Garmin selected as Official Supplier for Team Luna Rossa Challenge

Garmin has been selected as an Official Supplier for Team Luna Rossa Challenge, Challenger of Record for the 36th America’s Cup. As official supplier, Garmin will supply its high performance GNX 120 sailing instruments and sensors as well as quatix® 5 marine smartwatches and VIRB® action cameras. Garmin will be the Official Supplier of Team Luna Rossa Challenge for the full campaign leading up to the 36th America’s Cup, to be held in New Zealand in 2021.

“It’s a great honor and privilege to be the official supplier of Team Luna Rossa, Challenger of Record for the 36th America’s Cup,” said Pontus Fernstrom, Garmin EMEA marine segment director. “This is the first step in a project that started some years ago and has allowed our brand to extend its presence into the highest level of sailing worldwide, thanks to our top performing products and complete services.”

Team Luna Rossa has started preparing for the America’s Cup on the waters off Cagliari, in Sardinia, Italy on a TP 52 monohull – one of the highest performing and most challenging racing boats. The team’s program is divided into two parts, including an initial training period until May 2018 on a current TP 52. The team will use this boat while a second boat is built at Persico boatyard in Bergamo where 70 top young sailors will be teamed up in order to prepare a “New Generation” of world class racing sailors and revamp the Luna Rossa sailing team. The second stage will start in May 2018 after the launch of their new boat. During this time, the TP 52 will undergo sea trials in the Adriatic sea – where the first races of the TP 52 Super Series will be held – and the Luna Rossa racing crew will complete their training.

“I am very proud of this strategic relationship that will support our team throughout all the stages of the process leading up to New Zealand,” said Max Sirena, Luna Rossa Challenge team director. “Developing new products and technologies with a dynamic company like Garmin is bound to be a very engaging experience.”

Both TP 52s will be equipped with state-of-art Garmin instruments, including GNX 120 7-inch displays, solid-state 9-axis compass, GPS 19x 10Hz antenna and a GST43 through-hull transducer for detecting speed and water temperature. Garmin will also supply Team Luna Rossa with a quatix 5, its latest marine smartwatch with built-in GPS and an extensive range of features intended for sailing, including the ability to bring up useful data required by each crew member in their role during a race. The quatix 5 comes with Garmin’s multisport signature features, essential for the physical training of Luna Rossa’s sailing athletes. Garmin will also support the team’s media production and training data analysis with its VIRB 360, the first action camera with built-in GPS that can record 360 degree videos in 4K, and its VIRB Ultra 30, a cutting edge action cam for ultra-high definition video capture, complete with 3-axis image stabilization and G-Metrix features.

Team Luna Rossa’s official chase boat will also be completely outfitted with Garmin electronics, including a Garmin GPSMAP 922xs 9-inch Touchscreen Chartplotter/Sonar Combo and a gWind Wireless 2 wind transducer that will provide wind data, bottom contours and currents on the race course.

The innovative solutions on the TP 52 will help define the setup onboard the revolutionary AC 75, the class of high-performance, fully foiling monohull racing yachts that the team will sail at the 36th America’s Cup. The AC 75 will be an extremely demanding and challenging race boat that will require top-level crews and instruments. This concept will open new horizons for racing yachts which, in the future, may also extend to cruising yachts.

For decades, Garmin has pioneered new GPS navigation and wireless devices and applications that are designed for people who live an active lifestyle. Garmin serves five primary business units, including automotive, aviation, fitness, marine, and outdoor recreation. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at garmin.com/newsroom, contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200, or follow us at facebook.com/garmin, twitter.com/garmin, or youtube.com/garmin.’’

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