The New A-Cup Cycle Starts Now

Real racing in the lead-up to the 2017 America’s Cup starts tomorrow in Portsmouth on the south coast of England with the first Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series regatta (yes, the fancy luggage company is continuing their AC sponsorship). The six teams met in competition for the first time today, sailing five-man foiling AC45s in two practice races under heavy rain in light, shifty conditions. The home town hero, Sir Ben Ainslie, took the first race and Glenn Ashby’s Emirates Team New Zealand won the second contest.

Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR is the favorite to win this weekend’s counting races. Besides ETNZ, the others are Groupama Team France, Artemis Racing, SoftBank Team Japan, and the defender, Oracle Team USA, sailing under the burgee of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club.

Racing will start on Saturday afternoon at 1:40 p.m. local time (6:40 a.m. PDT). Two fleet races are scheduled each day. To watch live in the USA, you’ll need the AC+ app, which costs $7.99 for ACWS Portsmouth. NBC Sports will show highlights. For more info, see www.americascup.com.