By Suzanne McFadden
A new red "moon" sat on the water in Italy last night - the world's first America's Cup yacht bound for Auckland.
At midnight (NZ time) the Prada team became the first challengers to put a new boat in the water, christening her Luna Rossa, Italian for Red Moon, at their base in the Mediterranean. There will be no surprises if this boat bears some resemblance to the fastest cup yachts in the world, the Kiwi black boats.
Among the Prada campaign designers are New Zealander David Egan, a computer and models expert, and American Doug Peterson, both of whom helped to design Team New Zealand's winning Black Magics for 1995.
There were a handful of other Kiwis among the 400 guests at last night's launch at Punta Ala: sailors Rod Davis, Don Cowie and Alan Smith, who coach the Prada crew.
The head of the Prada fashion house, Miuccia Prada, broke a bottle of champagne on Luna Rossa's bow. Her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, heads the cup syndicate.
The couple chose the colourful name for the boat, but kept the traditional grey paintwork used on Prada's training boats. The boat did not get any further than the dock. The crew will probably take her for a sail this weekend.
Prada's second yacht is well under construction and the plan is to launch her next month. The two boats will then trial against each other off Punta Ala until the end of July, when they will be packed up for the five-week trip to Auckland. America True, Dawn Riley's campaign in San Francisco, are next on the list to launch a boat, scheduled to be some time at the end of this month.
Twelve challenger boats have sail numbers - issued at a certain point in the hull construction. The Russians say they have built their boat, but they have failed to follow cup protocol by not having it checked by measurers.
Yachting: Red Moon rises for Italian America's Cup challenge
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