Luna Rossa - Day 2 - Louis Vuitton America's Cup - Preliminary Regatta Naples - September 26, 2026 - photo © Francesca Ardau/America's Cup
Dear Recipient Name
It's hard to overstate how important the Preliminary Regatta in Naples was for the America's Cup, when on the surface it was just a show.
On the face of it, the teams were sailing in the AC40s, rather than the AC75s they'll be racing in the 38th America's Cup next year, the Australian team weren't there, and no points were on offer, but in reality this was a test for the teams, the sailors, the broadcast team, and most importantly for Naples itself as a venue.
It came as a breath of fresh air to watch traditional windward-leeward racing again after the reaching starts in SailGP. Watching the teams line up had so much to it, especially with some deciding on port tack flyers to get to the favoured right hand side of the course. We're used to seeing plenty of these in classes like the Moth and Switch, and with so many of the sailors regularly out in those classes it shouldn't come a surprise to see them, but a port tack flyer in an AC40 is a whole different scale of crazy compared to a foiling singlehander.
In a somewhat bizarre way, waiting for the wind was also refreshing. SailGP has to happen during their broadcast window, regardless of the wind strength, and I really quite enjoyed watching the replays and interviews while the breeze built in the Bay of Naples; it was worth the wait when it did happen each day.
For the teams themselves, we began to see their sailing strengths and weaknesses. We can't glean any design information from what we saw, as the AC40s are one design yachts, unlike the AC75s, which will be the same ones used in the 37th America's Cup, with a few modifications, such as batteries instead of cyclors.
The French La Roche-Posay Racing Team were fast through the water but ragged at times. They combined two race wins over the weekend with two capsizes, which skipper Quentin Delapierre acknowledged after Sunday's racing, "A little bit 50/50 on the result, because I think we showed some really nice strengths through the weekend, but unfortunately, we did not achieve consistent boat handling, with those two capsizes. I'm not sure we could do anything on the second one, but obviously we did capsize, so we need to figure out how it happened... but we have a vision, and we want to put it together."
With the previous America's Cup under their belt, and their hull being the sistership to Emirates Team New Zealand, they will have every chance of going all the way in the America's Cup itself.
It was the first competitive outing for ARC Team USA, and they'll be over the moon with their fourth place overall, including a win in the first race of the regatta. CEO Ken Read is relishing the challenge ahead, "We are very clearly an underdog, but an underdog can become a dark horse if you start showing some significant success."
They have acquired their AC75 from the last American team, so they have a platform that is known to be aerodynamic, but struggled for power generation due to the recumbent cyclors. With the use of batteries in this edition, the previous weakness could be replaced by their greatest strength. The US team could indeed be the dark horses of the 38th America's Cup.
The Swiss Tudor Team Alinghi were fast to start off with, in real contention to make the final after day two, but a poor final day dropped them to seventh overall. They'll take the positives from the event, but letting things slip annoyed skipper Paul Goodison, "I'm sitting here now really frustrated. We were one gybe away from a good result. Like you saw, we were second round the top in that last race; but we did a bad gybe and flopped into touchdown and then kind of got sucked back into the back and that cost a lot. Without that gybe, I think we'd be sat here quite cheery and happy, but now obviously I'm pretty hacked off."
It was a poor weekend for the Brits, with the legal battle with Sir Jim Ratcliffe over the ownership of the AC75 hanging over them. Only the string of fourth placed finishes on the final day pulled them off the bottom, overhauling their Cobham-Ultra GB2 stablemates. The weekend didn't start well with a crash into the Swiss team support boat, and all-in-all it was a weekend to forget for the whole team.
Skipper Dylan Fletcher mentioned that the focus has been on getting their AC75 launched; word is that the legal battle may be close to a resolution, and Ben Ainslie was striking a more conciliatory tone when asked about the situation, so fingers crossed that we can soon put that in the rear view mirror.
When it comes to the Women's and Youth teams racing, it was Emirates Team New Zealand who came out on top. I remember watching skipper Jake Pye during the ill-fated 2023 International Moth World Championship, and knew then I was looking at one of the stars of the future. He's still only 21 years old, but I can't help but think he'll be helming for the senior team soon.
Overall, Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand were the class acts throughout the weekend, securing their places in the final early and rarely showing any errors. Communications on board were calm and methodical, boat speed was good, combined with exceptional boat handling.
Both teams switched seamlessly from fleet racing to match racing mode, with Luna Rossa executing a perfect pin end start while Emirates Team New Zealand had to tack away, starting a couple of seconds late. The Italians bossed the Kiwis, bouncing them repeatedly on the right hand side boundary upwind while controlling position on the downwind legs.
The defection of Peter Burling from the Cup holders to the Italian challenger seems to have provided the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle, which may lead to Luna Rossa's long sought-after America's Cup victory. No-one ever doubts the Italian passion, but Burling has brought the cold, calculating, and sometimes brutal, Emirates Team New Zealand mindset, where it's all about the numbers, the incremental gains, and executing the game plan.
The fans were out in force in Naples, showing how the Italian city could push the event on another notch from the 37th edition in Barcelona. There's no doubt that having the strong home nation taking part is a huge draw, and the Italian public need a national team to get behind, with their footballers seemingly unable to qualify for the big tournaments.
The waterfront festival was well set up with big screens, stage and stalls, while an armada of vessels surrounded the race course on Sunday. Naples is proving to be 'una grande città dello sport' with the bay being a natural and brilliant amphitheatre for the event.
The construction of the team bases at Bagnoli, just to the west of the main city, is continuing apace and it won't be long until we see these bustling with the sailors, designers and crews working on the boats. The French AC75 was the first to arrive in Naples, coming in on a ship just before the preliminary regatta, and it'll be great to see them out on the water in the bay.
The America's Cup has peaks and troughs aplenty, but this past weekend saw the event firmly on the upward trajectory, building to the main event in 2027.
The gecko-like foiling monohulls may be a million miles away from anything we all sail, but familiar courses do make it all identifiable, albeit in fast forward.
Mark Jardine
Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com Managing Editor
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