Youthful talent shines in beautiful Sardinia
by ACP Media 23 May 16:51 PDT
22-24 May 2026
Spectators at the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup Preliminary Regatta - Day 2 © Ian Roman
After yesterday's wind and waves, the sailors in the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup Preliminary Regatta, Sardinia faced a different challenge on a testing racecourse where reading the pressure accurately as it oscillated, faded and built around the course, was everything. With many of the teams coming into the regatta with new combinations and new sailors to the America's Cup, today there were simply no hiding places and once again the cream rose to the top amidst some thrilling and utterly compelling on-water battles.
Overnight leaders Luna Rossa 1 Women & Youth were looking to capitalise on their form of yesterday but struggled in the first race as a poor manoeuvre in the pre-start took them off their foils and the team also reported telemetry issues, leaving them in catch-up mode.
Up front however, the powerhouse teams of Luna Rossa 2 with three-time America's Cup winner Peter Burling as skipper, and Emirates Team New Zealand skippered by Nathan Outteridge had what can only be described as an 'arm-wrestle' of epic proportions. The Kiwis came out on top and took control of their destiny towards the final and followed up with solid results over the next two races to finish in the coveted second place ahead of two more races tomorrow to decide the pairing for the final.
The story of the day was Athena Pathway in race two who showed composure and nerves of steel after capitalising on others' mistakes and then displaying some of the finest front-running to take a 37 second victory - huge at this level in fully equalised one-design AC40s.
Speaking afterwards, 20-year-old Sam Webb who was trimming today, was just buzzing, saying: "I think I was grinning pretty hard after that. Cracking race, and we just sailed well as a team, and the guys did a great job. So yeah, everything came together. It's a real privilege to sail with all these guys, and great to see the training's paying off."
Port Helm Ellie Aldridge, Olympic gold medallist summarised the feeling onboard saying: "It was definitely conditions where when you're ahead and you're able to sail your own race, it felt a lot more comfortable. We tried to sail as well as we could but it was very changeable, but you should've seen Sam's face at the end. He just had the biggest grin!"
Athena Pathway's win was a validation of the team's efforts over the past five years, led by Hannah Mills OBE, and was a hugely popular win in the Race Village in downtown Cagliari.
The home favourites however, Luna Rossa used Race 2 to very much come back into the regatta. Marco Gradoni and Margherita Porro brought Luna Rossa 1 home in second place and then won in fine style on the very last leg of Race 3 to seal their place at the top of the leaderboard as the stand-out performers here in Sardinia. They had to work for it with Emirates Team New Zealand 1 pushing hard, and their stablemates Luna Rossa 2 (the principle team) always in the running.
Speaking afterwards, Marco Gradoni was eyeing the final with a laser-like focus that belies his 22 years of age, saying: "Today was not an easy day. We managed to do well after the big mistake that we did in the first start. So I'm proud, it was not easy. About the final, I think we still have to do a good race. That's our goal. We are going to be still focused about the fleet races, and then if we have the chance to win the final, I think we're going to get ready to perform on the match race."
When asked about the pressure he must be feeling sailing against the might of Emirates Team New Zealand, the current Defenders of the America's Cup, Marco was unequivocal, saying: "I think they are the best in the world, but also us, we are the best in the world. So it's a war between Titans now. They have a lot of experience. They are by far the best in the game, but we have our chance, we have our skill as a team, and we're going to prove to them what we are capable of. For us, it's like a big honour, a lot of pressure, but we love it. I love pressure. I love to have this privilege."
Elsewhere it was a tough day at the office for many with plenty of take-aways on a day where the teams used all three of their jib headsails as the breeze built and faded as the expected sea-breeze abated.
One of the stand-out performances of the week has come from the Emirates Team New Zealand Women & Youth Team who have consistently been just off the top-three teams but always there at the front of the mid-pack. Skippered by foiling dinghy star Jake Pye with Erica Dawson on co-helm and Olympian Josh Armit and Serena Woodall on trim, the team sit in fourth overall.
Speaking after racing, Serena Woodall put their regatta in perspective saying: "We came into this with no expectations, and it's all just been about learning every race and growing as a team and doing as well as we can. For us, it's more about the long term, solidifying some learnings and seeing what we can take forward into the rest of the campaign, and just consistency and getting better race by race."
As one of the leading women in the America's Cup, Serena added: "It's an incredible opportunity, and it feels like it's a really cool transition time in the sport. I guess taking out the physicality aspect of the roles onboard means they can open up to having more females onboard, and that's not a disadvantage any more. So I think it's really about bridging the gap at the moment, and Emirates Team New Zealand's been doing an awesome job at that and really getting us involved, trying to upskill us as much as possible. So super grateful for the opportunity, and I hope I can solidify it for generations to come."
For La Roche-Posay Racing Team, it was an up and down day where they showed plenty of potential and some flashes of brilliance. Diego Botín, Olympic gold medallist, was realistic with how the team was doing, saying: "The spirit of the team is really good. We have some really good moments, and the reason why is because the team is working properly. We've only done under 25 days on the water after today in these boats, so it's something normal. We're obviously frustrated because we would like to be higher up in the standings, and we would like not to be making those mistakes, but it's part of the process, and we're happy where we are.".
Tudor Team Alinghi had a challenging day on the water that even involved a capsize after a mis-communication downwind on a gybe. Phil Robertson, co-helm, summarised the day saying: "We were fighting the boat all day and just trying to find some solutions to it and to our issues and just couldn't quite find it. And then as sailors as well, we just really struggled to get in the groove. It was tough all around."
For GB1, the Challenger of Record, their day was over before racing began and the team were forced to retire after they lost control of the flap on the port side foil. The team issued a statement saying: "After investigation, it was quickly identified that the AC40 race boat was not sailable." The team hope that their superb shore team will be able to fix the issue overnight to complete the last two fleet races of the series.
Sardinia is getting ready for what could be one of the most significant days in modern America's Cup history with the Women & Youth team of Luna Rossa standing on the cusp of a victory that will stun the sailing world. Emirates Team New Zealand will come out swinging in the first two fleet races, and the final will certainly come down to a very different set of racing skills when the course is cleared of six boats and the final two do battle in a winner-takes-all one-on-one final race to decide the destiny of the first Prelim Regatta, her in beautiful Sardinia.
With fly-bys scheduled just metres off the waterfront at 2pm along the FanZone Lazzaretto and a thriving race village downtown along the Via Roma, Cagliari is the centre of the Cup world. It's a spectacle that offers something for everyone.
Stay tuned, Sunday will be epic.