Rosters emerging for next America’s Cup

The final race of the 37th America’s Cup was on October 19, 2024, and the first look at the 38th edition comes when five of the teams compete on May 21-24, 2026 in Cagliari, Sardinia. This is the first (and only, so far) Preliminary Regatta, with teams racing AC40s in a fleet race series that advances the top two for a match race final.

While the USA challenge (and possibly a seventh mystery team) won’t be on the water for this , there will be new faces on the returning AC37 squads as rosters have changed. More so, the Kiwis, Brits, and Italians will field two teams, with their second boat to have a required even split of women and youth crew.

As teams are also upskilling for the Women and Youth America’s Cup, the choices for this first event are many. Exact team line-ups won’t be announced until game day but looking at recon information, patterns are emerging:

New Zealand:
The defender has concentrated a lot of time on the water recently to sailing their newly reconfigured AC75 ‘Taihoro’ and the helming partnership that seems so consistent for Emirates Team New Zealand is that of Skipper Nathan Outteridge and newcomer Seb Menzies.

On balance it seems likely that they will form the nucleus of the senior team whilst the likes of Jake Pye and Jo Aleh could helm as a duo in the Women & Youth team. Jo skippered the Kiwi team at the last Women’s America’s Cup and is hugely respected across the sailing world. Jake Pye meanwhile, is a rapid former International Moth World Champion. This will be a team to watch.

However, the Kiwis have considerable options and could well put 22 year old Menzies into the Women & Youth team and promote Chris Draper to helm spot on the senior team. Equally, they have the talents of Olympian Josh Armit who also just qualifies for the Youth team (under 25), plus they have the considerable talents of Erica Dawson, Lena Sanderson and Serena Woodall.

Great Britain:
The Challenger of Record has been relatively settled in the senior team with Dylan Fletcher and Ben Cornish taking the GB1 helm regularly against the Athena Pathway team of CEO Hannah Mills. As reported by the team, in recent in-house racing in Cagliari it has been very close between the two and it seems likely that International Moth superstar Ryan Littlechild, will get the nod to helm alongside Mills for Sardinia.

The Brits has serious talent in their ranks with the likes of Olympic gold medalist Ellie Aldridge and Women’s International Moth World Champion Hattie Rogers to select from, alongside a host of new, exciting talent such as Finn Dickinson, Finn Morris, and Sam Webb.

Italy:
Luna Rossa has done the most AC40 training in the lead-up to Sardinia and as the sessions have gone on, the likely helming line-up on the senior team is a combination of three-time Cup winner Peter Burling and double Olympic gold medalist Ruggero Tita.

Meanwhile, the obvious leader for the Women & Youth team is 22-year-old Marco Gradoni and it’s highly likely that he will be joined by Women’s America’s Cup winner, Margherita Porro. Gradoni and Porro are the duo that everyone is fearing, and one that many pundits are tipping to be contesting the final.

France:
The La Roche-Posay roster more than certainly will have Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín as helms for Sardinia, but if results don’t come, they do have the mercurial talents of Enzo Balanger to call upon, and under the regatta rules, they have the possibility to make a change mid-regatta.

Switzerland:
Tudor Team Alinghi will be looking at Nicolas Rolaz to deliver a good result, and although the full sailing team team is yet to be announced, rumors are that an Olympic gold medalist and former International Moth World Champion could be onboard. That sort of firepower would mean the Swiss can not be under-estimated, and recent two boat training in Barcelona, in private, has been both fast and furious as new sailing combinations come together and the team start to gel.

Details: https://www.americascup.com/

Defender New Zealand and Challenger of Record from Great Britain confirmed the Protocol for the 38th America’s Cup on August 12, 2025. The close of the initial entry period was October 31, 2025, with late entries considered up to March 31, 2026.

Current entrants:
• Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) – Defender
• Athena Racing (GBR) – Challenger of Record
• Luna Rossa (ITA) – Challenger
• Tudor Team Alinghi (SUI) – Challenger
• La Roche-Posay Racing Team (FRA) – Challenger
• American Racing Challenger Team USA (USA) – Challenger

After the 2024 event, Barcelona, Spain declined hosting another edition, with the venue moved to Naples, Italy. Challenger racing begins in the spring before the 38th Match on July 10-18, 2027.

Preliminary Regattas:*
May 21-24, 2026 – Cagliari, Sardinia

* More are to be announced.

Source: AC38 Event Ltd