America’s Cup: Dates confirmed for first preliminary regatta in Cagliari

The America’s Cup teams have been given their first assignment on the water.

In May, the competing crews will return to action aboard their AC40 scaled-down foiling monohulls for the first preliminary regatta of the campaign.

The event, to be held in Cagliari on the Italian island of Sardinia from May 21-24, will be the first opportunity for teams to race against one another in the new cycle as they look to build towards the main event in Naples, Italy, in 2027.

The regatta is the first of up to three to be sailed in 2026 and presents teams with an opportunity not seen in the last campaign.

All teams can enter two crews into the regatta, with one four-person AC40 comprised of their main America’s Cup sailors and a second made up of youth and women’s America’s Cup athletes.

It’s an addition included to help strengthen the pathway programmes in the event as it switches to a biennial programme from the 2027 Cup, while also building towards the youth and women’s Cups that are contested in AC40s.

“From what we are seeing internally there is very little to choose between what you might call the ‘established’ sailors from the newcomers,” Emirates Team New Zealand chief executive Grant Dalton said.

“We also know that the other teams have incredible depths of talent in their youth and women’s teams so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the fleet racing completely mixed and some of those next-gen talents taking big scalps. Cagliari will be incredibly interesting from a sporting perspective.”

Cagliari is home to Luna Rossa, the Italian syndicate who have already shown the depth in their ranks by winning the youth and women’s America’s Cups in Barcelona in 2024.

The format will involve fleet racing with up to 10 races planned over the four days. The top two crews will then compete in a one-match, winner-takes-all final.

“We’ve looked at all the recon videos from when Luna Rossa were training there ahead of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup and that was some of the best sailing we ever saw in the build-up,” Team NZ chief coach Ray Davies said.

“Everyone is going to be watching the data in the lead-up to Cagliari and we’ll certainly be looking at our heavier air performances here in Auckland for sure.”

At this stage, five teams are entered into the 2027 regatta in Naples and will all be on the starting line in Cagliari. Late entries are still open, but the January 31 deadline is looming.

The announcement of the first preliminary regatta is expected to be quickly followed by confirmation this month of dates for the Cup match.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.