Feature

America’s Cup World Series to begin in Italy

Published on January 22nd, 2015

Cagliari, Italy (January 22, 2015) – The city of Cagliari in Sardinia will inaugurate the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) when they host the first event in the Gulf surrounding the island’s capital on June 4-7, 2015.

The “America’s Cup World Series – Cagliari – Sardinia”, a top level sporting event with great international visibility, is the result of the collaboration between the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, the City of Cagliari, the Port Authorities, the Navy and challenging team Luna Rossa, who has chosen Cagliari for its operations base to prepare its challenge for the 35th America’s Cup.

All six teams entered in the 35th America’s Cup – defender Oracle Team USA (USA) and challengers Artemis Racing (SWE), Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR), Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA) and Team France (FRA) – will be present.

There is an additional team from Asia which is also expected to enter as an America’s Cup challenger. If they enter, they will also be competing in Cagliari.

The program entails an opening ceremony on Thursday, June 4th 2015 and one day of mandatory training on Friday, June 5th. There will be two races a day on Saturday June 6th and Sunday June 7th; the prize-giving ceremony will take place on the last day.

The teams will sail in Cagliari from May 31st to familiarize with the race course prior to the start of the competitions.

The announcement of Cagliari completes the 2015 ACWS schedule:

June 4-7: Cagliari, Italy
July 23-26: Portsmouth, UK
August 28-30: Gothenberg, Sweden
October 16-18: Bermuda

Four to six events are expected in 2016. Here are the events that have been announced thus far for 2016:

July 21-24: Portsmouth, UK
Summer: Chicago, USA

Background: The America’s Cup World Series will consist of eight to ten regattas taking place around the world during 2015 and 2016. The circuit will feature all of the America’s Cup teams racing in one design foiling AC45 catamarans, with the overall ranking position in the series to determine the starting points score of the teams in the America’s Cup Qualifiers in 2017.