Italy and the America’s Cup

Among the five challengers for the 37th America’s Cup is an entry from Italy, a nation that’s involvement began with Gianni Agnelli, a lawyer by trade with a winning and divisive reputation. It was at a time when professional sailing in Italy did not exist that this sometimes controversial cult figure was the first to dream of chasing the America’s Cup.

As reported by Mauro Giuffrè, Agnelli had always been a great lover of the sea and a collector of boats, among his many passions. A sailor who is recounted as being extremely fickle, although there were very few ‘fickles’ in his idea of chasing the America’s Cup, because first and foremost it was essential “not to look like a chocoholic.”

Stories about Agnelli, and Azzurra is one of them, are shrouded almost in legend as so many are the nuances and anecdotes whispered around the virtues and vices of this character. One thing is certain; Agnelli paved the way as he was the first to see that Italy could participate in this game.

“Don’t make me look like a chocolatier, Cino.” Recounting this phrase was the legendary Cino Ricci, Azzurra’s future skipper, who reported how much Agnelli underwent the allure of the America’s Cup without tergiversation, but at the same time had as his first concern to make a good impression.

He almost immediately welcomed Ricci’s proposal because in reality the Cup was already on his mind well before the 1980s. Azzurra in fact is an idea that comes from afar, a vision Agnelli had 20 years earlier.

It was during a guest stay with John F. Kennedy on the occasion of the 1962 America’s Cup, in the presence also of designer Giulio Carcano, when Agnelli was enraptured by the allure of the America’s Cup. He found the event could be a perfect vehicle for the Fiat car brand in the United States, for which he was a principal shareholder. However, the time was not yet ripe, and here indeed his phrase “chocolatiers” addressed to Ricci returns.

He was a capricious dreamer, but he was a man accustomed to winning or at least excelling, in industry as in sports, and would be so throughout his life. Italian sailing and industry could not yet compare with the Anglo-Saxon world, even though the economy had shifted sharply in gear after the War.

Agnelli enjoyed those days with his friend Kennedy, who a year later would tragically pass away in Dallas, and the atmosphere of those 1962 Cup races as seen with Kennedy on his boat left its mark.

When he decided the time was ripe to challenge for the 1983 Cup, in a few days, phone in hand, he put together a consortium of nearly 20 companies whose members included Iveco, Alitalia, Cinzano, Augusta, San Pellegrino, Pininfarina, among others.

Finding a Yacht Club was simple; all it took was a phone call to Karīm al-Husaynī, the Aga Khan, imam of the Nizarite Ismailite Muslims, founder of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and Porto Cervo. The key men in the consortium from a managerial point of view were Gianfranco Alberini, Riccardo Bonadeo, and Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

The designer chosen was Andrea Vallicelli, on the crest of the wave in those years, and the helmsman Mauro Pelaschier, with Tiziano Nava as tactician. The boat was built and launched in Pesaro, all made in Italy as the regulations required. Thus Azzurra was born, after the Lawyer had been hatching the idea of the America’s Cup in his head for 20 years.

He didn’t win it, but he certainly didn’t look like a chocoholic. In fact he paved a way for another Azzurra challenge would come in 1987, along with the Italia challenge, and in the late 1980s Raul Gardini would come on the scene, with the Moro di Venezia epic. Luna Rossa did not yet exist, but perhaps there was already an Arezzo patron who was beginning to dream something.

Following the publication of the AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule on November 17, 2021, the AC75 Class Rule and AC Technical Regulations were finalized on March 17, 2022. The entry period opened December 1, 2021 and runs until July 31, 2022, but late entries for the 37th America’s Cup may be accepted until May 31, 2023. The Defender was to announce the Match Venue on September 17, 2021 but postponed the venue reveal, confirming it would be Barcelona on March 30, 2022. The 37th America’s Cup begins October 12, 2024.

Teams revealed to challenge defender Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
• INEOS Britannia (GBR)
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI)
• Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA)
• NYYC American Magic (USA)
• Orient Express Racing Team (FRA)

2023-24 Preliminary Regattas
September 14-17, 2023 (AC40): Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
November 30-December 2 (AC40): Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
August 22-25, 2024 (AC75): Barcelona, Spain

2024 Challenger Selection Series
August 29-September 8: Double Round Robin
September 14-19: Semi Finals (Best of 9)
September 26-October 5: Finals (Best of 13)

2024 America’s Cup
October 12-21: 37th Match (Best of 13)

For more schedule details, click here.
Additionally, 12 teams will compete in the 2024 Youth & Women’s America’s Cup.

Noticeboard: https://ac37noticeboard.acofficials.org/
Additional details: www.americascup.com/en/home

Source: ACE