Italy grabs bragging rights in Sardinia

Luna Rossa (ITA) won the first Preliminary Regatta of the 38th America’s Cup on May 22-24, 2026 in Cagliari, Sardinia. Held in AC40s, eight fleet races advanced the Italians against Cup defenders Team New Zealand (NZL), with the home team capitalizing on a Kiwi starting error for an easy match race win and the title.

“I’m just really proud of the way the group kept fighting for that performance and kept improving the way we were going about things, and we put together a really strong plan and went out and executed it,” noted skipper Peter Burling, three-time Cup winner.

It was nearly an all-Italy final as the Women & Youth Team of Marco Gradoni and Margherita Porro had been on form through the first two days but the sporting Gods had very different ideas.

Battling onboard technical issues with their time-on-distance displays, the Italian team were called over the line in the first race and, unable to expunge their penalty in time, were ultimately disqualified. They still led the overall standings going into the final race, but another OCS put paid to their charge.

“It’s a little bit of a bittersweet victory, because we could have ended up with two boats in the Final,” said Max Sirena, CEO of Luna Rossa. “But this is sport, it’s part of the game.

“We’re going to review. For sure we did some mistakes, for sure we had a few issues with the technical software and the racing software, but that’s no excuse. But it’s good. It’s nice. Every time when you win, you should enjoy the victory, and everything is a lesson for the future.”

While the French and Swiss teams have not had much training time, the Brits can’t say the same, but technical difficulties resulted in a last place finish. “While it was frustrating to miss five races due to gear failure, we can take a lot of confidence from the performances we put together,” noted GB1 helm Dylan Fletcher.

Final Results*
1. Luna Rossa (ITA) – 7-3-3-2-4-3-2-1-(1)
2. Team New Zealand (NZL) – 4-1-7-1-3-2-4-5-(2)
3. Luna Rossa Women & Youth Team (ITA) – (ITA) – 1-2-1-4-2-1-8-7
4. La Roche-Posay Racing Team (FRA) – 2-6-6-5-5-4-3-2
5. Team New Zealand Women & Youth Team (NZL) – 5-4-4-3-6-5-5-6
6. Tudor Team Alinghi (SUI) – 3-5-5-7-7-7-7-4
7. Athena Racing Women & Youth Team (GBR) – 6-DNF-6-6-1-6-6-8
8. GB1 (GBR) – DNS-DNS-2-8-8-8-1-3

Note: Eight fleet races advanced the top two teams for a single match race to determine event winner. Two challenge teams – Australia and USA – were not required to compete due to their late entry. The Preliminary Regattas do not have any impact on the final standings of the 38th America’s Cup.

Crew lists: https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Crew-List.pdf
Sardinia event details: https://www.americascup.com/sardinia

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
• Team Australia (AUS) – 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 22-24, 2026 – Cagliari, Italy
September 24-27 – Naples, Italy

* The Protocol noted how there would be as many Preliminary Regattas as possible, with the intent to have three during 2026 and one possibly in early 2027, and a final event at the Match Venue immediately prior to the challenger series. Only two have been thus far revealed.