Italian duel off Valencia's coast

No day passes without the sailing activity in Valencia getting more visible. With only two months and a half separating us from the next Louis Vuitton Acts, the America's Cup teams present in Valencia do not waste a single day and intensify their training.

Our second installament of training match-races covers an Italian duel in Spanish waters. The two Italian challengers, Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39, got off to an early-morning training session at 9 am. Tuesday started with low temperatures, around 10 degrees, and cloudy skies but very nice western winds that reached around 20 knots during the morning. These excellent sailing conditions were also used by Luna Rossa, Desafío Español 2007 and even BMW Oracle, the latter just towing USA-76 for a couple of miles and then going back to their base.

Enjoy a small sample of the photos from today's training of the two Italian challengers, as the superb sailing conditions produced so many eye-catching moments that made it difficult to choose out of the close to 300 photos. Unfortunately, rules being very strict, I was not allowed to shoot any of the other boats that were training, with some of them getting very close to the beach.

ITA-77 being towed out of the canal. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. My apologies for the photo's quality, but I could not avoid being washed out by the waves. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

+39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

+39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

+39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team and +39 Challenge training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing

Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team training in Valencia on 21 February 2006. Photo taken by Valencia Sailing