Competitive racing begins today in Naple’s America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta. But GB1’s America’s Cup campaign has already had an unexpected test in Naples, after its AC40 was damaged in a training collision before competitive racing begins. The British team has repaired the boat and is now ready to race.
“Incidents like these certainly shake you up, but it’s probably a good learning experience for everyone in terms of the dangers and how we can operate more safely in the practice environment,” says Ian Walker, GB1’s CEO.
The AC40 sustained damage following an incident with a Team Alinghi chase boat during training on the Bay of Naples on Tuesday – watch what happened below.
According to official sources, Dylan Fletcher (skipper) sustained some bruising to his left cheek and the boat’s starboard foil arm was damaged.
What to expect from the Naples racing
The regatta is part of the momentum building towards the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup – taking place in July next year. Seven countries will be represented in the 38th edition in Naples, including the recently revealed American Racing Challenger Team USA.
Over the coming days the nine-boat AC40 fleet, across six teams, will enjoy three days of fleet racing, with the leading two teams progressing to the final. There will be up to eight fleet races in Naples before the two highest-ranked boats go head-to-head in a match-race final on Sunday 27 September.
While the results of the prelim regatta will not count towards the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup itself, the racing provides an opportunity for teams to test their crews and strategies in the conditions they will encounter again when the AC75s return to Naples in 2027.
GB1 back on the water after collision
Even with its mishap, GB1 is set to compete.
“In a high-performance, high-speed sport, incidents can happen,” says Fletcher. “This was a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances, but thankfully everyone is safe.
“Big thanks to Alinghi for lending us their spare foil arm and to our shore team for getting us back on the water. Now, we race.”
Walker adds that everyone has pulled together to get the team back on the water. “Our focus now is firmly on the racing, and we’re looking forward to getting out there and competing.”
What the new Bagnoli base means for visitors
The 2027 America’s Cup in Naples will offer visitors a very different experience from a traditional waterfront event, with the team bases and main visitor experience being developed at Bagnoli, around the corner from the city.
Bagnoli is a former steelworks site that is being reclaimed and redeveloped for the cup. Construction is already under way, with large bases taking shape and plans for a substantial America’s Cup centre. The scale is being compared with the venue created for the 32nd America’s Cup in Valencia, but with the 2027 cup due to begin in eight months, the Bagnoli site still has significant work to complete.
The arrangement means the cup will effectively have two distinct hubs: racing in the Bay of Naples and the wider visitor experience at Bagnoli. That contrasts with this weekend’s event, where the racing and visitor experience are much more concentrated around the bay.
The challenge for visitors will be getting there. Bagnoli is not within easy walking distance of central Naples, with the journey requiring a bus, train, taxi or potentially travel by water. A test journey (using a bus) took Matt Sheahan around 40 minutes, while the return trip by train took just 16 minutes (watch the full video of his exploits in Naples below).
Understanding what’s happening on the water in the racing prelim regatta
The race committee selects the most suitable racecourse area based on the weather and sea conditions.
The course will be a windward–leeward course, with gates at both the windward and leeward ends. The overall course will consist of either four or six legs, with each race expected to last approximately 20 minutes. Each leg will be between 1 and 1.6 nautical miles long.
The race committee may shorten the course; however, since at least two legs must be completed, the race cannot be shortened before the leeward gate.
Start
- The starting line is marked by two geostationary buoys
- On race days, the first race will start at 14:10, while the final race will start at 15:27
- In fleet racing, boats must cross the starting line within three minutes of the starting signal
- In match racing, if neither boat starts within five minutes of the starting signal, both will be scored as losers (0 points)
Time limits
- For a race to be valid, two time limits must be met: one for reaching the first gate (seven minutes) and one for completing the course (25 minutes)
- Once the first boat completes the course, the race committee declares the race finished five minutes later
- If at least one boat crosses the finish line within the time limit, the race is valid. Each boat is scored according to its finishing position or, alternatively, according to the last gate it passed, provided it has passed at least the first windward gate
Wind limits and sea state
The warning signal will not be given if the race director determines that:
(a) the true wind speed is below 7.5 knots or above 21 knots; or
(b) the sea state is unsuitable.
Scoring
The winner of each race receives 10 points, second place receives nine points, third place receives eight points, and so on down to the last-place finisher.
Penalties
- A penalised boat must ‘lose’ 75 metres relative to the boat identified by the umpires. If the penalty is imposed before the start, it must still be served after the starting signal and within the course boundaries
- The penalty must be served within 60 seconds, but not before the starting signal
- In fleet racing, if a boat receives a penalty at the finish line, it still crosses the line, but 10 seconds are added to its elapsed time
Who’s onboard GB1?
