Luna Rossa, Damiani Italia and Shosholoza train in Valencia

Training for the upcoming Louis Vuitton Pacific Series started in full earnest today in Valencia. Luna Rossa, Damiani Italia and Shosholoza trained for the first time together and of course Valencia Sailing was there to capture the action. Vasco Vascotto's Damiani Italia was luckier as they docked out very early and were able to take advantage of the remains of the front that whipped Spain for the last few days.

As the morning advanced the skies cleared and the breeze died down completely. Nevertheless, at around 1:30 pm, the usual Valencia breeze kicked in and the three teams were able to carry out their training match races under a northerly wind between 8 and 10 knots.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the actual races since we had to get back to port before 2pm. I was offered a ride on the local television tender and the cameraman and producer had to rush to the TV station to prepare a brief piece for the 3pm news. Valencia Sailing will have more coverage of the practice races in the following days.

Luna RossaIt didn't take long for the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup finalist, albeit with a different crew, to get back on the water. ITA-94 was masted yesterday and Saturday marked the first day of training for the Italian team.

We didn't notice any addition to the crew compared to last November, when Luna Rossa took part in the 2nd Desafío Trophy, except for Nacho Braquehais. He was Luna Rossa's mainsail trimmer in the 32nd America's Cup and then joined Desafío. After the Spanish team fired all sailors last week Braquehais is back at Luna Rossa, although we don't know whether it's permanent. It wouldn't surprise anyone to see more former Desafío sailors looking for a spot on one of the teams that will race in Auckland in 3 weeks or in the European summer season.

Peter Holmberg and the rest of the Luna Rossa crew wait for the breeze to kick in. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Luna Rossa train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Luna Rossa train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Luna Rossa train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Damiani ItaliaVasco Vascotto's Damiani Italia were on their third day of training aboard Victory Challenge's SWE-73 (not SWE-63 as we mistakenly reported yesterday). Similar to the previous days, they docked out very early, at around 9:30am, and were able to take advantage of the nice breeze that blew until around noon. From there on, they suffered, just like the other 2 boats, for more than one hour until they breeze kicked in at 1:30pm. We were able to follow them for a little while and when we had to return to the Port we were informed they were scheduled to practice match racing together with Luna Rossa.

Damiani Italia train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Damiani Italia train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Damiani Italia train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Damiani Italia train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. From left, Alberto Bolzan, Francesco Bruni, Vasco Vascotto and Piero Romeo. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

ShosholozaThe South African challenger joined the other two teams off the Malvarosa beach for the day's training session. There are some members of the crew that I don't recognize but there is one irrefutable fact; the language spoken on the boat is Italian and as a result one could joke that 3 Italian teams trained today in Valencia.

Shosholoza train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Shosholoza train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Shosholoza train for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series. Valencia, 10 January 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Test videoHere's a very short video of Damiani Italia sailing upwind. The videos on this website are sometimes criticized for their quality. Please bear in mind that this is a blog, not Reuters or Bloomberg. I shoot with a handheld camera and the website's traffic makes it necessary to host the videos through Google, meaning that the quality of the original file is considerably reduced. This particular clip was shot with the Nikon D90, a great camera that allows to switch from 12.5 megapixel photos to videos with the click of a button.