America's Cup: A lighter day forecast for Day 2 in Sardinia
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 23 May 02:56 PDT
France takes a deep dive - Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup - Preliminary Regatta Sardinia Race Day 2 - May 22, 2026. © Ricardo Pinto
The official forecast for Day 2 of the America's Cup Preliminary Regatta - Sardinia, is similar to Day 1.
However PredictWind.com shows that the offshore breeze is not as significant as yesterday and is positioned further offshore.
Racing is expected to get underway at 1313hrs UTC or 1513hrs local time in Cagliari. The PredictWind forecast shows the breeze beginning to ease an hour after the start.
The sea state is officially expected to be the same as yesterday - 0.3 metres, or about 1ft. However if the breeze does ease, we shouldn't be seeing the same antics as yesterday.
The wind forecast for the racing area, by PredictWind at 1513hrs, shows a breeze being sucked into Bay of Angels from 143° while offshore with opposing breeze of 11kts from 027°. Between the two systems is a zone of dead air, but a much bigger doldrums zone tha yesterday.
The predominant breeze is 20° east of yesterday. As the afternoon progresses, the southerly breeze is expected to start easing rather than increasing - however that may be determined by the temperature ashore, sucking the cold air in from the sea.
Eight teams are entered in the event with New Zealand, Great Britain, and Italy entering an Open team and a Youth and Womens team each.
France and Switzerland have entered only one team.
The two latest America's Cup Challengers, USA and Australia have been excused from competing in the first Preliminary Regatta.
All teams will compete in eight scheduled fleet races, with the top two going forward to determine the winner of the first Preliminary Regatta.
Key points of interest will be whether the Luna Rossa Womens and Youth team can dominate in the same way as Day 1. They are currently on top of the leaderboard with 29pts.
Behind them four teams are tied up on 19pts or 20pts, and if the young Italians can repeat yesterday, then the other four teams will be fighting for one single place in the Final - and that will likely not be resolved until the two races tomorrow, Sunday.
The autopilots on foil control should be a little better behaved today - if the seastate softens. But if not we'll see more of the antics from yesterday with the crews sailing against their autopilots.
Live stream:
Race Day 2 Live:
The second Preliminary Regatta will be held in Naples in late September.