GB1 is Britain’s America’s Cup Challenger and the representative of the Challenger of Record, the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. It’s the new identity of the British America’s Cup team founded by Sir Ben Ainslie in 2014. It’s backed by Oakley Capital, the investment firm has taken a majority ownership investment in the team. GB1’s challenge for the America’s Cup will be the fourth time a British team under Ainslie represents the Challenger of Record.
At the helms of the GB1 AC40 will be Olympic gold medallist and 37th America’s Cup finalist Dylan Fletcher, alongside three-time cup campaigner Ben Cornish. Four-time cup campaigner Bleddyn Mon, who, alongside Cornish, was also part of Britain’s America’s Cup crew in Barcelona in 2024, takes on the trimmer role alongside Andrea Tesei, who joined GB1 from Luna Rossa in March this year with three cup campaigns under his belt.
Although not competing in this weekend’s regatta, newest GB1 sailing squad member Jemima Lines will join the team in Naples in a performance support role. Her combination of high-performance foiling experience and engineering expertise has seen her take on a dual role within GB1, working as both a sailor and a member of the design team to help develop the tools and systems used by the AC75 race crew.
Both the GB women’s and youth teams have been training in the AC40 race boat in Italy. The two teams will combine to compete over the next couple of days.
The British women’s team is now sailing under a Cobham-Ultra GB2 identity. It previously competed as Athena Pathway, the women’s and youth development programme founded by Sir Ben Ainslie and Hannah Mills OBE in 2022. Athena Pathway remains the main talent identification and development programme for the British America’s Cup and SailGP Teams. Similarly, as part of the new structure, the youth crew will compete under the Cobham-Ultra GB2 AC40 with sailors selected through the pathway.
“Cobham-Ultra GB2 will inspire a new generation by showcasing the very best of British female and youth sailing talent on the world stage, while Athena Pathway is creating opportunities for young people to discover where ambition, teamwork and STEM can take them,” says Shonnel Malani, chairman of Cobham-Ultra. “Sailing is one of the few sports where cutting-edge engineering, technology and human performance come together, making it a powerful platform to inspire future scientists, engineers and innovators.”
What’s happening with Emirates Team New Zealand?
Emirates Team New Zealand also has a two-boat entry for this regatta. It creates an opportunity for the two crews to share information and compare their experience of the racecourse while competing independently on the water.
Skipper Nathan Outteridge says: “We have been in Naples, this great city, for a couple of training blocks already and we’ve really been focussing on the venue and the conditions as well as the process and trying to find ways to get better as a team. At the end of the day, the America’s Cup will be won in July next year, and that is our ultimate goal.”
For Women’s and Youth skipper Jake Pye and the Emirates Team New Zealand Women & Youth crew, Naples represents the next stage in a programme that has already taken them onto the AC40 racecourse in Cagliari earlier this year. The crew is the same but the team will swap the starboard and port positions for this event.
Luna Rossa brings best sailors to senior team
Naples has been preparing for this event for some time, and it has drawn thousands of fans to the city, ready to enjoy the action both from shore, at the public village along the Lungomare Caracciolo, and from the water, as evidenced by the many yachts and superyachts in attendance, says Luna Rossa whose senior team won all the scheduled practice races.
“The new crew configuration is a natural choice to give everyone the same opportunities,” says Peter Burling, skipper and helmsman of the senior team. “We have several talented people, and all of them have contributed to getting us where we are today.
“Having a woman on board the senior boat is not about meeting a gender quota; she simply earned that spot. We have come a long way, but now we need to focus on this weekend. The racecourse is complex, especially at the end of the summer. That said, Naples is wonderful, both as a city and as a race venue.”
Luna Rossa is competing with two AC40s under the burgee of the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia; under the rules, one of the two must have a mixed youth & women crew.
Luna Rossa 1 – senior team – has a black mainsail head and a light-blue stripe on the flag. Onboard is Burling (helmsman), Marco Gradoni (helmsman), Maria Giubilei (trimmer) and Gianluigi Ugolini (trimmer).
Luna Rossa 2 – Y&W team – has a white mainsail head and a grey stripe on the flag. That’s got Margherita Porro (helmswoman), Massimiliano Antoniazzi (helmsman), Giovanni Santi (trimmer) and Maria Vittoria Marchesini (trimmer).
Details of all the teams can be found on the America’s Cup website.
Dates announced for Youth America’s Cup
The event organisation also announced the dates for the fourth edition of the Youth America’s Cup which will take place from 2–6 June 2027.
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