America's Cup: Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, preparations are done

Under the spotlights in the cooled air of the auditorium at Barcelona's World Trade Centre, the world's finest sailors faced the international media having spent a busy morning at the Olympic Diving Centre from the 1992 Games for an iconic cityscape photoshoot with the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta Trophy on the top board.

Back on earth again and taking to the stage were Peter Burling, America's Cup winning skipper of the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand, Sir Ben Ainslie, CEO of the Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia, Francesco Bruni helmsman of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, Paul Goodison helmsman of NYYC American Magic, Quentin Delapierre, skipper of Orient Express Racing Team and Arnaud Psarofaghis, skipper of Alinghi Red Bull Racing.

Peter Burling was looking forward to the racing beginning in the AC75s and gave an insight into the new levels of performance we can expect from the latest generation boats, saying:

"It's been over three years since we last raced in the AC75's. All the teams got a little taste of competition this cycle with the AC40's but the AC75 has got to a whole other level in this cycle. In that three years development doesn't stop, everyone's been working incredibly hard in developing the boats, pushing the levels they can achieve around the racetrack and that's exactly what you'll see over the next month of the racing."

"The regatta makes sense, it's always been in the Protocol. It's really a chance for the teams to get through their processes and get ready to race. It's starting up a big machine this week which is incredibly exciting for the sailors but also the buzz in the sailing community of finally being able to see these boats sailing again, so we are really looking forward to getting out and racing."

Sir Ben Ainslie, whose team today confirmed that Dylan Fletcher – the current International Moth World Champion – would replace Giles Scott as co-helm, commented on the switch, saying:

"We're really fortunate to have a strong sailing squad and it was always our plan to rotate. We are very fortunate to have the strength in depth with Dyan and Giles....and it's no reflection on Giles, he's an incredible talent and the way he's stepped up since that decision and the leadership he's shown has been exceptional and says a lot about him as a person. I'm really excited to be sailing with Dylan for the first time in this competition, I think it's an exciting line-up."

After the drama of yesterday's unfortunate dis-masting, Arnaud Psarofaghis of Alinghi Red Bull Racing ran through the issue and confirmed to the assembled media that the Swiss team was ready to race, saying:

"We were running a new mast, doing a warm up, commissioning, and it failed in a light 12 knot breeze. It's a one design component so we need to review. We will be back on the water today with our spare mast – amazing job from the team."

With the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta results potentially counting in the case of any tie-break scenarios in the Louis Vuitton Cup, all the teams are eyeing a good result with Francesco Bruni of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli certainly focused on delivering a strong performance, saying:

"We are all here for winning, fighting hard and having a successful week. We all want to win and we will do all things to win. It's important for the team who have done an amazing job so far – the shore team, the designers they have done a fantastic job – and now it's our turn to take it forward and have a good week."

Paul Goodison, helmsman of NYYC American Magic alongside Tom Slingsby certainly knows the value of a good regatta in terms of morale, having won the opening Preliminary Regatta back in September 2023 at Vilanova i la Geltrú:

"I think this regatta is going to be very different from the other Preliminaries, we're obviously in the AC75s and in a match racing format so very different. We learned a lot in the Preliminaries in Vilanova with success and also from defeat in Jeddah when we didn't sail at our best. We've got a lot of things on our plate that we've worked on to improve and we just hope to continue improving every day and learning as much as we can about our competitors." 

Quentin Delapierre was full of optimism for the French team and acknowledged the challenge before them saying: "We came quite late but there is no question about our ambition, we push as hard as we can and I don't want to put too much pressure on the team as I think we know the work we have to do to catch up. We have got an unbelievable boat and I think the team is now in good shape and we just have to try to increase the learning curve as much as possible and then after that, anything is possible."

Questions from the floor sought further clarification about Alinghi Red Bull Racing's mast situation plus questions about match-racing tactics, who the Defender feared amongst the Challengers, and the level of competition we can expect to see from all the teams.

Sir Ben Ainslie, however, spoke on behalf of everyone in response to a question about Barcelona as the host venue, saying: 

“Congratulations to the Event Authority and Barcelona for the work and effort they’ve put in over the past two-plus years to get us to this point. The boats look amazing, the performance particularly in the stronger winds is mind-blowing both upwind and downwind, I think the viewers will be really surprised by that, it’s a real privilege to sail on these boats. And what a beautiful city, we talked about the competition, it really is set to be one of the best America’s Cups ever and we’re looking forward to it.”

A final practice racing session today sailed in winds from eight to 21 knots of breeze saw all six teams competing on the waters off the Barcelona city front. With practice racing now completed the teams' attention now turns to tomorrow's opening day of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, when four match races are scheduled starting at 14:00 CET.