As expected the latest Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli AC75 ‘B3’ has already claimed the plaudits as the best-looking boat of this cycle.
With retro-cool style everywhere . . . the silver sheen hull resonating in the early Spring sunshine, kicking off its heavily arched forms and its deep nod to deck aero.
The see-through, naked, carbon deck moulding is next level, a rather concave deck surface developing from the flat bow to aft of the mast, arcing up to the four-man pods either side with the helms just behind the trim team and the cyclors positioned aft.
The foils, that are clearly legacy AC36, are forward of the mast and the ram exquisitely indented and shaped into the hull.
Every centimetre has been properly, pain-stakingly designed, the haute couture ‘weapon’ masks innovation and detail that is utterly exquisite.
The hull form is atypical of the new breed of AC75’s with a slender bustle running the full length as is ‘de riguer’ for the Barcelona sea state and tapering off the bow in a sweeping curve into a sharp edged, shallow(er) flat-bottomed bustle transom – unique to the AC75 hulls revealed so far.
Perhaps slightly less volume than we’ve seen on Emirates Team New Zealand and certainly less voluminous than Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
The bow profile is sharp, kicking off the immediate flaring underneath but without any chines, whilst on top it is sculpted, tapering forward as low-profile as possible within the volume rule.
The pods are deep with the cyclors able to tuck in, almost unseen, behind the helm and trim teams, with the sidedecks quickly tapering down into the almost flat stern.
The mast, without most fittings, and the foils and rudder were legacy components of previous boat iteration.
Likewise the hull was devoid of any mainsail controls, so it seems there is still a lot we don’t know yet.
The Italians are, without a shadow of doubt, all out to win this Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup and they might just have the vessel to do it.
(Magnus Wheatley, Michele Melis, AC Recon)
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