast showed a light to medium seabreeze, expected to ramp up in the late afternoon with a rather flat sea state. The mainsail, M2-1, was hoisted at 12:30 and paired with the J3-1 while the breeze was measured at 11–13 kts from 180°, closer to shore. J3-1 appeared with the previously seen tack reinforcements in addition to cameras fixed close to leech on both stbd and port.
The first session started at 12:54 with a tow-to-foil by the chase boat. The yacht sailed very long boards upwind and headed offshore into lighter airs of 8–10 kts, occasionally immersing the transom pulling down the elevator. This was even more recurrent on the first downwind board, while the boat did not appear fully in control. When executing the first gybes, the rudder stalled, forcing the boat hullborne. Once trimmed up, the boat sailed high & slow with significant windward heel before stopping for the usual sailors' and coaches' debrief. On many occasions, main skins seemed open with a gap on main head.
The second session began with a self take-off on starboard tack at 13:58 and unfolded similarly to the first session. Upwind sailing appeared quite more consistent in terms of straight-line performance and manoeuvring, while downwind some touch-and-go gybes, loss of rudder, and unstable ride heights were observed. On the last downwind of this session, Burling was noted walking on deck checking the main trav when suddenly the boat heeled significantly to windward, quite high in ride and bow down, lost stability and fell hullborne, almost resulting in a slow capsize. Fortunately, no one was injured and no major issue.
At 15:00 the breeze was 10–12 kts from 175°. The third session was briefly interrupted just after it began due to another minor issue, causing the boat to decelerate. At 15:10 the yacht finally started sailing again with more consistency. Back-to-back manoeuvres were practised upwind and downwind. Besides another rudder loss while practising a full circle, the yacht seemed more locked in compared to the beginning of the session. High & slow mode was again tested before bearing away on starboard tack for the last downwind before turning up at 15:37.
For the fourth session, another self take-off occurred at 15:57, again on starboard tack, and the yacht headed into some short pre-start training before sailing straight line in stronger breeze, now 13–15 kts from 175°. Another minor issue forced the yacht to decelerate, requiring technicians onboard. Quickly back foilborne at 16:11, a few additional bear-aways and round-ups were executed before heading into the harbour and lowering sails after approximately 126 minutes of foiling time, completing 39 tacks and 36 gybes.