There are only twelve duels from 15 to 24 January before the challengers compete for the Prada Cup in the intermediate round, semi-finals and final. It all starts on 15 January with American Magic and Sir Ben Ainslie's Ineos Team UK, which has to play twice on the first day due to the fact that there are only three challengers in total - in the second round against the "Challenger of Record", Patrizio Bertelli's Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team.
No team has yet been eliminated after the four-race round robin: from 29 January to 2 February, the second-best team in the preliminary round will face the worst team in the semi-finals. It will be sailed in "first to win four races" mode: whoever has four wins under their belt first will advance to the final for the Prada Cup against the directly seeded winner of the preliminary round. Seven wins are needed between 13 and 22 February to qualify for the 36th America's Cup and earn the right to challenge the New Zealand defenders from Emirates Team New Zealand. The America's Cup Presented By Prada will take place from 6 to 15 March in the New Zealand waters off Auckland, as will the entire competition. Here, too, the first team to earn seven victory points will be the winner.
The time slots are the same for all races in the Prada Cup except for the final: the races are always scheduled between 3 and 6 p.m. in New Zealand. For fans in Switzerland, Austria and Germany who want to see them live, this means getting up early at 3am, as New Zealand is twelve hours ahead of us. The final duels for the Prada Cup start a little later at 4 a.m. German time. The Austrian broadcaster Servus TV will be broadcasting some of the Prada Cup races in the initial phase as a live stream (see current programme information) and live in the final phase and will make them available in the TV media library afterwards.
It is now eagerly awaited how the challengers have used their time since the first and revealing pre-Christmas encounters in December. A limited "up-and-down" course with an upwind start will be sailed over a length of 1.1 and 2.2 nautical miles. The length of the course depends on the wind conditions. The permitted wind window stipulates 6.5 knots as the lower limit and 23 knots as the upper limit for the Prada Cup final. The regatta organisers will decide on the course on a daily basis depending on the prevailing conditions.
The most disappointing team at the pre-Christmas regatta may have had the steepest route in their preparations in recent weeks. The performance of Sir Ben Ainslie's Ineos Team UK was weak with a boat that was too slow. Nevertheless, the skipper and four-time Olympic champion says: "We are getting down to business. We have identified two or three key problems that we had during the World Series regatta. Everyone here is working to exhaustion to get these problems under control so that the boat performs as it should." The Brits immediately followed up with their current motto: "Eat-Sleep-Test-Repeat" - eat, sleep, test, repeat.
Team American Magic also announced: "We are working day and night, on the water and on land. We are preparing for the upcoming showdown with Ineos Team UK and the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team." The Italian team reported a similar workload: "From dawn to dusk."
The history of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team
How the futuristic monohull boats on foils work
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
