Luna Rossa wins in Sardinia in sensational fashion
by ACP Media 24 May 19:55 BST
22-24 May 2026
Luna Rossa win - Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup Preliminary Regatta - Day 3 - May 24, 2026 © David Maynard /
www.alleycatphotographer.com
It was a day that a Hollywood script writer would find hard to write, but for the hometown favourites Luna Rossa it was one of both high elation and brutal disappointment in front of their incredible fans that have made this first Preliminary Regatta on the 'Road to Naples' so memorable.
Sardinia, and the port city of Cagliari, have played such magnificent hosts to the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup, and the final day of racing saw near-perfect conditions out on the Bay of Angels with 10-14 knots of readable breeze, a small wind chop and the brightest of blue skies above.
Going into today, all the talk dockside was about the remarkable form of Luna Rossa 1, the Women & Youth Team of Marco Gradoni and Margherita Porro. It seemed almost inevitable that they would at least seal a place in the Final after a stellar series, however the sporting Gods had very different ideas. Battling onboard technical issues with their time-on-distance displays, the Italian team were called over the line in the first race and, unable to expunge their penalty in time, were ultimately disqualified. They still led the overall standings going into the final race, but another OCS put paid to their charge.
It was left to the senior teams of both Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand to fight it out for the overall title, a tantalising prospect that pitted former team-mates Nathan Outteridge and Peter Burling against each other in the winner-takes-all battle for the magnificent trophy crafted by Sardinian sculptor, Roberto Ziranu.
A rare mistake from Nathan Outteridge with 52 seconds to go when in the command position on the lead-back to the starting line, gifted a clear start for Luna Rossa mid-line as Emirates Team New Zealand battled the clock on a time-on-distance run to the port (left) end of the line.
As the starting clock ticked down, the Kiwi's judgement was out by a fraction and they were called over the line early and required to drop 75 metres back behind the charging Luna Rossa who held all the aces over the next six legs.
Try as they could, the Kiwis could never get fully back in contention as the Italians marked them out around the course in a display of supreme tactical acumen and ability. The finishing delta was 33 seconds and the momentum swing in this America's Cup cycle went decisively the way of Luna Rossa.
Crossing the finishing line with Umberto Molineris's fist in the air, all around the Bay of Angels, the on-water spectator fleet honked their horns in recognition of their hometown heroes, and the Celebration Moment was conducted onboard amidst sprays of champagne and the traditional 'Winners' banner being prominently displayed by the crew on deck.
Peter Burling, three-time Cup winner came ashore afterwards elated with the win in front of the cheering hometown support, saying: "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.
"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."
Max Sirena, CEO of Luna Rossa, reflected on what was an outstanding day for the team overall, despite the disappointment with the Women & Youth Team Saying: "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. 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 when you win, you should enjoy the victory, and everything is a lesson for the future."
With crowds surrounding him, Sirena added: "I was saying to a few people when we were at the dock that I will never thank enough Cagliari, Sardinia, and all the fans for coming here for this weekend. I never saw so many people for a sailing event and so I'm super-thankful to the Cagliari people, and to the organisers, to the authorities, to the locals, to the volunteers - all of them. It's great. I think it's a big start. It's a good start for this new cycle."
Beaten finalist Nathan Outteridge was sanguine and ruing a day where they failed to cover the Luna Rossa move 52 seconds out from the starting gun and then were over the line early at the far end of the line: "We were about 0.8 of a second early for the pin in the end, unfortunately. But up until that, it was a pretty cool pre-start. There was a lot of manoeuvres being thrown at it, and we just needed to go with them (when they tacked off) - and that was the mistake we made.
"That's the difference between thinking fleet racing for a whole week or two weeks and then you're thrust into the match race. I'm sure if we were a little more polished on just focusing on the match racing events we would've known every time you go there. Because if we tacked there at that moment, they're in a lot of pain, they've got a lot on. And so that's why I'm kicking myself because I've done that move with Pete (Burling) several times and we let him off the hook in that one. But we'll have plenty more times to go toe to toe."
Marzio Perrelli, Chief Executive Officer of the America's Cup Partnership reflected on what has been a spectacular regatta in Sardinia, saying: "Terrific regatta, terrific organisation. This is the start of a new journey that will take us from Cagliari down to Naples in September, and then in June of the next year. So, 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."
Down in the Race Village after an eventful and thrilling day, the Luna Rossa Women & Youth team of Margherita Porro, Maria Giubilei, Marco Gradoni and Giovanni Santi collected the Women & Youth trophy before an adoring and appreciative audience before the senior team came to the stage. The crew of Peter Burling, Ruggero Tita, Umberto Molineris and Vittorio Bissaro plus reserves Gigi Ugolini and Federico Colaninno welcomed coach Josh Junior and Team CEO Max Sirena to the stage. In a nice touch, the team also brought out shore team members plus the Women & Youth sailors behind their 'Winners banner' and lifted the magnificent trophy on behalf of whole Luna Rossa family.
Sardinia has played host to one of the highest quality regattas in terms of action on the water, whilst off the water the town has been alive to the America's Cup with huge crowds every day enjoying both the Race Village and the FanZone Lazzaretto. Undoubtedly the regatta has set the bar high ahead of the second Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup Preliminary Regatta planned for Naples on the 24-27th September 2026.
Be there.