The Preliminary Regatta Naples highlighted what’s needed to succeed at the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup in May 2027. With Luna Rossa victorious again after their win in Sardinia, the Naples regatta was a reminder of just how competitive the teams need to be to lift the America’s Cup trophy.
Watch the racing – full regatta here.
Shore team’s make all the difference
The operational efficiency of the shore teams was at a high level in boat preparation and handling at the Preliminary Regatta Naples. With the AC40 yachts being essentially one-design and with strict controls on development, the shore teams could work to a pre-determined template – a luxury that will not be afforded with the AC75s. The AC75s will each have design nuances and bespoke electronic systems, placing an enhanced load on the shore teams and specialists.
Winners: Luna Rossa 1
Much was written and said pre-regatta when the news that Luna Rossa CEO Max Sirena had shuffled the sailor pack and installed a new-look team alongside skipper, and three-time America’s Cup winner, Peter Burling. In came Marco Gradoni on co-helm, joined by his co-helm in the victorious Youth America’s Cup win of 2024, Gianluigi Ugolini on trim. Sitting behind Burling was Women’s America’s Cup winning trimmer Maria Giubilei, the first woman to break through to a principal team on merit.
Winning the first three practice races and the opening race on Day 1 was significant. By the final day they topped the leaderboard by some distance. They put on a masterclass; never being behind at any gate on the final day, winning the final two fleet races and winning the match-race final to lift the trophy. The Italians are proving to offer a mighty challenge for The Cup, but the big question after such a dominant performance is around the crew line-up for the AC75. Has Gradoni shown enough to force his way past double Olympic gold medallist Ruggero Tita for the co-helm spot? And does Gigi Ugolini get a trimming role? Maria Giubilei looks set for the AC75 fifth sailor spot and could easily combine trim with data analysis and systems controls. All eyes will be on Luna Rossa over the next few months.
Runner up: Emirates Team New Zealand
Nathan Outteridge, skipper of ETNZ saw an execution error in the final countdown to the start which handed the positional advantage to Luna Rossa. Despite making the final, there was a sense that ETNZ struggled to get going in the earlier fleet races and regularly found themselves at the back of the pack. They were resilient however, and forced results when it mattered, but they were very conscious of the threat from La Roche-Posay Racing Team. Were it not for one capsize while leading a race they could have made the final ahead of the Kiwis. On the positive side, Seb Menzies the new co-helm and designated AC75 driver, was strong throughout the regatta, and the trimming team of Andy Maloney and Iain Jensen are undoubtedly world-class. Jensen was the former 49er crew for Outteridge when they won the Gold medal at London 2012, and his influence on tactics around the racecourse and his trim calls should not be under-estimated. ETNZ returns to New Zealand with full concentration on the AC75 development and will be doubling-down on their match-racing craft in the simulator.
3rd place: La Roche-Posay Racing Team
Ahead of the regatta in Naples, both Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge were on record as saying that they expected the French team to do well. They weren’t wrong. La Roche-Posay Racing Team took two race wins, narrowly missing out on a third win after a poor gybe execution that lead to a capsize on the final leg whilst leading, and two further race podium places. Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín were fascinating to listen to on the onboard comms, piecing together the tactics and calling the wind. It was, however, a collaborative effort, with Florian Trittel and Jason Saunders, the two outstanding trimmers, also contibuting regularly and this four-way communication loop was by far the most vocal of any team in Naples. They will take a lot of positives from the regatta and will be pleased with both their speed and their ability to find clean-air lanes off the starting line. Now with the team’s AC75 in Naples, and the team permanently in residence, it will be an interesting winter of development and training for a team that many are picking to surprise at the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup.
4th place: ARC Team USA
Very little was known performance-wise about ARC Team USA’s training in Pensacola pre the Naples regatta, but what they showed right from the very first race was that they meant business. A stunning win sent USA fans wild. Furthermore, the American team came with a positivity that was infectious, and a flat team hierarchy and culture that was impressive. No nominated ‘skipper,’ the helming duties were shared by Harry Melges IV and Lucas Calabrese with the former being the defeated finalist in the 2024 Youth America’s Cup and the latter being the co-helm onboard the American AC75 in the 2024 Louis Vuitton Cup semi-final. That talent and promise was matched by world-class sailors Michael Menninger and Hans Henken on trim, and their communication loop was solid. Melges and Calabrese made particular mention of how the team could bounce back from adversity and post good results. Having scored a win in the opening race there was a feeling of business as usual and expectations. Results thereafter were mid-table but improving, and a third place in the final race meant ARC Team USA would leave Naples with a clear pathway to improvement.
