America's Cup: Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta – Preview

This Thursday in Barcelona, the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta gets underway with far more questions ahead of the competition than answers. This is the third Preliminary Regatta on the journey to the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup but is the first to be sailed in the latest generation AC75 yachts, and the final preparation ahead of the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup on the 29th August.

It's a very simple fact that no team wants a bad, morale-sapping regatta at this stage but with the racing not counting towards points in the Louis Vuitton Cup, there could well be a number of different strategies at play and variances of approach team by team. Everyone will be eyeing the competition with interest with a focus on performance in specific wind ranges. The Performance Analysts and coaching teams will be working overtime to analyse every aspect of the competition’s yachts and tactics and for sure, the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta will start to reveal profiles and nuances un-seen before.

What we do know is that relative speeds are incredibly close across the fleet. At this stage there is simply no front-runner across all the conditions, and every team is more than capable of beating the others. The starts are key and the ability to sail a clean, powered-on race with great tactical and meteorological execution will, undoubtedly, produce results.

As spectators we are in for a delectable hors d’oeuvres before the main course. The ‘Primer Plato’ ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup, and we start with a mouth-watering day of competition on Thursday 22nd August.

First up is a fascinating opening encounter between Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Orient Express Racing Team where the well-drilled Swiss will be looking for success against a French team that clearly has a very fast boat – particularly upwind. Skipper of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Arnaud Psarofaghis and his co-helm Maxime Bachelin will be looking to use the high manoeuvrability of BoatOne whilst the French will be eyeing outright speed profile. This will be a close call but the form book from training would suggest a Swiss win.

Next up, is a blockbuster race between the finalists of the last America’s Cup in Auckland 2021 – Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. In training, these two teams have continued to set the standards in this America’s Cup cycle and with the reveal of their AC75 designs, it was clear that both teams have taken a step forward and, on the face of it, appear to have a similar speed profile across a wide range of conditions. This could well come down to racecraft and skill from the respective afterguards with skipper and Cup winner Peter Burling alongside Nathan Outteridge for the Kiwis enjoying a solid and consistent relationship. Equally Luna Rossa, who have an abundance of helming talent, will most likely pair skipper Jimmy Spithill, one of the true global talents of the sport, with the experience of Francesco Bruni. This race is just too close to call.

Next up we will see INEOS Britannia and NYYC American Magic facing off with so many performance and boatspeed questions to be answered. Can the American cyclor team, seated in a recumbent position facing aft, match the power output of the traditional set up on the British boat? How fast is Britannia now that her foils are shorn of the Pitot tubes and in race trim? And which hull design is fastest – the low profile of the Americans or the muscular aero profile of Britannia? What is more certain is that we will see some top-class match racing with Ben Ainslie and either Dylan Fletcher-Scott or Giles Scott on the British boat matching up to Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison on ‘Patriot’ – expect fireworks but picking a winner out of these two teams could well come down to outright performance in a specific condition.

The final race of the opening day sees Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli return to the racecourse for their second race of the day, this time against Orient Express Racing Team. What will be incredibly revealing here will be the pre-start and the relative upwind performances with the French more than capable of pressing hard and using their inherent hull-form speed. The race may well come down to manoeuvre execution, which is an area that Luna Rossa excel in, but this is match-up where we can expect the unexpected. Not to be missed.

Days two and three of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta see the format unfold and patterns emerging. By the end of Saturday, after three days of intense racing we are expecting the leaderboard points to be tight. The final day of racing on Sunday with New Zealand against USA, Italy against Switzerland and France versus Britain could well be the final determinants for the top spots ahead of the grand final where the top two boats will fight it out in a one race, winner-takes-all decider.

The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta is all set to be a classic. The business end of this America’s Cup cycle is within touching distance and it’s almost time to reveal all. As the precursor to the Louis Vuitton Cup, this regatta has an importance and a resonance that can set the tone for the coming weeks. Don’t miss it.