FILE PHOTO: Sailing - America's Cup - Louis Vuitton Cup - Final - Britain v Italy - Barcelona, Spain - September 26, 2024 Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team in action during the race against INEOS Britannia REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
BARCELONA (Reuters) - Francesco Bruni jokes about being a 'couple' with his co-helm Jimmy Spithill, such is the intensity of the relationship between the sailors who share the steering of the Italian AC75 in which they hope to take on New Zealand for the America's Cup.
The duo were the first to adopt an unconventional 'co-helming' set-up for the new generation of futuristic, high-speed America's Cup monohulls, which 'fly' just above the water on hydrofoils at speeds which have hit more than 55 knots.
Italy's thinking was to gain an edge by splitting the role of driving the design-led craft, taking it in turns depending on the "tack" the boat is on and avoiding time lost and potential mishaps of an individual having to scurry across the hull.
While some may have quietly mocked when they used the approach at the last America's Cup in Auckland in 2021, at the 37th edition not only did defenders New Zealand adopt the same model, so too did all the potential challengers.
Bruni is full of praise for Spithill and the partnership.
"It's fantastic. I'm very lucky I had this experience in the last Cup and I'm having a new one now, so I feel like the luckiest person in the world," he told Reuters.
"We have a great relationship ... and we try to learn from each other a lot and whenever someone is down we try to raise his confidence, so we are working well together," Bruni said, adding that their dialogue is very open and disagreements few.
"He is a great person because he never points fingers and I try to do the same as well," Bruni said of his "mate".
'THROUGH THE TRENCHES'
What is evident from the on-the-water communications which are broadcast live during the America's Cup challenger series, in which Italy and Britain are pitted head-to-head for the right to take on defenders New Zealand, is the calm onboard.
That, says Italian coach Hamish Wilcox, is no accident.
"It takes a lot of trust ... and a lot of mutual respect, and the more trust and mutual respect you develop for each other it will wear the hard times and wear the good times," Wilcox said of the bond between Bruni and Spithill.
"They have gone through the trenches, they have been at the battlefront and that will help them massively to get them through this week," Wilcox told Reuters.
"We have got two sailors that are naturally good communicators and naturally very calm ... nothing really fazes them," the veteran coach added.
On board Britain's boat, skipper Ben Ainslie made a last minute change late in his campaign, swapping in Dylan Fletcher at the expense of his long-time lieutenant Giles Scott.
That new combination now faces the ultimate test.
"Ben's really open to feedback and I think we ultimately just seemed to gel together when we started sailing together earlier this year," Fletcher said when asked what the secret to cementing the relationship had been.
"He's got a lot of experience and I've got a very different background so we work well with each other, just bouncing ideas off each other," said Fletcher, who is in fairly constant communication with Ainslie during racing.
Asked if he was the only person in the team who could say "no" to the man affectionately known as 'Guv', he replied: "I'm sure there are plenty of people who can do that but I think we have a good relationship and it's working well on board."
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Toby Davis)
