America’s Cup Racing Starts Tomorrow in Barcelona
It’s time to tune in to the America’s Cup. The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta starts tomorrow in Barcelona, Spain. It will be the first opportunity for the boats to race and for everyone to refine their guess as to who has the best chance to win the America’s Cup.
This will be the first time the teams, defender New Zealand and the five challengers — the US, England, Switzerland, Italy, and France — will be racing the AC75s they’ll use in the final America’s Cup regatta. The preliminary regatta does not count for points in winning the challenger Louis Vuitton Cup, which actually determines who will face off against the defending Emirates Team New Zealand. The preliminary regatta has the teams refining their skills and tactics, and giving everyone a sense of the relative speed and abilities of the teams.
There are four days of match racing, with the teams lining up against each other in America’s Cup format with coaches, tech teams and competitors all eyeing the details that they need to improve to win the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series and ultimately the America’s Cup. Some of those details can be large. The Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing team broke a mast for the second time on Tuesday without apparent personal injury or major damage to the boat, so they say they’ll be put back together and ready to race by Thursday.
The boats are very similar, though also with many unique characteristics. All are using the leg power of cyclists to power the boats, though the American team is the only one using the sitting recumbent position, with their pedal-power crew facing aft.
The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta runs tomorrow through Sunday. Then they have a short break before the racing gets real. The Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series starts the following Thursday, the 29th, and runs through October 7. This series will determine the challenger who will take on Emirates Team New Zealand for the Cup, October 12–27, with the winner being the first to win seven races. It could be a sweep or a 13*-race series. The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta will give everyone a chance to size up the competition in this 37th running of the America’s Cup.
[*Thanks to reader Richard Fowler for correcting our error in our comments below. It could be a 13 race series, not 15.]
the article begs the question:
so how does one watch this activity? on the internets??
The America’s Cup has a page on their website, ‘How to Watch’ – https://www.americascup.com/how-to-watch#country=US&timeZone=America%2FNew_York
Debbie Downer over here – why does it seem uniquely special for us (the US) to have to have a significant delay (full 24hrs) or pay for yet another broadcasting service (ESPN+)?
What a surprise, I was just wondering when the AC is going to happen. The boats look interesting, I’ll have to learn more about the technology.
Sorry but will not be watching. These boats are ugly and remind me of a computer game. Bring back the traditional 12 meters where humans do the sailing.
I think you may be able to watch the races on regular YouTube (not Youtube-TV). Search for Louis Vuitton. It may be time delayed too.
If the Americas Cup is won by the first to win 7 races, wouldn’t the max be a 13 race series? A 15 race series would be 8-7.
That logic works when there are two teams head to head. There are five here – there could easily be 15 races after which there isn’t even a team with 7 wins. But if any team gets to 7, it will complete the series.