This is Greek extreme wakeboarder and TikTok celebrity Nikola Plytas hitching a ride behind the Italian America’s Cup challenger Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s LEQ12 test boat on the waters of Cagliari, Sardinia recently.
Backed by the Prada fashion brand Linea Rossa Plytas was wearing a custom-made Prada Linea Rossa wetsuit in neoprene with a printed pattern and polyurethane taping.
The board used for the 90-minute session was also custom designed and built in-house by the America’s Cup team to be fast and stable at high speeds.
“It is a directional carbon board, resistant to abrasion and impact, with angled edges to be fast and, at the same time, guarantee greater grip during turns,” said Luna Rossa designer Umberto De Luca who was in charge of the project.
“After talking to Nikolas extensively to understand his needs, we made it slightly longer than normal to allow him a greater surface area and to land safely after big jumps.”
As you will see from the video above Plytas’ ride was fast and furious and often terrifyingly bumpy – especially on the turns. A self-avowed speed freak, the Greek athlete visited the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli base in Cagliari in 2022 where he became intrigued with the team’s foiling monohull test boat. Soon after the idea for the towing stunt was conceived.
“I've always liked to go fast behind the boats and push my limits,” he said. “So, after visiting the base last year and meeting Max Sirena and the team, it seemed like a project I absolutely had to do. Everything to do with the prototype intrigues me: the design, the foils, everything.
“Wakeboarding behind this boat is a dream come true. It wasn't easy. At certain speeds you can't think, you just do what you have to in an almost automatic way. I want to thank the entire Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team for making this project possible and for the professionalism and skill with which they managed the operation, making sure that everything ran safely and precisely for me and the Luna Rossa crew.”
I check-in with Tudor Team Alinghi’s director for technical and sailing, New Zealand America’s Cup veteran Dave Endean – the man in charge of making sure that in AC38 the Swiss syndicate improves on its somewhat lacklustre performance in the last Cup in Barcelona.
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