One week out, and Naples is bracing for the biggest test yet of this America's Cup cycle.
Out on the Bay of Naples this week, several teams have been squeezing in final practice sessions. GB1, the Challenger of Record, was spotted on Wednesday close to the shoreline off the city's lungomare, looking sharp and fast. Italian passers-by stopped to watch an AC40 running at full pace just metres from a promenade full of onlookers.
Down at Via Francesco Caracciolo, the Race Village is going up fast, with everything on track for a regatta carrying more storylines than ever before.
Can Luna Rossa, with new line-ups aboard both boats, keep their Sardinia form going? Will Emirates Team New Zealand snap back into winning shape and take control of the regatta? Everyone is wary of GB1, but can they string together a set of podium finishes and mount a real challenge? Then there's the star-studded La Roche-Posay Racing Team and the clinical Tudor Team Alinghi, either of whom could come storming through. And ARC Team USA, who could well be the story of Naples.
It's all to play for.
The weather, as ever in the Mediterranean, is the wildcard. Long-range forecasts here are notoriously unreliable, but most models are pointing to a northeasterly flow, what the locals call the Grecale. If that holds, the wind would come off the "city wall" formed by the steep hills of Vomero and Posillipo, funnelling down grand avenues like Via Toledo and Via Chiaia before hitting the harbour front.
At the top of the likely course, the old stone bulk of Castel dell'Ovo could block or split that airflow. That means sailors will be wary of committing to an early lead off the start line.
Seb Menzies, co-helm for Emirates Team New Zealand, hinted at exactly this challenge in a recent interview. "There's points on the first upwind which will be extremely crucial and points that won't be as crucial, which are super-important to know and then there's also little fine parts of each day. Obviously, no day's the same so how each team can decipher what's coming and what will be next will be quite cool."
Never give up. That might be the operating principle for the week, with a course that could throw up opportunities anywhere along its length.
Winds are expected to sit at the lighter end of the scale, with thermal sea breezes possibly building through early afternoon across the flat waters of the bay. Race Conditions V2 sets the operating range for the AC40s at 7.5 knots at the bottom end through to 21 knots at the top, measured by weather sampling from the Committee Boat and dedicated marks around the course.
Naples is calling this the regatta of the year, and it is hard to argue otherwise. Hotels are filling, the streets are buzzing with fans, and between 24 and 27 September, it will be the only place on the sailing calendar worth being.
