Detroit’s Bora Gulari to sail in 35th America’s Cup
By Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki
June 13, 2014 at 4:10 pm
San Francisco, 17/01/12 34th America’s Cup Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup Final — Race 3 Photo: © Luna Rossa/Carlo Borlenghi
Detroit’s going to be well-represented when the next America’s Cup rolls around – Bora Gulari, best known as a two-time world champion in Moths in 2009 and 2013 and the 2010 Rolex Sailor of the Year, will be aboard the Italian boat, Luna Rossa, the syndicate announced Thursday.
Gulari is only the third Detroit sailor to reach the exalted America’s Cup ranks in recent years, following Stu Argo and Dawn Riley.
“It’s pretty awesome,” said Tim Prophit, commodore of Bayview Yacht Club where Gulari is a member. “I’ve known Bora for years, watched him grow up sailing with the O’Niel family on Natalie J, I’ve watched him learn how to sail the Moth, win the world championship.”
“His dedication to the sport of sailing is unparalleled,” Prophit said. “We at Bayview are very proud of him, the city of Detroit should be very proud of him.”
Gulari was first contacted by Luna Rossa Skipper Max Serina about two months ago and has been in Italy, working for the syndicate, for the last month. Ashore Detroit caught up with him home in Detroit for a few days where he was wrapping up his belongings here and finalizing the move to Italy for the duration of the Cup challenge.
Gulari is typically modest about his achievements.
“I was surprised it finally happened,” Gulari said.
“I was entertaining other options in professional sailing at the same time and at first it took a little bit to sink in…I could go to America’s Cup,” Gulari said. “After I kind of got used to the idea, I was pretty excited.”
In making the announcement, Sirena said he kept most of the core of his previous team and added what he called some “crucial parts,” which include Gulari.
The date and place of the next Cup challenge haven’t been announced yet, although Chicago, Bermuda and San Diego are likely locations. The protocol and class rules are in place, however, and the next Cup will be sailed in hydrofoiling catamarans with a 30-meter winged sail.
Obviously Gulari’s experience with the hydrofoiling Moths is a big part of his attraction for the Cup syndicates.
The last America’s Cup proved that mastering the art of hydrofoiling is critical to winning, when Oracle came back from an 8 to 1 deficit to finally win the Cup by 9–8. It was one of the greatest comebacks in sports history and the fact that Oracle finally mastered hydrofoiling is the biggest reason why they were able to make such a huge turnaround.
“It’s definitely going to be more competition and I think everyone’s going to be better at foiling,” Gulari said.
Gulari’s job description is “performance, helmsman, trimmer and leadership,” which means his actual job on the boat could be almost anything.
“We’ll see when we get to the big boat,” Gulari said.
The Luna Rossa Sailing Team
- Max Sirena
- Francesco Bruni
- Pierluigi de Felice
- Chris Draper
- Ben Durham
- Shannon Falcone
- Bora Gulari
- Emanuele Marino
- Marco Mercuriali
- Adam Minoprio
- Manuel Modena
- Gilberto Nobili
- Alister Richardson
- Pietro Sibello
- Simeon Tienpont
