Sunday evening in Sardinia delivered a moment the packed Race Village crowd will not forget quickly. Luna Rossa's senior squad claimed the overall title at the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup Preliminary Regatta, greeted by a roar from thousands of passionate supporters gathered at the main stage. The celebrations were only just beginning, as Luna Rossa's Women & Youth team stepped forward to collect their own divisional trophy, completing a clean sweep for the Italian programme.
Cagliari and the surrounding Sardinian coastline turned out to be an inspired venue for the first step along the Road to Naples. Three days of varied conditions tested every crew in the eight-boat fleet, and five different teams took individual race victories across the regatta, a figure that captures just how tightly matched the competition was. Some teams arrived with genuine podium ambitions; others were using the event to assess where they stood in a compressed America's Cup cycle. All of them left with lessons to carry forward.
Here is how the fleet shaped up, working from the top of the final standings to the bottom.
LUNA ROSSA 2 – PRINCIPAL TEAM
Peter Burling and Ruggero Tita saved their finest sailing for the moments that mattered most. Going into the final day of fleet racing, they needed results and produced exactly that, a second place followed by a race win, which was enough to secure their berth in the match-race final. From there, Luna Rossa 2 took control early, opening a 100-metre gap over Emirates Team New Zealand that their opponents were never able to close. The progression was visible across the three days, the crew finding their cohesion and sharpness as the event wore on, which was perhaps understandable given that much of their recent preparation had been conducted aboard a modified AC40 rather than the configuration raced here. For Luna Rossa CEO Max Sirena, watching his team peak at the right moment, in front of a home crowd that never stopped cheering, will have been deeply satisfying.
EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND 1
Emirates Team New Zealand arrived in Sardinia having done the bulk of their preparation back in Auckland aboard the team's AC75 Taihoro, and yet their consistency throughout the regatta remained a reminder of why they are the benchmark every other team chases. Early race victories announced their intent and showed that limited time on AC40s had done little to diminish their competitiveness. Nathan Outteridge skippered the boat, with newly crowned 49er World Champion Seb Menzies alongside him on co-helm, Iain Jensen and Andy Maloney contributing on trim. The combination worked effectively, and only a misjudgement on time-on-distance in the match-race final separated them from the overall honours. The broader message from Sardinia was positive, and they will head into the second Preliminary Regatta in Naples at the end of September with clear motivation to go one step further.
LUNA ROSSA 1 WOMEN & YOUTH
No team created more buzz in the opening stages of the regatta. Skipper Marco Gradoni and co-helm Margherita Porro, racing alongside Giovanni Santi and Maria Giubilei, looked composed and polished from the very first race, which they won, and their tactical choices across the first two days carried a maturity that belied their collective experience. They led the standings convincingly and appeared to be on course for the match-race final. Sunday unravelled that picture. Two OCS calls and a disqualification in the closing stages stripped away the points they needed, and despite fighting hard in the final fleet race, the rest of the fleet closed the door on them. It was a harsh conclusion to what had otherwise been an outstanding performance, and every rival crew will have noted carefully how much pace and height this team generates through the water. They will be a force to reckon with when racing resumes in Naples.
LA ROCHE-POSAY RACING TEAM
La Roche-Posay Racing Team brought genuine flair to the regatta and were among the most watched crews on the water throughout. Skipper Quentin Delapierre was joined by Olympic gold medallist Diego Botín on co-helm, with Jason Saunders and Diego's Olympic crew-member Florian Trittel completing the four-person lineup. Finding a consistent rhythm proved challenging early on, particularly when the breeze was up, with communication gaps and boathandling moments, including some dramatic nose-dives, providing clear areas to address ahead of Naples. When conditions became more favourable on the final day, the French team were genuinely thrilling. They split from the fleet with confidence, read windshifts accurately and called their laylines from the boundaries with real precision. The potential within this lineup is obvious, and with more time together on the water they look capable of challenging for the podium when the fleet gathers in Naples at the end of September.
EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND WOMEN & YOUTH
Jake Pye skippered this crew, with Erica Dawson on co-helm and Josh Armit and Serena Woodall on trim, and together they gave a clear indication of the quality sitting within New Zealand's next generation of sailors. They were a consistent presence at the front of the midfield throughout the event, regularly applying pressure to the top three boats. Their time in the AC40 had been constrained by the senior programme's emphasis on AC75 development, which makes their results here, including a fourth in the breezy third race and a strong third to open Day 2, all the more creditable. The senior team also owe them thanks for helping hold off Luna Rossa 1 in the closing fleet race. Coaches Ray Davies and Sam Meech will have plenty of material to build on, and race wins in Naples are a realistic target for this squad.
ATHENA PATHWAY
Athena Pathway's regatta was one of contrasts, a mix of real difficulty and a moment of genuine brilliance. Several weeks of training on the Cagliari waters had raised expectations heading in, but opening races in strong breeze exposed inconsistencies in communication and boat control through the chop. Day 2, with its calmer and more tactical conditions, revealed a very different version of the team, and their Race 5 victory was emphatically not a fluke. Once they hit the front, they managed the shifts and pressure lanes with assurance and pulled clear to take a commanding win. There will be honest conversations about the tactical errors and missed opportunities elsewhere in the regatta, but with 20-year-old Sam Webb and Olympic gold medallist Ellie Aldridge both experiencing their first America's Cup event, the foundations are clearly solid. Skipper Hannah Mills OBE and Youth America's Cup sailor Matt Beck know precisely what the programme demands, and the weeks before Naples will be focused ones.
TUDOR TEAM ALINGHI
The Swiss team came to Sardinia with clear and realistic goals, having had limited preparation time at their temporary base in Barcelona. Paul Goodison helmed, with Phil Robertson on co-helm and Pietro Sibello and Nicolas Rolaz on trim, an entirely new lineup that showed genuine speed with a third place in the opening race. What the team subsequently discovered was that they had been sailing with a restricted foil flap angle range throughout, an issue their shore crew identified and corrected overnight. Day 2 brought further complications as the crew adapted to the modified settings, and a grounding with both foils down during the scheduled fly-by added to a difficult session alongside ongoing communication challenges. The final day brought visible improvement, Tudor Team Alinghi racing near the leaders and pushing hard. Significant sail and foil upgrades before Naples, combined with more time on the water, should allow this talented group, backed by a world-class shore team, to emerge as genuine dark horses as the campaign develops.
GB1
The Challenger of Record endured the most frustrating week of any team in the fleet. The cause was not a lack of speed but a sequence of mechanical problems that kept interrupting their campaign at precisely the wrong moments. A traveller sheave issue prevented them from starting the first two races, though they bounced back with a strong second in the third race of Day 1. A foil flap problem then wiped out their entire Day 2, leaving the shore team working through the night to get GB1 ready for Sunday. When they did return, they made a statement. In the opening fleet race of the final day, GB1 broke clear from a crowded start, stretched out to a commanding lead and crossed the line in a manner that left the fleet in no doubt about their outright pace. A close third against the French in the following race completed a strong finish to a regatta that circumstances had threatened to derail entirely. With those technical problems now behind them, GB1 will arrive in Naples as serious contenders for overall honours.
