America's Cup: Luna Rossa Youth and Womens take command torrid Day 1
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ 22 May 15:30 UTC
Both Luna Rossa teams get off to a handy start in Race 2 - Day 1 - Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup - Preliminary Regatta Sardinia - May 22, 2026 © Ian Roman
Reputations counted for little, as the Luna Rossa Youth and Womens team gave a big breeze sailing masterclass on their home waters of Cagliari, Sardinia.
Helmed by Max Gradoni and Magherita Porro, the winning skippers from the 2024 Youth and Womens America's Cup, in Barcelona, the young Italians returned a near-perfect 1,2,1 scoreline to finish the day with a 9-point lead over many of the rockstars of the America's Cup and SailGP circuits.
However, while the young Italians look set to take a place in the Final on Sunday, behind them a single point covers the next five teams, with four tied on 20pts and the French team on 19pts.
It was a bad day at the races for both British teams, with the GB1 team having a technical issue before the start of the first race, and did not start. The issue kept them out of Race 2. However, encouragingly, the Dylan Fletcher and Ben Cornish-helmed AC40 mixed it with the frontrunners in Race 3 to finish second. But they finished bottom of the points table and will have a steep hill to climb to make Sunday's Final.
Athena Racing (GBR) - a mixed Youth and Womens crew capsized during Race 2 and did not finish the race - but recovered to finish 7th, ahead of the Kiwis in Race 3.
The breeze freshened as the racing progressed, hitting the wind limit of 21kts after the start of Race 3, with the southerly breeze kicking up an increasing sea-state, which proved to be more than a challenge for the automated flight controllers. Several teams recorded speeds in excess of 40kts on downwind legs, with most being very much on the edge of control.
With the exception of the rampant Luna Rossa Women & Youth, most had a serious control problem either during a gybe or rounding the leeward mark.
Most notable was Emirates Team NZ, who, after finishing the first race in fourth, made amends in Race 2, with a daring port tack start - crossing the fleet, never to be headed. They looked to have race 3 in the bag, with an 11sec lead, or 100-metre lead, around the final mark before they got the speed wobbles in their penultimate gybe, and with the automatic flight control being unable to cope, they experienced a massive nosedive and came to a complete and very wet halt, dropping from first to eighth.
The Luna Rossa "A" team, skippered by three-times America's Cup winner Peter Burling, also finished seventh and last in the opening race, after they teetered on the point of capsize after rounding Mark 2 in the lead pack, accompanied by Emirates Team NZ and Luna Rossa Women & Youth. The only way the crack Italian were able to get the AC40 back on its feet was by putting crew out on the windward foil, to increase righting moment. Eventually, they recovered without capsizing, but it was a close thing - and they dropped right back through the fleet.
The young Italians showed blistering pace in the opening race, and gave an indication of what was to come with the highest VMG of the day, and did four fewer tacks/gybes than their nearest competitor.
The home team, Luna Rossa, came away from the day with the knowledge that they have two very good crews who are more than capable of giving a sailing lesson to the top professional sailors in the sport.
That will create a selection problem for the Italian team in just 12 months, when the Challenger Selection Series gets underway in Naples for the 2027 America's Cup.
However, it's a great problem to have, and surely their long-time Patron, Patrizio Bertelli, will be smiling.
Race Day 1 Live:
There are three further fleet races on Saturday, and two on Sunday, with the top two overall progressing to a Match Race Final.
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