CUP BLOG: TWO MONTHS TO GO TO SARDINIA
Everywhere you look in the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, things are happening and the intensity is notably ramping up. With just two months until the starting gun fires on the first Preliminary Regatta of the new Cup cycle, team combinations are being decided, set-ups are being agreed, tactical ‘playbooks’ are being filled and it’s long hours on the water for the ultimate professional athletes that will come together to win something that money cannot buy: Momentum.
Win in Sardinia, in fully equalised AC40 yachts running in auto-pilot flight control, and you strike a major psychological blow. The fleet will be tough though with eight AC40s competing, consisting of two teams from Emirates Team New Zealand, GB1 and Luna Rossa, who will all field one AC40 made up of Women & Youth sailors in an equal 50/50 split. Tudor Team Alinghi and La Roche-Posay Racing Team will only field one yacht per team, hence the eight boat fleet.
Throughout the long history of the America’s Cup, even back as far as the first race around the Isle of Wight in the UK on the 22nd August 1851, psychology has been a key weapon of the contest. In that first race, the British fleet believed that the yacht ‘America’ was a superior design in every department, off the wooden moulding of the young George Steers, that when it came to racing, ‘America’ was almost unbeatable.
In 1983, to end the longest winning streak in international sports (132 years), the Australia II team, led by John Bertrand, had to out-psyche Dennis Conner sailing for the New York Yacht Club onboard ‘Liberty’ to win. They did so with an innovative winged-keel and a superior sail plan and steadily built momentum through the inaugural Louis Vuitton Cup to eventually win the America’s Cup – a feat that was never thought possible before.
Today, in the contemporary-day America’s Cup, psychology is key and we are all set to see some of the finest sailing ever on the Bay of Angels in Sardinia in up to 11 high octane fleet races before the one-off match race between the top two at the series end on Sunday 24 May. Whoever comes through and is crowned the Preliminary Regatta Champion will have had to earn it the hard way. Fleet racing in yachts that regularly top 35 knots upwind and touch 48 knots downwind is a tantalising prospect. Off the starting line it will all be about who can reach the left hand (port) boundary first and initiate the first tack across the fleet. It will be close. It will be tense. The action will be utterly spectacular and in the most perfect of settings.
Sardinia’s beauty cannot be under-estimated. It is one of the finest sailing venues in the world and elicits reverence from sailors the world over. The Bay of Angels off the port city of Cagliari, the home to Luna Rossa, is one of the world’s most challenging and rewarding sailing venues. Very often we see building breezes into the afternoon and wave heights picking up which will challenge even the very best in the world. Conversely, we have also seen through the recon programme, some pan-flat conditions with breeze, which as every foiling sailor will attest, is pitch-perfect. The drama of the surrounding hills and the funnelling effect they can have on the wind is something that will keep the meteorologists in the teams in a cold sweat at night. The Bay of Angels is an ever-changing sporting conundrum.
Shoreside in Cagliari, the main focus for spectators will be the free-to-enter Race Village with live commentary on big screens plus the main stage for team and sailor presentations. At least one AC40 will be docked nearby for fans to observe and every day there will be entertainment, gastronomy and merchandising options to delight the fans.
For those that would like to see the racing live, the FanZone Lazzaretto will have a direct vantage point out to the two possible racecourse areas. These designated zones are approximately two kilometres in diameter and close to the shoreline, depending on the wind direction.
Also, along the FanZone Lazzaretto, sailing activities managed by the Italian Sailing Federation (FIV), include Alessandra Sensini’s Foil Academy and the Para Sailing Academy for sailing with disabilities. It is anticipated that the majority of the local sailing clubs will also be involved whilst also along the FanZone Lazzaretto there will be large screens and food and beverage options. Both the Race Village and the FanZone Lazzaretto are expected to open from 11:00 on race days, and close by 19:00 local time.
You cannot win or lose the America’s Cup at the Preliminary Regatta, Sardinia, but every team is eyeing a good result to drive momentum into their campaigns as the timeline for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup ever shortens. First blood is everything in the Cup, and it’s the ultimate check-in for all the sailors to see where the level is and just how high the bar is going to be on the ‘Road to Naples.’
It’s all set to be a fascinating, outstanding regatta. Be there.
Magnus Wheatley
