Mascalzone Latino Capitalia Team preparing for two weeks of racing

With just a few hours left till the start of Louis Vuitton Acts 8 & 9 in Trapani, all 12 teams have completed their training sessions off the city's coast. The last Acts to be held outside Valencia (as far as we know) promise to be breathtaking as the ranking situation will get clearer.

First of all, the ACC champion for 2005 will be crowned in Trapani. Unless some extraordianry event takes place, alinghi will be this year's ACC champion. The Swiss defender of the America's Cup will have its boat skippered by Ed Baird, the world's number one in the match racing rankings.

Nevertheless, the thrilling action will be among the Challengers. The top three of them will be fighting hard to clarify the situation as they are squeezed with BMW Oracle just a point ahead of Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand. Ten points behind them, Desafío Español will try to keep their much-coveted poistion of fifth overall. In our opinion, we could witness an interesting duel between the other two Italian challengers, tied at the fifth position in the Challenger Louis Vuitton Ranking. Valencia Sailing, as well as all America's Cup watchers, will be watching with interest Victory Challenge's performance, in view of their boat change after the disappointing regattas in Malmö.

We publish a few photos of Mascalzone Latino's training in Trapani and hope Vasco Vascotto continues the excelent performance of the TP52 races.