First America's Cup Preliminary Regatta coverage from Vilanova, Spain
by Sail-World.com/nz 8 Sep 2023 16:57 PDT
9 September 2023
America's Cup Practice Racing - Barcelona August - September 2023 © Alex Carabi / America's Cup
The first Preliminary Regatta on the road to the 37th America’s Cup begins in the Catalan port of Vilanova i La Geltrú from the 14-17th September 2023 and promises to be a keenly contested event.
Vilanova is just 25nm along the Mediterranean coast from Barcelona, and for the teams, should give insights into racing at the 2024 Cup venue.
The America’s Cup teams will face three days of fleet and match racing in the foiling monohull class, the AC40, with three races per day to decide the top two teams who will contest the winner-takes-all match race final. All the teams will be sailing in strict one-design mode so the winners will be decided on pure sailing skill and technique with consistency being rewarded.
There has been some good racing in the pre-regatta warm-up events. Expect some F1-type action to spectacularly punish any crew indiscretions.
Early indications of form really count for nothing until the teams start racing for points counting for a qualifying regatta. The teams will be trialing ideas as much as chasing points - this is one of only two learning experiences that is permitted against other teams. Expect to see some different tactics come into play, along with sailing styles.
For spectators shoreside and on the water, Vilanova i La Geltrú is gearing up to welcome the world. The official race village opens on Thursday 14th September at midday and the opening ceremony will be held at 7pm after the practice racing that afternoon. The village will be the centre point for the regatta with jumbo screens showing the racing.
The second Preliminary Regatta will be contested in Jeddah in late November - which will be the last time the America's Cup teams sail against each other in AC40s. The Final Preliminary Regatta will be sailed in Barcelona in AC75s.
Coverage arrangements are in place for various countries - we will be running the live Youtube coverage on Sail-World, along with any other alternative we can find, and will be running full, independent coverage and commentary of the regatta and build-up. It will be top of site and you need do nothing more than do what you normally do to get to www.sail-world.com
We will be running our well-followed Cup Spy series right through the Preliminary event, to provide independent coverage by Sail-Worlds's Richard Gladwell using any content available from the Recon File System - to which Sail-World has access, and from other sources that are available. We will also be running the usual team and event reports. Expect to see Cup Spy published very close to the end of racing for the day in an Early Edition - and check back during the day for more content and comment as they come to hand. Cup Spy will not be held back waiting for late content, and will be a comprehensive record of the day's racing and results. If you see a new headline image - there's a good chance that there has been a major news update.
Sail-World will also be publishing extensively on social media.