A sailing torpedo that whizzes among the waves of the Pacific Ocean, driven by gusts of wind with an intensity greater than 20 knots.
The Luna (Red) by Prada-Pirelli lights up the Italian night and makes the public fall in love again.
The one-two against American Magic is packaged with scrupulous tenacity, in the first two semi-final races of the Prada Cup sailing in Auckland, so it is logical that ambitions regain vigor.
"We had never been so fast", confesses skipper Max Sirena, after the exploit in the waves of New Zealand.
And, in fact, the gap with the Americans appeared clear, as well as substantial.
The first two points are in the pocket, but it takes just as many to reach the English team of Ineos UK in the final of the selection for the challengers at the 36 / a America's Cup.
But not only that: Luna Rossa managed to dispel any uncertainty of the eve, showing off a very high profile performance, dominating the starting phase in both races.
From this point of view, the challenge between the Australian James Spithill, not surprisingly called 'Spitbull', and the New Zealander Dean Barker was truly merciless.
Two aggressive starts of the first, which dug a very deep furrow between Luna Rossa and Patriot, and which at the end of the fair made the difference.
Side by side, the Moon gained altitude and became 'full', both upwind and downwind.
And to say that the Americans were considered favorites in strong wind conditions.
The novelty lies precisely in this interpretation: Luna Rossa manages to travel at high speeds even when the breeze pushes at 16 or 20 knots.
Really good news for Patrizio Bertelli's team.
The rest can be attributed to the problems that the stars and stripes opponents have encountered in recent days, to the miraculous recovery after the 'capsize' a few days ago: the boat was put back into the water in record time, but something may not be fell into place in assembly.
The consolation remains to the American Magic crew for being able to reach a higher speed than the Italian boat, which competes with the guidone of the Circolo della Vela Sicilia in Palermo: 53.31 knots!
In the end, Luna Rossa signs the double, inflicting a gap of 2'43 "in the first and 3'07" in the second race.
Tomorrow, starting at 3.15 pm New Zealand time (3.15 am in Italy), two more match races will be repeated.
Luna Rossa just needs another brace to break the pass for the final.
But it is not a formality.
"We are super happy, racing with all this wind is always nice. We reach ever greater speeds and this confirms the goodness of the work done - says Francesco Bruni, helmsman of Luna Rossa from Palermo -. We come from an unhappy period, in the end of the Round Robins we were not sailing with the standards we expected, there was a bit of tension on board. In the past our boat was not the fastest in strong wind conditions, but now we know we have improved a lot in terms of performance. We saw interesting numbers and in the water we saw the difference ".
