Luna cycles

By JULIE ASH

Is the famous Luna Rossa anthem about to fade away into the background or can Prada turn their fortunes around?

That's the million-dollar question midway through the first round of the Louis Vuitton Challenger series.

As expected, American syndicates OneWorld and Oracle BMW Racing, and Swiss syndicate Alinghi look impressive, while Sweden's Victory Challenge have lived up to their tag as the darkhorse.

But after decisive losses to Oracle, Team Dennis Conner and Alinghi, many are beginning to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for Prada - the defending Louis Vuitton Cup champions.

The darlings of the 2000 America's Cup, Prada flew through the first round of the last challenger series unbeaten on the road to being crowned champions.

Beaten 5-0 by Team New Zealand in the cup match, the fashionable Italians declared they would be back. Going into this series they rightfully took their place as one of the hot favourites.

With more or less the same crew and designers from last time, Prada had an advantage over many in that they already had bases established in Auckland and Italy, which meant more of their $190 million budget could be spent on research and development.

Familiar with the changeable Hauraki Gulf after five years of training in Auckland, Prada looked indestructible, even though they were one of the last syndicates to get both their new yachts out on the gulf - which in turn led to comments that they had left their return too late.

After an opening-round loss to Oracle, it was clear all was not well in the Prada camp - something which had been speculated along syndicate row for some time.

First, there was talk the team's second yacht, ITA-80, had structural problems, which syndicate head Patrizio Bertelli later quashed.

Then it was believed New Zealand sailor Gavin Brady was on the brink of being fired - something Prada also denied, saying Brady's contract was simply being "renegotiated".

Not surprisingly, it was Prada who dropped the first bombshell of the cup, "demoting" head designer Doug Peterson just a few days into the competition.

Then this week, as expected, they announced their second yacht, ITA-80, had been sent to the boatyard for hull modifications.

Prada yachts are among the few that do not have the double-knuckle bow created by Team New Zealand's Laurie Davidson in 2000.

After the first two rounds, one team exits the competition for good and the remaining eight are split into the top and bottom four, with the top four having the easier road to the final.

While Prada are unlikely to exit first, the Italians would have had their hopes pinned on a top-four spot which, going into the series, they looked almost certain to achieve.

But Team Dennis Conner and Victory Challenge might just beat them to it.

While the picture may not seem rosy for Prada there is still plenty of time for them to turn things around.

Although some yachting experts have questioned the mental toughness of their crew, Prada are not short of experience, especially in their afterguard of Francesco de Angelis, Rod Davis, Torban Grael and Matteo Plazzi. And their first boat, ITA-74, is no slouch.

Going into the series de Angelis said he was aware the game had cranked up several notches and believed his team's result in the last regatta counted for little.

"Every time you take part in a sporting event you need to start from scratch with the intent of improving yourself and your previous effort.

"We learned from the racing side and the technical side, but in reality, what we learned was learned by everyone else."

Maybe everyone else just learned a little more.

* Despite a backlog of postponed and abandoned races to be made up, there will be just one set of races today - Flight Eight.

Prada team profile

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