One Year to the AC Match – Emirates Team New Zealand Ready

When Regatta Director Iain Murray, himself an America’s Cup finalist in 1987, begins the starting sequence for the start of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Match on the 10th July 2027, it’s the moment when the world stops as all the planning, designing and campaigning comes to a compelling crescendo. All we know for sure is that two boats will be on the starting line and one of them will be the Defender – Emirates Team New Zealand.

One Year To The Match – The Countdown Is On — September 05, 2024. Louis Vuitton Cup, Training ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup in Barcelona.
Round Robin Day 6 from the Regatta Committee boat. Ivo Rovira / America’s Cup

Who the other will be, will be decided after a gruelling Louis Vuitton Cup slated to run from the middle of May through to the end of June/early July. Whoever that is, will have fought unbelievably hard to earn the right to challenge for the oldest continually contested trophy in the world. By then, the America’s Cup will be celebrating 176 years of competition. History will be made on the Bay of Naples.

With one year to go to the start of the Match, the clock is ticking down relentlessly. The time will disappear fast. Decisions made in the computer months’ ago will have to be locked in and build-schedules finalised. One year sounds like a long time, in the America’s Cup, it is the blink of an eye. Nathan Outteridge, skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand is already laser focussed having started the Kiwi summer training camp saying: “We are very excited, it’s one year until the battle begins.”

Grant Dalton, the CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand who are going for a completely unprecedented in the long history of the America’s Cup four-in-a-row, knows what’s coming and just how critical this coming period is: “When we won in Barcelona, it was almost inconceivable to be able to start thinking about actually defending again. And here we are, one year to go before the next event, and it’ll go quickly. Really, there’s probably any team at this stage that can do well, probably only a few that can win it, but it will be defined 100% in the next year. What you do in this year is the critical time of whether you’re going to win or lose.”

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Dalton, speaking in Naples, continued: “The critical thing of this year is, it’s a bit of a cliché, but we’ve got to get faster. And all teams think like that. But you have to be quite pragmatic. It’s easy to try and do too many things. It’s too late for that now. You have to be very focused on knots on the table, that’s the way we think about it. So everything we do now will be very deliberate. All the kind of side projects are over…but now we have to be on a trajectory of things that are ultimately going to make us faster.”

Whilst much attention will be paid to the on-water development, behind the scenes the America’s Cup Event organisers are hard at work planning and preparing for what is expected to be the most viewed, and almost certainly the most visited America’s Cup in history. Fans are expected to flock from around the world to see this iconic event being held in Italy for the very first time. From Race Villages in Naples and Bagnoli, to Hospitality and interactive attractions for fans, the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup in Naples is set to be a sensation with passionate fans, particularly Italian, cheering on their home team Luna Rossa like nothing ever seen before.

The Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, knows what is coming and is excited, saying: “We are ready for the competition, and it is a big attention in our city. The city is very happy to host this competition, and the people are waiting for the competition of the America’s Cup.”

Mark your calendar. Plan your trip. The America’s Cup in Italy is going to be special and with one year to go to the start of the Match that will make history, get ready for the intensity to ramp to the max.

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