At 15:13 local time on Friday 22 May 2026, eight AC40 foiling yachts will leave the start line and drive upwind into what promises to be a defining chapter of the America's Cup story. The venue is Sardinia, one of the most breathtaking sailing arenas on the planet, and after months of anticipation, the questions that have been building across the Cup world are finally about to find answers. Chief among them: can the Women & Youth teams of Emirates Team New Zealand, GB1 and Luna Rossa take the fight to their senior counterparts and make their mark?
What gives Sardinia its place in the history books is that this will be the first time in the modern foiling era of the America's Cup that Women & Youth crews race against principal team members in scoring races. The stakes are personal as much as competitive. Putting a name on the America's Cup radar now, in front of teams, sponsors and the global sailing audience, is a declaration of intent that will carry weight for years. Many of these sailors will return to contest the Cup itself, writing themselves into its history across multiple campaigns. By any measure, this is a moment that matters.
Five of the seven teams entered for the 2027 America's Cup in Naples are represented in Sardinia: Emirates Team New Zealand, GB1, Luna Rossa, Tudor Team Alinghi and La Roche-Posay Racing Team. The sailing talent assembled across these crews is of the highest order, and the training intensity heading into the regatta has climbed sharply. For the principal crews, the pressure stretches well beyond a preliminary result. Standing within teams is at stake, reputations in America's Cup circles are on the line, and the confidence that flows, or drains, from a result in front of this field will ripple through entire campaigns.
The format opens with eight fleet races running through to Sunday, with the top two AC40 teams advancing to a match-race grand finale. When that moment arrives, the remaining six boats are sent ashore, the racecourse empties, and the nature of the contest changes entirely. Two yachts circling at pace, hunting for position off a start line where, as the signal-master aboard Queen Victoria's yacht once so famously observed, "There is no Second." Fleet racing gives way to gladiatorial warfare, and the whole complexion of the regatta shifts in an instant.
The reward is a Louis Vuitton trophy, but what it represents runs considerably deeper than the silverware. Sardinia sits at the opening of the road to Naples, and winning here aboard evenly matched AC40 yachts sends a clear message to every rival about where a team stands on that journey. A strong result injects belief through an entire campaign structure, from the helm to the shore crew, validating the early mornings, long debrief sessions and relentless iteration that go into building a competitive outfit. The team that sprays the champagne on Sunday will begin the following week with a different feeling in the building.
Those who fall short will still take something away from Sardinia. Some crews will leave with the sting of a near-miss, a costly error at a key moment, or the frustration of a gear failure that undid a promising series. Others will surprise themselves and those watching. That unpredictable mix of over-performance and under-performance is precisely what makes this opening Preliminary Regatta so compelling as a racing event, and so valuable as a competitive marker on the road to Naples.
BRIEF INSIDE GUIDE TO ALL THE TEAMS
Emirates Team New Zealand
Nathan Outteridge, Olympic gold medallist and America's Cup winner in 2024, takes the helm for the Defenders' principal crew, with Youth America's Cup sailor Seb Menzies alongside him on co-helm. The trim positions bring together three-time Cup winner Andy Maloney and Iain Jensen, who was Outteridge's crew when the pair took gold at London 2012. Every other crew has circled this team at the top of the form guide, and they remain the benchmark against which all others will measure themselves.
Emirates Team New Zealand Women & Youth
Olympic bronze medallist Erica Dawson and International Moth ace Jake Pye share co-helm responsibilities, with match-racing specialist Serena Woodall and iQFoil Olympian Josh Armit handling trim. The talent spread across this crew is considerable, and they will attract close attention throughout the regatta.
GB1
Dylan Fletcher, Olympic gold medallist, skippers the newly liveried GB1 team with multiple world champion and Finn Olympic triallist Ben Cornish alongside him on co-helm. Bleddyn Mon, the engineering genius who reached the America's Cup Final in 2024, returns to trim duties alongside Andrea Tesei, a new signing from Luna Rossa who contested the Louis Vuitton Cup Final in 2024 with the Italian team. GB1 has every ingredient to challenge for the podium.
Athena Pathway
Hannah Mills OBE, the most decorated female sailing Olympian of all time, skippers this crew, with kite-surfing gold medallist Ellie Aldridge on co-helm. Twenty-one-year-old Sam Webb takes on trim alongside Youth America's Cup sailor Matt Beck, who raced at the 2024 edition. A crew with the potential to upset the form book.
Luna Rossa 1 (Unconfirmed)
The Italian team has named a squad rather than a confirmed lineup, but the expected combination places two-time America's Cup winner Peter Burling alongside double Olympic gold medallist Ruggero Tita on helming duties. Recent training sessions have featured experienced campaigners Umberto Molineris and Vittorio Bissarro on trim, though Youth America's Cup winner Gigi Ugolini, who took that title in 2024, remains in consideration. Racing in front of a home crowd, nothing less than a win will satisfy Luna Rossa.
Luna Rossa 2 (Unconfirmed)
Marco Gradoni, the winning skipper of the 2024 Youth America's Cup, is widely expected to lead this crew, with Margherita Porro, the winning co-helm of the 2024 Women's America's Cup, strongly tipped to join him from the port side. The trim seats remain open, with Maria Giubilei, Giovanni Santi, Maria Vittoria Marchesini and Federico Colaninno all under consideration. New sensation Massimiliano 'Max' Antoniazzi is also being looked at for a co-helm role. The crew carries genuine expectation heading into Sardinia, with a podium finish, or better, well within reach.
Tudor Team Alinghi (Unconfirmed)
Paul Goodison, Olympic gold and bronze medallist, is set to skipper, partnered by match-racing and foiling specialist Phil Robertson on co-helm. The likely trim pairing is two-time Olympian Pietro Sibello and former Optimist world champion Nicolas Rolaz, with Jason Waterhouse and Nathalie Brugger also available to the team. Alinghi have bonded well during training in Barcelona and arrive in Sardinia with a quiet, focused determination to perform.
La Roche-Posay Racing Team
Quentin Delapierre, an Olympian and America's Cup skipper in 2024, heads the French challenge with Olympic gold medallist Diego Botín on co-helm. Jason Saunders, a foiling expert and Cup veteran, joins Botín's Olympic gold medal-winning crew member Florian Trittel on trim. Enzo Balanger, International Moth World Champion, and foiling specialist Timothé Lapauw are available in reserve. Many observers have named the French as their outside bet for a podium finish, and the form they have shown heading into this regatta suggests that assessment is well founded.
