Italian rowers lead the charge in sailing competition

Sailing and rowing are often lumped together in a category of Olympic water sports. Yet many rowers would argue that the two sports could not be farther apart. So, why are three former national-team Italian rowers competing for one of the world’s top sailing teams?

Three former Italian rowers are competing in the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team in the Prada Cup Final of the Americas Cup. Their team is on track to win.

“I started sailing when I was young,” says Nicholas Brezzi. “I think there are lots of pictures of me really young on sail boats. I discovered rowing at age 15 and it was almost love at first sight. But after some years of rowing, I just felt the urge to go back to sailing.”

Brezzi is not alone. He is joined by Emanuele Liuzzi and Romano Battisti. Between the three of them they have a stack of rowing medals to their names with Battisti the most-medalled. Battisti was part of the Italian men’s double sculls that finished second at the 2012 London Olympic Games and fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Liuzzi says there is a great bond between the three rowers.

“With Romano, we started together on the national team in 2009-2010. And we stayed until 2018, the year in which he left rowing. There was a time in my life I met him more than my family. A great friendship has grown up between us. With Nicholas, we took part in several under-23 races before he quit rowing. He is also a great sailor and he often gives me advice.”

The allure of sailing eventually took them out of the rowing shell and onto the sea.

“The main difference between rowing and sailing is the attitude to the sport,” Brezzi says. “Rowing is all about training and dedication, you don’t really have spare time. I guess that is pretty similar with the Americas Cup. But in general sailing has a more relaxed attitude and it’s not as tough physically. I think that rowing is the toughest sport physically, but in sailing you can really reach other levels of stress.”

For Battisti the sports have different levels of complexity. “In rowing, there are many variables to consider,” he says. “I realised that variables are doubled in sailing. Both the weather conditions and the boat’s features are far more complex. For sure, I’m also fascinated by the boat speed.”

The speed is one of the most tangible differences between Americas Cup sailing and rowing.

“Onboard the AC75, the speed is quadrupled compared to a rowing boat. We get almost 100km per hour,” says Liuzzi.

The Luna Rossa team has been preparing for this race for almost four years. After a series of lead-up races that took place in December, they are now competing against Ineos Team UK. The first team to reach seven wins will take the Prada Cup. Luna Rossa has a lead of four to zero.

“The Americas Cup is all about team, but the team is everyone, almost 100 people here working,” Brezzi says. “It’s an actual team, you have to help your colleagues. If you help them, maybe they have to work one hour less and they are more relaxed. Time is the only thing you cannot buy. It has always been an incredible group, I think they chose us well. We never fight and love to work together, even though we’ve been together for about three to four years,” he says.

The rowers were confident of their team’s ability heading into the first races of the final. For these true athletes, racing is their time to shine.

“A rower knows how physically and mentally hard is training, above all, when you are on a national team, competing at the World Championships and Olympic Games. In difficult times we try to help each other and we are made stronger through the experience that we built up during the years together. We all have made huge sacrifices involving our families too. Now it’s time to keep focusing and pushing to do our best,” Battisti says.

The racing will resume on 19 February. You can follow here: https://www.americascup.com/en/home#%23