Italians want lower wind speed caps at America's Cup

ALAMEDA, California (AFP) –

Paul Campbell-James, Helmsman for Luna Rossa Challenge 2013, seen after a news conference in Alameda, California, on May 17, 2013. Patrizio Bertelli, Team Principal of Luna Rossa, announced the team will move forward with the competition, but that he wanted races canceled if winds on the San Francisco Bay were deemed too dangerous.

The head of Italian team Luna Rossa said he wanted lower wind speed caps for the America’s Cup yacht races, or to be allowed to sit out the event without being penalized.

Luna Rossa Challenge boss Patrizio Bertelli on Friday called for the changes, and additional safety gear for crews, after meeting with a committee looking into the death of a sailor from the Swedish team during training on May 9.

“It is very important to reduce the wind limits to around what we ask,” Bertelli said in Italian with team legal adviser Luis Saenz translating.

Cup rules can be changed if all competitors agree. The review committee told the teams on Friday that it has no authority other than to make recommendations about ways to make the event safer, according to Bertelli.

If caps on wind speeds are not reduced, teams should have the option of refusing to take to the San Francisco Bay if they feel it is too perilous and not be hit with massive penalty fees currently in place, Bertelli argued.

“It is a fundamental principle that the sailors and the skipper together decide if they want to go on the water or not,” Bertelli said as more than 60 members of the Luna Rossa team stood somberly in rows behind him.

“That is how it should be during the America’s Cup,” he continued.

“This Cup is different because there are penalties for not participating in an event.”

Fines for dropping out of the Cup can climb into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Saenz.

Patrizio Bertelli, Team Principal of Luna Rossa Challenge 2013, speaks during a news conference in Alameda, California, on May 17, 2013. Bertelli announced the team will move forward with the competition, but he wanted races canceled if winds on the San Francisco Bay were deemed too dangerous.

Bertelli declined to say whether he would pull the Luna Rossa team if his demands were ignored.

Luna Rossa has set up a base in a hangar at a former US Naval Air Station on the island city of Alameda across the bay from San Francisco.

Crew members will begin sailing on the San Francisco Bay to determine “in-house” limits when it comes to the kinds of conditions they believe are safe for racing, Bertelli said.

“Right now is an uncertain moment,” Bertelli said.

“We need to learn how the bay is and consider our operational limits, and that is work we will start right away.”

America’s Cup organizers confirmed receiving suggestions from Luna Rossa and thought it likely that all the teams would endorse final recommendations made by the review committee.

The process will include getting confering with Artemis Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa, and defending US champions Oracle.

“We are disappointed that Luna Rossa indicated that it might not follow the review committee’s recommendation issued last evening that teams not sail in San Francisco before May 23rd,” Cup officials said in a statement.

“Luna Rossa has already sailed its AC72 yacht in Auckland for some 40 days without incident and are now prepared to sail in San Francisco Bay,” they noted, saying they wanted more time to look into the fatal accident.

Bertelli said the Luna Rossa crew felt confident sailing the AC72 catamarans.

“The sailors have told me they do trust the boat and they can sail on it,” Bertelli said, gesturing toward an AC72 catamaran in the hangar.

“Obviously, we are going to look at the technology and any tools that can help us to be safer.”

He opposed any dramatic changes to rules regarding the type and specifications of boats entered in the America’s Cup this close to the start of the event.

The AC72 boats in the America’s Cup have been described by event organizers as “speedsters” powered by 130-foot (39.6-meter) tall wing sails and with the ability to hydrofoil, essentially rise out of the water to reduce drag.

It will be the first time teams in the finals race with multi-hull boats tailored to an America’s Cup design rule that also calls for “shorthanded” crews of 11 members.

The accident that killed Artemis Racing member Andrew Simpson has raised concerns that AC72 catamarans intended to rev up the event might be deemed too dangerous for sailors.

Simpson, nicknamed “Bart,” died when the Swedish team’s AC72 overturned while training on San Francisco Bay.

All four teams remain on board for the competition in San Francisco Bay, which gets underway in July with Louis Vuitton Cup matches to decide who takes on the champion Oracle crew in September.