Yachting: Country girl's crayfish wow Prada

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

A seven-year-old Hawkes Bay girl gave the Prada America's Cup crew a celebration dinner fit for Italian aristocracy.

Rebecca Aitken, who lives in the small farming town of Omakere, is such an ardent fan of the Prada yachting team that her family drove seven hours to Auckland to give the Italians a special gift on Saturday.

Rebecca brought a dozen crayfish for the crew and Prada's boss, billionaire Patrizio Bertelli.

She was then taken out on the Hauraki Gulf as a guest of the syndicate to watch Prada's boat Luna Rossa score a decisive victory over Nippon in the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals.

To celebrate the win, the Prada crew sat down to a dinner of crayfish - prepared by their personal chefs.

Rebecca has idolised Prada since before the challenger series.

At her 50-pupil Omakere School, she was assigned to write about the Italian rugby team in the World Cup, and then decided to follow the fortunes of the Italian America's Cup campaign.

Her father, James, a sheep farmer, phoned the Prada syndicate before Christmas.

"I wanted to know where I could buy Rebecca a hat, and five minutes later they had faxed us an invitation to come to their compound," he said.

"We drove up after work on Friday, got to Auckland about 2 am, and Rebecca was poking me in the ribs at 6 am - I don't think she slept she was so excited."

Rebecca insisted that the family buy the crayfish from her coastal hometown for the team.

"It was a little thank you for them," she said. "They said if they won they would have a big celebration party."

A spokeswoman for Prada, Alessandra Ghezzi, who first made the invitation, said the crew were overwhelmed by the gift.

"In Italy, crayfish is only for the very rich," she said. "Mr Bertelli could not believe it when he saw them."

Rebecca met all of the crew before they went out to race, and Bertelli introduced her to his sons, aged 10 and 12. She invited them to her farm to ride her pony.

"I couldn't believe their friendliness - they took the time to meet a seven-year-old country girl, and absolutely made her year," said James Aitken.

Prada have invited Rebecca back should they make the America's Cup match next month. And she will not have divided loyalties between the Italians and Team New Zealand.

"I will be giving my luck to Prada," she said.