Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena has admitted his relationship with Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton - previously a close friendship - is broken. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena has admitted his relationship with Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton - previously a close friendship - is broken. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena has admitted his relationship with Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton – previously a close friendship – is broken.
While Sirena speaks highly of Team New Zealand, who he has competed against on four occasions and joined forces with in Bermuda in 2017, the relationshipbetween Luna Rossa and the Cup holders has soured, with a series of public and private disputes.
So too has Sirena's relationship with Dalton.
"Lately we don't have a relationship," Sirena tells the Herald. "We never talk privately. I knew it was going to be tough because he is a fighter, he is a strong guy, he knows what he wants.
"I don't like the way he treats the argument, especially in the media, but that is his way to deal with it. I don't blame him. I think he is not right, but I respect his way to operate. If this is his way, good for him; I'm not going to match him.
"[Putting] together a team is already enough work, the last thing we need is to put the thing on the table on a personal level, something I don't think is good for the sport."
Sirena claims he is uncertain of the roots of their relationship breakdown.
"I don't know why we ended up like this," says Sirena. "I don't even know the real reason, to be honest.
"In sport at the high level there is so much on the table and everyone is using whatever they think is best to achieve their goal. The more distractions you throw out for your competitors, the better it is for you. [But] if he thinks it will make me weak, he chose the wrong guy."
Grant Dalton (left) and Max Sirena at the Emirates Team New Zealand launch of their AC45 on loan from Luna Rossa. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
Prada chief executive Patrizio Bertelli told the Weekend Herald in December that such dramas were synonymous with the event and Sirena shares his view.
"I don't have any problem with Team New Zealand," says Sirena. "I have known most of the guys for years. I have huge respect for them. At the same time, I guess sometimes Dalton uses the team to protect himself.
"But this is the Cup. You cannot complain. You know that ego and big balls are coming out and it is part of the game."
One of the biggest disputes was around the equitable use of racecourses B and C, located closest to the best vantage points, before intervention from the port authority eventually resolved the matter.
"The protocol is clear, the racecourse needs to be for everyone," says Sirena. "Think of another event, like Formula One. The final is in Estoril, but you are the only one allowed to train there for weeks and I can only get there for the day of the race. What do you think the result is going to be?
"But the press release was about Luna Rossa taking away the spectacular course from the New Zealand people.
"That is what I don't like. He is doing that to try to make us look bad; we have a pretty strong relationship with New Zealand and he is trying to put the people against us."
Come the end of March, when the regatta is all over, what are the chances of Sirena and Dalton being spotted in a local watering hole together?
"We may go out for a beer after the Cup," says Sirena. "Let's see. I am not here to find friends. When you are competing at a high level they are all enemies. All you want to do is beat them on the water."
Sirena admits it will be "almost impossible" to beat Team New Zealand in the America's Cup match in March.
While there have been issues between the two teams over the past 18 months, Sirena is still an unabashed admirer of the Kiwi syndicate.
"I loved working with them and I tried to learn as much as possible but it is one of the things you cannot just copy/paste - unfortunately," Sirena says.
"They always have an edge on the others. It is not easy to replicate; it is not easy to build a copy of Team New Zealand."
Despite different personnel over the years, Sirena says the same principles remain.
"Even if they are changing people the core group is still the same and they have been working together for years," says Sirena. "They know each other so well.
"And everyone is working for only one objective … to make the boat faster. No one is working for themselves and they are super talented. They are great sailors, probably the best on the market and from a design perspective they are always thinking outside the box.
Max Sirena of Luna Rossa out on the Waitematā Harbour last month. Chris Newey / www.photosport.nz
"They wrote the class rule with us but they had [the design] in mind way earlier than when we started to talk. But it is part of the game."
That "game" has kept Sirena hungry for two decades, since his Cup debut in 2000 as a mid-bowman on Prada.
His career has encompassed the two Auckland regattas (2000 and 2003), the battles in Valencia (2007 and 2010) and San Francisco, but 2021 could be the toughest yet.
"The [Prada Cup] will be a big boost for the challengers but I also know that Team New Zealand will be almost impossible to beat," says Sirena. "Everyone will try but it will be hard because they are a super-strong team. But if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.
"Look at the rugby. No one was giving a chance to Argentina and they beat the All Blacks."
On the plus side, Sirena can see parallels with 2000, when the Italian syndicate reached the America's Cup match.
"This campaign feels pretty similar," says Sirena. "We started with a young team and a few experienced guys and we tried to think out of the box as much as possible."
As we talk, it's just after 9am inside the Luna Rossa base.
Sirena has been on the go since 6.30am – "talking to Italy" – and 14-hour days are the norm, but "that's the Cup, you can't complain".
Sections of the Italian media have talked up Luna Rossa and expectations are high. The drastic Covid-19 situation in Italy, which has curtailed many other sporting events, will mean increased focus on this campaign.
Their boat showed promising signs during America's Cup World Series in December, looking particularly strong in the lighter air, which augurs well for the Prada Cup.
"The biggest expectation comes from within, and the next to respond to Mr Bertelli," says Sirena, referring to team supremo and Prada chief executive Patrizio Bertelli.
"There is a lot of pressure, as Luna Rossa is a kind of sailing national team, and it is only going to increase. Everyone is hoping we [can] do something big for Italy and our sailing community.
"But we are not distracted by that; I'm focused on making the boat go as fast as possible and taking the pressure off the team."
Max Sirena of Luna Rossa at a media conference for the Prada America's Cup Christmas Series on the Waitematā Harbour. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
After waiting years to see them competing, Sirena, like most, is buzzing about the capabilities of the AC75s.
"They are way more [than] we were expecting," says Sirena. "When we drew the class rule together, we had some doubts because it was a completely out of the box kind of boat, especially coming from the AC50. [But] it is the most exciting project and boat I have ever been involved in. It has a long future."
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