The 37th America’s Cup’s preliminary regatta gets underway tonight with teams given the chance to test out their AC75 racing yachts in Barcelona.
Team New Zealand will race against previous America’s Cup’s challengers Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy) tonight, before taking on the four other teams over the next three days.
The other teams competing as challengers are Allinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland), American Magic (USA), INEOS Britannia (Great Britain) and Orient Express Racing Team (France).
The America’s Cup has a lengthy qualifying process with a double-round robin starting later this month followed by semifinals with the four highest ranked challengers competing in a best of nine match race series.
The winner will go on to contest the America’s Cup against Team New Zealand.
The Kiwis will feature in the qualifying event but won't progress to the semifinals as they are already in the Cup match.
Team NZ won the America’s Cup on home shores in 2021, when they defended the Auld Mug in Auckland against Luna Rossa. The Kiwis won 7-3 in the best of 13 races.
A best of 13 match race series will take place in mid-October to decide who gets to take home the trophy.
Kiwi sailing commentator Chris Steele described the preliminary regatta as a "curtain-raiser", but said it was still important.
“It doesn't actually count for anything but it's a really good chance for the spectators and the teams to line up and have a look at what we can expect from the racing side of things,” said Steele.
"A lot of the teams will be putting their best foot forward but maybe not their best equipment forward, so to speak."
Team New Zealand will be testing their boat named Taihoro. The name is inspired by Taihoro-Nukurangi, which translates as "to move swiftly as the sea between both sky and earth".
Team New Zealand skipper Peter Burling thinks anyone can win in this year’s competition.
“I'd say this is the strongest group of challengers the America's cup has seen in a long time,” said Burling. “Whoever we do face at the end is going to be very battle-hardened and a tough, worthy competitor."
The regatta begins tonight but there’s already been drama out on the water involving one of the challengers.
Allinghi broke their mast for the second time in three months on their BoatOne while practising yesterday.
Alinghi co-general manager Silvio Arrivabene said yesterday he’s confident his team will bounce back from the mast failure.
"It's the preliminary regatta, it's not the final or anything so we're just going to work through our preparation, we're going to get ready and put our spares in place and all that and be back out tomorrow," Arrivabene said.
America’s Cup Schedule:
Preliminary regatta: August 22-25
Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin: August 29 - September 11
Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Final: September 14-23
Louis Vuitton Cup Final: September 26 - October 7
Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup: October 12-27
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