America’s Cup Begins in Barcelona

The Louis Vuitton Cup, a part of the 39^th annual America’s Cup, begins today at 1400 CET.

With a discernible feeling of tension on the stage where six helmsmen sat on both sides of the Louis Vuitton Cup, the press conference on Wednesday, Aug. 28, set the tone for the beginning of the America’s Cup in Barcelona, Spain. The annual sailing competition begins today, with an upcoming eight-day double Round Robin series that will see one Challenger team eliminated at the end of it.

“It’s starting to get serious in a hurry. We’re now racing for keeps. We’ve been through the preliminary regatta, which was a great opportunity for all the teams to size up against each other, certainly a huge amount of learnings for all the teams, but now each point counts and you’ve got to make it work,” said Sir Ben Ainslie, CEO of the Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia.

Following the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta that concluded earlier this week, helmsman Tom Slingsby reflected on NYYC American Magic and “Patriot’s” final race win against Emirates Team New Zealand.

“It was really interesting for us to see all the teams, the strengths and weaknesses, and it’s quite interesting to see how you stack up. As for us at American Magic, I think we showed our potential in a couple of races and then in others we fell a bit below that. We’ve got to be realistic; we can’t let that happen when the points count,” Slingsby said.

A rematch of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta final between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli will occur in the second race of the first day. INEOS Britannia and NYYC American Magic will also compete against each other in an important race for both teams, while Orient Express Racing Team will face Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli on the first day. Conditions are expected to be light with the breeze coming in from the east-south-east and a slight sea-state.