America's Cup Preliminary Regatta 2 Day 2: A superb day's racing in Naples
by America's Cup Media 26 Sep 19:22 BST
25-27 September 2026
Fleet start - Day 2 - Louis Vuitton America's Cup - Preliminary Regatta Naples - September 26, 2026 © Ian Roman/ America's Cup
The choice of the Bay of Naples as the venue for the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup was fully vindicated today on Day 2 of the America's Cup Preliminary Regatta.
Four fleet races were completed on Saturday, putting the schedule back on track ahead of Sunday's final day.
Crowds along the Lungomare Caracciolo watched close racing across the fleet, featuring several near-misses and a capsize in fresh conditions on the Bay of Naples.
In the opening race, Luna Rossa 1—crewed by Peter Burling and Marco Gradoni—took an early lead and held it to the finish. The overnight overall leaders recorded speeds over 47 knots during bear-away manoeuvres at the windward gate in breezes approaching the 21-knot upper limit.
La Roche-Posay Racing Team, led by Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín, then moved to the front across the day's remaining heats. In Race 4, the French team led out from the start, rounded the first windward gate narrowly ahead of a packed fleet, and controlled the race to the finish line. Emirates Team New Zealand worked through the fleet to claim second position ahead of Tudor Team Alinghi.
Race 5 brought close mark roundings and incidents. Several boats dropped off their foils or incurred boundary and right-of-way penalties at the first windward mark, reshuffling the mid-fleet. La Roche-Posay avoided the traffic, rounded the port mark cleanly, and built a 300-metre lead over two laps of the 1.4-nautical-mile course.
By the final windward gate, the French led Emirates Team New Zealand's Youth and Women entry, helmed by Jake Pye and Erica Dawson. However, on the final gybe toward the finish lay line in heavy gusts, La Roche-Posay ventilated on their foils, lost control, and capsized. The trailing New Zealand crew gybed inside to take the race win, while Luna Rossa 1 passed Emirates Team New Zealand's senior crew on the final downwind leg to take second.
In Race 6, La Roche-Posay recovered to execute a clean start, worked the right side of the windward beat, and crossed the fleet on port to lead around the top mark. Emirates Team New Zealand and GB1 followed close behind. In a fading, shifting breeze, New Zealand challenged on several roundings, but Delapierre and Botín extended on the final upwind leg to establish a 250-metre margin. The French crossed first, with Emirates Team New Zealand second and Luna Rossa 1 rounding out third after recovering through the fleet.
Speaking afterwards, skipper Peter Burling reflected on the day: "We're trying to learn and improve as much as we can. We definitely made some massive mistakes today, but I think the way we can just reset is great and try and get the next shift. In all three races, when we were behind, we got to the front, and then unfortunately in the second one we dropped right back again. But yeah, I think it just shows you that it's so shifty and dynamic out there that any of these boats can put together an amazing race and any of the boats can have big problems as well."
Margherita Porro, skipper of Luna Rossa 2, said: "For sure it was tight racing, especially at the top gate. We had some marginal situations. But yeah, we are a new team, and we struggled a little bit today. I think we were fast, but it's hard to take everything together to connect all the points. But we did some good starts. We were in the pack, so it's a good starting point."
Skipper Jake Pye said of their Race 5 win: "So, it really was a really well-constructed race, I think, from us as a team. We've really been trying to put it together as best as we can, and we feel like it's taken us about as long as it has to figure out the racecourse, and it felt good to be able to put it all together... it really is, for us, just keeping it simple and making sure we can get the craft across the line. But throughout the race, as it opens up, you take the opportunities where they present themselves, and we did just that."
Trimmer Serena Woodall added: "I think as a team, we know we've got the potential, and it's just all about having a clear lane off the start, keeping it simple, and really knowing our roles. And in that race, we really put it all together, it was up-range, and we just had to keep it close because with the French, that race we were with them on that downwind. And then, yeah, a bit of fortune for us, I guess, when they capsized."
Diego Botín of La Roche-Posay commented: "I think we've had very good moments in the past few days as a team, and obviously today, but we haven't raced together a lot as a team and the more we race together, the more in line we are, the better decisions we take. And we managed to amplify those good moments today and together with good speed and good boat handling also. Shame about the capsize, it obviously wasn't ideal, but look, overall, we are very happy with the day and confident, which is important."
Jason Saunders, starboard trimmer for the French team, said: "I think it's probably one of the most fun days I've had in racing. These boats, in reasonably flat water and good breeze, are a force to sail and the fact that it was coming off the shore it was really shifty and so very tactical. It was important to be really proactive in getting on top of those shifts so yeah, when you're not trimming and you're on the leeward side, you have time to talk and to look around, and I think it's really important, that input, to help the guys that are trimming the boat at that period and make the right next decision. Like Diego said, we're just sailing more together now and we're trying to learn our roles and it's coming together much nicer, which is pleasing."
Ellie Aldridge, co-helm on GB1, said: "It was a very frustrating day for us. I think we felt like we were sailing really well at times. There's a lot of good points to take away from it, and a lot of good learnings, but just felt like we couldn't really bring it all together. Like, it felt like we should've been able to. But It was an amazing day of racing, really. Like super tight, loads of position changes, and it was all really down to the end of the race. You're still in it, even if you don't think you're in it. At the end of the day, it's really easy to be frustrated with days like today but actually we are still learning from this event. Like, yes, we want to do well but the end goal isn't this event, it's next year."
Dylan Fletcher, skipper of GB1, added: "It was really tough, close racing. Obviously a number of key teams had some good wheels - unfortunately we weren't one of them. So we had a few issues as well with the board sucking down and stuff like that, which we'll have to look into, but I thought it was a fantastic day to showcase the AC40s."
The overall standings leave Luna Rossa 1 leading, with Emirates Team New Zealand holding second. Two final fleet races are scheduled for Sunday to decide the two teams advancing to the match-race final.