With the return of BMW Oracle and Emirates Team NZ to Valencia during the last weekend and the imminent reappearance of their boats, we will run a series of articles and photos on the pretenders to the throne, that is the Louis Vuitton Cup and, of course, the America’s Cup.
The America’s Cup rules do not oblige teams to build brand new boats for this edition of the event in Valencia. The only constraints on teams were to participate with a yacht built in their country of origin and modified to the newer version of rules, called Version 5. Nevertheless, all of them have built either one or two new yachts after the end of the previous edition in Auckland.
In addition, some of the first generation of newly-built boats have undergone substantial modification, often less than a year after their initial launch. As a prelude, we publish comparison photos of the two boats where the modifications are more evident, Luna Rossa’s ITA-86 and Shosholoza’s RSA-83.
Luna Rossa ITA-86
Luna Rossa’s ITA-86 being towed out of Port America’s Cup. Valencia, 20 April 2006. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing
Luna Rossa’s ITA-86 being towed out of Port America’s Cup. Valencia, 24 February 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing
Shosholoza RSA-83
Shosholoza’s RSA-83 being towed out of Port America’s Cup. Valencia, 13 June 2006. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing
Shosholoza’s RSA-83 being towed out of Port America’s Cup. Valencia, 28 January 2007. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing
February 26th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
The difference between the before and after of ITA 86 is very significant. I imagine they weren’t very happy with ITA 86 in it’s original form. As for the South African boat that doesn’t surprise me because they only built 1 boat so changing it the way they did makes sense.
February 27th, 2007 at 6:44 am
Couldn’t it be that the Italian boats are just different boats? Look the difference in hull colors?
February 27th, 2007 at 8:36 am
jeffo, you mistake about ITA 86. Very , very mistaken what you say.
February 27th, 2007 at 9:58 am
I don’t know if we can judge depending on the hull color because it could depend on the day light.
But the bow of boat on the 2nd photo really looks like ITA-94.
February 27th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Well I’m just going by what I see and what is provided by ValenciaSailing.
If I’m mistaken thats fine. I’m a 30 year old american who knows nothing about these boats. I just made an observation. If I’m mistaken then please explain why I am so I can understand.
February 28th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I’d say the time of day the photos were taken, and angle of the yachts to the camera makes up that difference in color.
I remember hearing several times that ITA 86 was well behind what was expected of her. So a major modification isn’t surprising.
We also have to remember that there are structures inside these boats which are very critical, and also subject to change. So what we may see is mostly a modified bow, but that may not be the entire story.