The Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta in Sardinia was held in Cagliari from May 21–24, 2026, marking the start of the “Road to Naples 2027.” Eight AC40s representing five competing syndicates raced in Cagliari, with Defender Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa and Challenger of Record GB1 each fielding two entries: a primary team boat and a Women & Youth entry. Tudor Team Alinghi and La Roche-Posay Racing each entered a single boat, while Team Australia and American Racing Challenger Team USA did not compete. The format featured fleet racing across the first three days, with the top two teams advancing to a winner-take-all match race final on day four. Luna Rossa 2, helmed by Peter and Ruggero Tita, claimed the overall win after defeating Emirates Team New Zealand, skippered by Nathan Outteridge, 2–0 in the match race final. Luna Rossa finished the regatta on 63 points to Emirates Team New Zealand’s 60 after ETNZ was penalized for being over the start line early (OCS) in the final race and finished 33 seconds behind. “I think all week we’ve felt like we’ve been sailing a lot better than the performances showed. Both days we just made a couple of little mistakes that kind of put us out of having the best day into kind of the second or third-best day,” Peter Burling said. “So, I’m just really proud of the way the group kept fighting for that performance and kept improving the way we were going about things, and we put together a really strong plan today and went out and executed it and I’m super-proud of the way we did that under quite a bit of pressure. We were gutted we couldn’t race our Youth and Women’s team in the final. They’ve been really setting the benchmark of what you can do with an AC40 this whole week but obviously had a tough day today but stoked to take a win for Luna Rossa in my first event.” Third overall, narrowly missing the final, was Luna Rossa 1: Women & Youth, which had led the regatta before suffering multiple OCS penalties in Race 1. The team still secured the Women & Youth trophy. “When you get the chance to have two boats in the final, you want to take it, no? So it’s a little bit of a bittersweet victory, because we could have ended up with two boats in the Final,” said Max Sirena, CEO of Luna Rossa. “But this is sport, it’s part of the game. We’re going to review. For sure, we did some mistakes, for sure, we had a few issues with the technical software and the racing software, but that’s no excuse. But it’s good. It’s nice. Every time you win, you should enjoy the victory, and everything is a lesson for the future.” “Terrific regatta, terrific organization. This is the start of a new journey that will take us from Cagliari down to Naples in September 2026 and then to the America’s Cup in June 2027,” said Marzio Perrelli, chief executive officer of the America’s Cup Partnership. “I think it’s a great start and the bar has been set pretty high, and I’m extremely confident that this Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup edition will be a great success.” Results from the Preliminary Regatta do not count toward the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. The second Preliminary Regatta will take place Sept. 24–27, 2026, in Naples. Photo: © Ian Roman