America’s Cup: A mini Cup summit in Naples; ‘Sail’ makes its Venice debut

The Lungomare Caracciolo is both a waterfront promenade and a boulevard in Naples, the upcoming host city of the America’s Cup. Stretching a total of 3.9 kilometres, the promenade links the coast with the ancient Castel dell’Ovo and the quieter residential district of Mergellina. Anyone strolling along the Lungomare can almost always catch a glimpse of Vesuvius, rising above the waters out in the Gulf of Naples. This is what the showcase for next year’s 38th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup looks like.

The second pre-regatta for the 38th America’s Cup is the first to be held in Naples

Anyone who wants to experience and enjoy it right now will have the chance to do so from 24 to 27 September. The second pre-regatta ahead of the next Cup final is the first in the new Cup district. Team Luna Rossa, with their new helmsman Peter Burling, had won the first pre-regatta off the coast of Cagliari in May. Round two will also be contested on the smaller AC40 one-design foiling yachts. A new feature this year is that nine boats, rather than eight, will line up at the start on the race course off Italy’s “city by the sea”.

As was the case in Cagliari, three teams are each fielding two crews: Luna Rossa is competing with its senior crew on “Luna Rossa 2” and its women’s and youth teams on “Luna Rossa 1”. The latter had in their impressive display of talent against Cagliari They performed so brilliantly that they went into the final day with a chance of overall victory and nearly swept aside the entire Cup establishment.

The New Zealand Cup title holders, Emirates Team New Zealand, are also kicking off the second pre-regatta in Naples with a two-pronged attack: the senior team and the male and female junior Cup squads are taking on the challenge in a venue of their own choosing, far from their New Zealand home. The British are also in action with their top team, GB1, and the Athena Pathway Women & Youth Team. The French La Roche-Posay Racing Team, the Swiss Tudor Team Alinghi and, for the first time, the American Racing Challenger Team USA are all competing with one crew each.

The Vesuvius Prelude: thrilling races on the ‘Pocket Rockets’

Sailing takes place at the second pre-regatta for the 38th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup both in the practice races on 24 September and on each of the three days of the event, starting at 2 pm each day. The first pre-regatta off the coast of Cagliari had already demonstrated just how thrilling and exciting the races on the AC40s are, given the high calibre of the crews.

Also known as “Pocket Rockets” ( handbag rockets), these one-design foiling yachts – the ‘little sisters’ of the actual Cup yachts – focus primarily on the teams’ sailing skills, whilst in the Cup competition on the large AC75s, technological development plays a decisive role.

Up to three fleet races are scheduled for Friday and Saturday. There should be two more races on the final Sunday, before the top two crews, after a maximum of eight fleet races, compete in a match race to decide the winner of this second pre-regatta for the 38th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup. Anyone who is there in person, perhaps even with their own boat, can register here and receives all the key information about what’s happening on the water.

Venice premiere for the Cup documentary “Sail”

Whilst the teams will be able to officially start training with their AC40 speedsters off the coast of Naples from 9 September, an exciting event is also approaching on land: on 11 September, the new America’s Cup documentary “Sail” will be screened publicly for the first time. Directed by Oscar winners Frank Marshall and Evan Hayes, and supported by Skydance Productions and the America’s Cup’s in-house film team, the film will have its premiere on 11 September at the Venice Film Festival.

The programme promises in-depth glimpses behind the scenes of the Cup world, to which the filmmakers had unrestricted access. It also features the most important and previously unseen footage from the competition on the water. The film closely follows key figures such as New Zealand’s team manager Grant Dalton, the British frontrunner Sir Ben Ainslie and Italy’s ever-energetic Max Sirena – through both good times and tough times.

​The film was shot using IMAX-certified digital cameras on board the boats. In this way, “Sail” aims to transport the audience straight into the cockpit of the fastest class of sailing yacht. The film also movingly captures the human dedication, ambition and obsession of those who shape the world’s oldest continuously running international sporting competition. It shows how this affects not only the competitors themselves, but also their families and the people around them.

The essence of the America’s Cup

Other themes include the intense rivalries in the America’s Cup, which are often personal in nature and deeply rooted in long-standing commitment, bitter defeats, disputes and competitions. The film focuses on internal funding disputes, disappointments over performance and the constant quest for greater speed in the AC75 yachts. Following its premiere in Venice, the film is set to be screened at further festivals before being broadcast by TV channels.

The following clip is not from the new documentary, but was filmed in 2023 ahead of the 37th America’s Cup. Nevertheless, this retrospective sums up well what the America’s Cup has been all about since its debut in 1851: