America's Cup: Moderate breeze forecast for first day of racing in Sardinia
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 22 May 10:17 BST
Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup - Preliminary Regatta Sardinia. Official Practice Race - May 21, 2026 © Ricardo Pinto
A southerly breeze of 10-12kts is expected to prevail for the first day of fleet racing on Day 1 of the America's Cup Preliminary Regatta - Sardinia.
Racing is expected to get underway at 1313hrs UTC or 1513hrs local time in Cagliari.
The wind forecast for the racing area, by PredictWind at 1513hrs, shows a breeze being sucked into Bay of Angels from 163° while offshore with opposing breeze of 14kts from 034°. Between the two systems is a zone of dead air.
As the afternoon progresses, the southerly breeze is expected to strengthen to 14kts, while the offshore breeze eases. Both breezes are expected to die away at night.
Eight teams are entered in the event with New Zealand, Great Britain, and Italy entering an Open team and a Youth and Womens team each.
France and Switzerland have entered only one team.
The two latest America's Cup Challengers, USA and Australia have been excused from competing in the first Preliminary Regatta.
All teams will compete in eight scheduled fleet races, with the top two going forward to determine the winner of the first Preliminary Regatta.
Key points of interest will be the relative performances of Team New Zealand, with its new helm combinations of Nathan Outteridge and Seb Menzies, against their former skipper, Peter Burling, who is teamed with Ruggero Tita. The performance of the two Youth and Womens teams from New Zealand, Great Britain and Italy, both in how they match up to each other and whether they can knock off any of the "Big Dogs", and cause a real upset. Fra
Live stream:
Race Day 1 Live:
The second Preliminary Regatta will be held in Naples in late September.