Yachting World April 2021

Heroes come in many forms. From the deluge of messages we’ve received recently, it’s clear that sailing has a new one, and she’s called Pip Hare. She stood at the bottom of an enormous mountain and steadily worked her way up, undistracted by how out of reach the summit seemed, or how far the potential to fall, with good humour all the way. Read her fascinating full Vendée Globe story from page 26. As many of us await a return to much-missed freedoms, Pip’s story feels like a parable for our times: keep going, and the rewards will be worth it in the end. Eagle-eyed readers will notice a small change at the end of this column, and I’m delighted to officially take the helm of Yachting World as editor. Yachting World has…

Heroes come in many forms. From the deluge of messages we’ve received recently, it’s clear that sailing has a new one, and she’s called Pip Hare. She stood at the bottom of an enormous mountain and steadily worked her way up, undistracted by how out of reach the summit seemed, or how far the potential to fall, with good humour all the way. Read her fascinating full Vendée Globe story from page 26. As many of us await a return to much-missed freedoms, Pip’s story feels like a parable for our times: keep going, and the rewards will be worth it in the end. Eagle-eyed readers will notice a small change at the end of this column, and I’m delighted to officially take the helm of Yachting World as editor.…

Luna Rossa wins Prada Cup 7-1 The Italian challenger Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli demonstrated unstoppable momentum to dominate the Prada Cup finals against INEOS Team UK and win 7-1. Max Sirena’s team has secured its place in the 36th America’s Cup match, representing the Circolo della Vela Sicilia. While much attention had been focused on the turnaround in fortunes of first American Magic, then INEOS Team UK, the Italian squad’s steady yet relentless progress throughout the early stages of the Prada Cup series could have been overlooked. Yet the clues were there – after beating the Americans once in the Round Robin, they then defeated them 4-0 in the semifinals. By the time it came to face INEOS Team UK, the black and red Luna Rossa AC75 was showing devastating speed on…

Luna Rossa wins Prada Cup 7-1 The Italian challenger Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli demonstrated unstoppable momentum to dominate the Prada Cup finals against INEOS Team UK and win 7-1. Max Sirena’s team has secured its place in the 36th America’s Cup match, representing the Circolo della Vela Sicilia. While much attention had been focused on the turnaround in fortunes of first American Magic, then INEOS Team UK, the Italian squad’s steady yet relentless progress throughout the early stages of the Prada Cup series could have been overlooked. Yet the clues were there – after beating the Americans once in the Round Robin, they then defeated them 4-0 in the semifinals. By the time it came to face INEOS Team UK, the black and red Luna Rossa AC75 was showing devastating…

After January’s Round Robin races the widespread belief was that the Prada Cup final would be a closely fought affair with little, if any, consensus on which way the result would go, writes Matthew Sheahan. Although the 4:0 scoreline that INEOS Team UK had delivered against their Italian opponents suggested that the British had the upper hand, the racing was close. The commonly held view was that the Prada Cup finals would go down to the wire. So it’s unsurprising the confident Italian victory, in a series that turned out to be largely one-sided, had many reassessing their projections for the Cup itself. For the Italians, just getting to this point was a big deal. Any team reaching the Cup is expected to spray champagne like they were putting out a forest…

‘The AC75 is the best boat I’ve ever sailed’ For INEOS Team UK, their final appearances in the Prada Cup had revealed that their boat Britannia still had problems generating power, particularly in lighter airs. Despite (eventually) getting the upper hand in some of the pre-starts, the British team simply didn’t have the horsepower or the height to hold off Luna Rossa, writes Matthew Sheahan. Yet, while the disappointment was clearly there, the team seemed upbeat about the possibilities of another campaign. “I think we now have the experience and the capability to be a really credible challenger, to go all the way and win the Cup,” said Sir Ben Ainslie. “We’re not happy with this result, we wanted to be in the final. We wanted to win the Cup and that’s still our…