Good luck is bad luck but Prada loves it

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Prada's sailors will wear Kiwi-made lucky socks in their America's Cup battle with Team New Zealand.

But some superstitious members of the crew won't wear the socks on board the boat because they have a green stripe and wish them good luck.

It is an old superstition that green is unlucky on boats. And it is bad luck to say "good luck" to an Italian sailor.

In another complication, the message on the socks has a couple of spelling mistakes.

Under a picture of Luna Rossa sailing by the Harbour Bridge are the words "Buono fortuna, Italia. Luna Rosso."

In Italian "buona" is good; "buono" is a gift voucher.

"The guys laughed and said these socks would be their voucher for good luck," said team spokeswoman Allessandra Ghezzi.

The socks are a gift from a Rotorua man who made lucky red socks for Team New Zealand in the last America's Cup.

Leonard Rees made 150 pairs for the Prada team, in green, white and red, the colours of the Italian flag.

Ghezzi said the team were overwhelmed by the gesture.

Mr Rees' company, Merle-Tex International, made 9500 red socks in the last week of Team New Zealand's winning 1995 campaign in San Diego. This time, the Kiwis had their lucky socks made in Korea.

"No one asked us to do it this time, so we decided to give our socks to Prada," he said.

"We enjoyed their performance in the challenger series. We thought they were very sportsmanlike."

All Team New Zealand crew members will wear their red charms on the black boat on Saturday, even though Sir Peter Blake was the only sailor to wear them in '95.