Jimmy Spithill introduces his new Red Bull Italy SailGP Team

AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO (AP) — With his stellar America’s Cup career behind him, Jimmy Spithill introduced his new Red Bull Italy SailGP Team on Thursday in Dubai just ahead of the opening regatta of the global league’s fifth season.

Spithill, the team’s CEO and founder, pulled a major coup by hiring his old America’s Cup crewmate and fellow Australian, wing trimmer Kyle Langford, from the Australian team that dominated SailGP for the first three seasons.

Italy, SailGP’s 12th team, sailed its foiling 50-foot catamaran for the first time Thursday. After practice racing on Friday, the opening regatta will be Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s been definitely a big push,” Spithill said in a video interview with The Associated Press. “It’s all come up really quick. We’re almost there.”

Spithill left the U.S. SailGP team in November after 2 ½ seasons to focus on starting the Italian team and on sailing in this year’s America’s Cup. He was co-helmsman of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team, which was eliminated by INEOS Britannia in the challenger finals.

Double Olympic gold medalist Ruggero Tita will helm the Italian team, while two-time bronze medalist and recent Women’s America’s Cup winner Giulia Fava will be the strategist and Italian national champion Andrea Tesei will be the flight controller. Alex Sinclair also followed Spithill, joining grinders Matteo Celon and Enrico Voltolini, who have extensive high-performance and America’s Cup experience.

Spithill said his crew has “some absolute next-generation stars, from different backgrounds, Olympics, America’s Cup, and it’s just awesome having Kyle come in.”

Spithill, 45, said he’ll be on the boat only if someone gets hurt or sick.

“These young guys are too good at it,” he said. “The talent that’s coming through in Italy, I mean, the results do the talking.”

More stars having been switching teams in SailGP, which was co-founded by tech billionaire Larry Ellison. Signing Langford is a big deal for the new team.

Shortly before the 2013 America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay, Langford was promoted to Oracle’s race crew after wing trimmer Dirk de Ridder was suspended by an international jury. With Emirates Team New Zealand at match point at 8-1, Spithill skippered Oracle to eight straight wins in one of the greatest comebacks in sports to retain the Cup.

“One thing that really attracted him was a chance to start out and really play a major role with the new team and especially the emerging talent,” Spithill said. “It would have been really easy for him to say, ‘You know what? I’m comfortable with the Aussies.’ But the fact that he’s stepped out of his comfort zone and he’s challenging himself as an athlete in this stage of his career is just massive.”

While talented, the Italian crew will have the least experience together in the high-performance F50 catamaran.

Spithill said Langford “is going to play a huge role in getting this team up to speed. I mean, the F50 is, without a doubt, probably the hardest boat to sail out there.”

After sailing for Luna Rossa in three of his eight America’s Cup campaigns, Spithill has seen how passionate Italian fans are.

“When you talk about an exciting market for the sport, I mean, it doesn’t get any better than Italy,” he said. “It has a huge following in Italy and they’ve got a real cultural attachment to the ocean and the sport itself.”

Spithill said immediately after Luna Rossa’s loss in early October that it was time to step away from the America’s Cup.

“The point is, we didn’t get the job done so I hold myself accountable for that. And I also am seeing firsthand that this next generation of talent coming through and I believe they deserve a shot, you know?”

“I really think SailGP is the future of the sport. The whole regular season, the concept makes a lot of sense,” he said.

Dubai is the first of 14 regattas. At season’s end, the top three crews will race in the $2 million, winner-take-all Grand Final.

Also Thursday, Rolex was announced as SailGP’s first title sponsor as part of a 10-year deal.

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Bernie Wilson has covered sailing for The Associated Press since 1991.