5th place: Emirates Team New Zealand Women & Youth
A switch of helming positions saw skipper Jake Pye take the starboard pod alongside co-helm Erica Dawson sailing from the port side, and there were plenty of positives to take away from Naples including a sensational, and opportunistic, race win. As a team that is building for the immediate future both in terms of their Women’s and Youth America’s Cup line-ups, they were always in the hunt through the races and improving fast on a day-by-day basis. Self-critical and highly analytical, this young team impressed mightily. On trim were Olympian Josh Armit and match-racing expert Serena Woodall. The final race was a showdown for the Women & Youth title. ETNZ eclipsed the Italian Luna Rossa Women & Youth team, finishing ahead in the final race by a whisker to win on count-back and lay down a marker for next year.
6th place: Luna Rossa 2
Margherita Porro, skipper of Luna Rossa 2, came away disappointed to narrowly miss out on the Women & Youth trophy in Naples. In Max Antoniazzi, co-helm alongside Margherita, Luna Rossa have discovered another great talent who will simply get better and better. In Giovanni Santi, they have a trimmer who has really impressed since his debut in Sardinia in May. These two will be the bedrock from which the Italians build their Youth team and have exciting options to join them with the fast-driving Lorenzo Sirena most likely to join Max on co-helm. Equally, the Women’s team for Luna Rossa will be strong. Margherita is fast and can hold her own against the principal teams, as she proved in Naples, and Maria Vittoria Marchesini could easily step into the port-helm role and was part of the winning Women’s America’s Cup team in Barcelona in 2024.
7th place: Tudor Team Alinghi
Going into the final day, Tudor Team Alinghi were in third and eyeing the possibility of a place in the final. It was not to be, and the sense of frustration poured from Paul Goodison, the new skipper. The Swiss, despite the disappointment at the end result, will leave Naples reflecting on a lot of positives. Around the racetrack they were fast and able to hold lanes and angles with the very best. Co-helm Phil Roberston and Goodison gelled well and the communication loop with Pietro Sibello and Nicolas Rolaz on trim was a marked improvement on their first outing in May in Sardinia. Two second places and a third in races two to four were undoubtedly the highlights that Tudor Team Alinghi will focus on in the de-brief as prime examples of their ability to get in with the front-runners and stay there. Goodison was keen to look to the future and with their AC75 raceboat on track for delivery this winter, it will be an intense training period as they bring it up to speed.
8th place: GB1
Even before the very first pre-regatta practice racing, GB1 were on the back-foot. A collision with the Tudor Team Alinghi chase boat damaged the starboard foil and had to be swapped out for a Swiss spare whilst it was repaired by the shore team. Come the start of the regatta, further problems ensued on the opening day when a flap on the newly repaired foil fell off and left GB1 struggling for grip and pace. Not to be defeated, the team stormed the podium in the first race of day 2 and by the end of the regatta a string of three fourth places underlined the potential in the team. The finishing result was one thing but the message from skipper Dylan Fletcher and co-helm Ben Cornish was a reflection on not enough ‘time in the boat,’ with the team concentrating their training time heavily on AC75 developmental work. Bleddyn Mon and Andrea Tesei, the GB1 trimmers, once again impressed and there was a pervading sense that there is plenty more to come from this talented team and that Naples was a blip.
9th place: Cobham-Ultra GB2
This team started with a solid and morale-boosting third place in race one, proving to everyone that they could cut it with the favourites. However a string of mid-fleet results relegated the British team lead by Hannah Mills OBE, to the bottom of the standings with the sailors regretting small mistakes that proved costly at this level. The big positives were in how Mills and co-helm Ellie Aldridge gelled through the week with great comms and boat-on-boat awareness. Matt Beck and Sam Webb are talents for the future and will have taken a lot away in terms of critical execution at key moments, but on balance the team will take heart that they could fight hard in the pack and when clear, could mix it with the best.
Picture credits: @RicardoPinto / America’s Cup, @IanRoman / America’s Cu
