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Club:
Yacht Club Punta Ala, Italy
Skipper: Francesco de Angelis
Design: Doug Peterson
Main Backer: Patrizio Bertelli
Main Sponsor: Prada
Budget: $50 million |
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www.prada-americascup.com |
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After
America’s Cup 2000, several Italian sailors left Prada feeling
the team were so entrenched in their doctrine and that Fabrizio Bertelli’s
commitment to his skipper and his afterguard was so strong that getting
to the America’s Cup and being beaten in straight races was as
good as it would ever get. And sure enough, after a period of reflection
shorter than it took the America’s Cup circus to leave town at
the end of the last race in 2000, Bertelli announced he would be sticking
with the Francesco de Angelis/Torben Grael skipper/tactician combination
for America’s Cup 2003.
But Prada did make some key moves. They bought one of the New York
Yacht Club’s Bruce Farr-designed boats as a trial horse, then
they let the younger members of the Frers design dynasty get away.
Finally, they brought in sailors of the calibre of Gavin Brady on
a promise that they would have a chance to sail on the first-string
boat.
So where are Prada now? De Angelis is certain that the experience
of having raced Team New Zealand means they know where the benchmark
is. And he asserts what local observers would concur – that they
have probably turned over more stones in terms of design than anyone
else. Certainly, Prada were the first team to experiment with fewer
spreaders, which shows a level of fine tuning that many teams on Syndicate
Row have not had the luxury to explore.
Like Alinghi, Oracle and OneWorld, Prada 2003 have the resources and
the people to make the grade, but whether the right people will be
doing the right things (there is no doubt a place needs to be found
on the A-boat for Brady) and whether the team have the nerve to emerge
from the five-month test of skill and stamina, in which anything but
a Cup win would be seen as retrograde, remains to be seen.
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