“We put together a really strong plan today.”
- Romy Kraus
- 5 hours ago
- 4 min read
Luna Rossa’s Sardinian fever dream: one trophy, two heartbreaks, and a 0.8-second mistake that flipped the room.
Cagliari didn’t host a sailing event so much as a public stress test for Italian nerves. Luna Rossa arrived with two storylines: the Women & Youth crew of Marco Gradoni and Margherita Porro looking like the class of the AC40 fleet, and the senior crew carrying the expectation of a home crowd that had turned the Bay of Angels into a floating stadium.
Then sport did what sport does. Software issues, two OCS calls, a disqualification, a final against Emirates Team New Zealand, and one brutal start-line error later, Luna Rossa still walked away with the big trophy. The first Preliminary Regatta of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup cycle was raced in equalised AC40s, with eight entries and a final match race between the top two boats; the result does not count toward the main 2027 America’s Cup standings, but it absolutely counts in the psychological ledger.
The Lowdown
Luna Rossa 2, the Principal Team, beat Emirates Team New Zealand in the final by 33 seconds after the Kiwis were called over the line early.
The decisive moment came 52 seconds before the start, when Nathan Outteridge let Luna Rossa escape into clean air.
Emirates Team New Zealand’s start was off by 0.8 seconds, enough to trigger a penalty and hand Luna Rossa control.
Luna Rossa 1, the Women & Youth Team, looked set for the final before technical display issues and OCS penalties wrecked the dream.
The AC40s were doing what AC40s do: fast, twitchy, brutally unforgiving. Reuters reported the boats hit more than 40 knots during the Sardinia regatta.
Next stop: Naples, with the second Preliminary Regatta scheduled for 24–27 September 2026 before the 38th America’s Cup in 2027.
“They’ve been really setting the benchmark of what you can do with an AC40.”
The cruelest twist belonged to Luna Rossa’s Women & Youth crew. Gradoni and Porro had been the team everyone was watching, the young Italians turning the AC40 into a warning shot. Then the time-on-distance display issues arrived, followed by an OCS, then a disqualification, then another OCS. The final vanished.
The bigger question: when a boat is measured in metres, seconds, and software, where does human brilliance end and system fragility begin?
“They’ve been really setting the benchmark of what you can do with an AC40 this whole week.” — Peter Burling
“But it’s sport. We will try to learn from this day.” — Margherita Porro
“We were about 0.8 of a second early.”
This final was basically decided before it properly began. Outteridge had control on the lead-back, Luna Rossa found the exit, and Emirates Team New Zealand tried to nail the port end of the line. The timing missed by a breath. A penalty forced the Kiwis to drop 75 metres behind Luna Rossa, and the Italians never gave the race back.
A 0.8-second error sounds tiny until it becomes the whole race.
“We were about 0.8 of a second early for the pin in the end, unfortunately.” — Nathan Outteridge
“We let him off the hook in that one.” — Nathan Outteridge
“Every time when you win, you should enjoy the victory.”
Max Sirena got the most complicated kind of win: the one with champagne in one hand and a debrief report in the other. Luna Rossa wanted two boats in the final. Instead, the senior team took the trophy while the Women & Youth crew carried the sting of what could have been.
That is the Cup in miniature: celebration as damage control, disappointment as R&D.
“When you get the chance to have two boats in the final, you want to take it, no?” — Max Sirena
“For sure we had a few issues with the technical software and the racing software, but that’s no excuse.” — Max Sirena
“This is the start of a new journey.”
Sardinia gave the 38th America’s Cup cycle its first public mood board: foiling boats, hometown noise, young sailors in the main show, and a Luna Rossa team that suddenly looks dangerous in more than one lane. The official regatta format allowed Women & Youth teams to race as second AC40 entries for selected teams, a twist that made the event less like a warm-up and more like a talent audit in public.
Cagliari set the bar. Naples now has to clear it.
“This is the start of a new journey that will take us from Cagliari down to Naples.” — Marzio Perrelli
“The bar has been set pretty high.” — Marzio Perrelli
Quickfire
What actually won Luna Rossa the final? The start. Emirates Team New Zealand were early, Luna Rossa were clean, and the 75-metre penalty created a gap the Italians protected for six legs.
Who was the emotional winner? Luna Rossa’s whole system. The senior team lifted the trophy, but the Women & Youth crew still left Sardinia with the Women & Youth trophy and a week of proof that they can pressure the senior fleet.
Who took the hardest lesson? Nathan Outteridge. The mistake wasn’t just being early; it was letting Burling’s Luna Rossa break away during the pre-start.
Why does this matter if the regatta does not count toward 2027 standings? Because the America’s Cup runs on data and fear. Sardinia gave Luna Rossa both: hard lessons from the Women & Youth collapse, and a clean psychological win over the Defender.
What’s next? Naples, 24–27 September 2026, for the second Preliminary Regatta on the Road to the 38th America’s Cup.
