Luna Rossa are relishing the move away from catamarans and back to monohulls for the next America's Cup.

Italian syndicate Luna Rossa are ramping up their America's Cup effort, preparing a massive sailing squad to start a two-boat programme for the world's leading monohull championship.

The official challenger of record for Auckland 2021, Luna Rossa intend to train 30 young Italian sailors to boost their team, in another sign of the huge budget they will work with in their quest to finally win the Auld Mug.

They will operate out of Cagliari in Sardinia on a current TP52 while a second boat is built that should ensure they are competitive in the 2018 TP52 Super Series.

EMIRATESTEAMNZ/YouTube Team NZ reveal a foiling monohull concept design for the 2021 America's Cup.

Fellow America's Cup hopefuls Ben Ainslie Racing (Great Britain) and the New York Yacht Club will also contest the Super Series, seeing it as an ideal platform for their Cup campaigns.

READ MORE:

* Johnstone: RWC 2011 lessons for 2021 Cup

* Cluster option favourable for Auckland Council

* Bermuda counts Cup cash

* Dennis Connor's $200m Am Cup price tag

Luna Rossa described the TP52 as "one of the most performing and challenging racing classes" as they confirmed their intentions in a statement on their syndicate website.

"The programme for this project will be developed in two phases. A preliminary training – from February to May 2018 – on a provisional TP52, while the final yacht is under construction at the Persico boatyard in Bergamo. During this period about 30 of the best young Italian sailors will be involved in the training in order to develop a new generation of top level racing sailors and expa nd the Luna Rossa sailing team.



"During the second phase - which will start in May 2018, after the launch of the new boat – the team will continue its preparation in the waters of the Adriatic Sea, with the fine-tuning of the new TP52."

That will be ahead of the final training of the racing crew in the Adriatic Sea, where the first races of the TP52 Super Series will be held.

Luna Rossa plan to have the experienced Francesco Bruni at the helm of their boats.

The Super Series had 10 teams involved this year and early plans for 2018 see two regattas in Croatia, one in Portugal and two in Spain, running from may until September.

Luna Rossa have been heavily involved in helping Emirates Team New Zealand design the new 745-foot foiling monohull that will be the class of yacht used in the 36th edition of the Cup.