If Day 1 was about survival, Day 2 was about sailing. The Bay of Angels eased back from the punishing twenty-plus knot chop that had capsized boats and buried bows on Friday, and what replaced it was close, tactical, unforgiving AC40 racing where every decision carried weight and every manoeuvre demanded full commitment from all four sailors.
Three races. Three different winners. And a sustained battle between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa’s women and youth crew that had the broadcast team reaching for superlatives by the final run of Race 6.
The match race that ran all day
Nathan Outteridge, Seb Menzies, Andy Maloney and Iain Jensen against Marco Gradoni, Margherita Porro, Maria Giubilei and Giulia Fava. It started in Race 4 and it didn’t really end until the last gybe of Race 6.
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In Race 4, with Luna Rossa Women and Youth hamstrung by a start line penalty, a foil failure before the gun, and Gradoni navigating without a functioning race computer for much of the race, it was the principal Luna Rossa boat co-helmed by Peter Burling and Ruggero Tita that pushed ETNZ hardest. Burling gave his former teammates nothing, trading tacks and crossings all the way to the finish, and ETNZ won it by the narrowest of margins. Nobody on the broadcast needed to say it out loud: three-time America’s Cup winner Peter Burling, now in Prada Perelli red, racing the people he used to call teammates, with nothing between them on the water.
ETNZ and Luna Rossa Woman and Youth teams create some interesting races today. Photo credit: AC38 media
By Race 6 the wind had dropped to seven knots and the match race was between ETNZ and the women and youth crew. Gradoni and Porro had rebuilt through the race, found a pressure shift on the second upwind and forced Outteridge left into lighter air. From that point the two boats were inseparable. ETNZ led onto the final downwind. A jibe near the boundary cost them boat speed at the worst moment. Luna Rossa Women and Youth found the pressure on the right, didn’t waste it, and crossed first.
Watching Outteridge and Menzies respond to every move, Maloney and Jensen working the trims through conditions that were barely keeping the boats on the foils, and Gradoni calling pressure shifts from the leeward side while Porro drove through each fragile manoeuvre at speeds that left almost no margin for error—this was the America’s Cup in miniature, on a forty-foot foiling monohull.
Athena Pathway’s redemption
Race 5 belonged to nobody on that list. The breeze had dropped further and the course had become a minefield. La Roche-Posay and Luna Rossa Women and Youth both came off the foils in a wind vacuum at the bottom of the course. Tudor Team Alinghi capsized for the second time in two days. The fleet reshuffled completely.
23 May 2026. Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup – Preliminary Regatta Sardinia Race Day 2. Photo credit: AC38 media / Ivo Rovira
Hannah Mills and Athena Pathway had collected a capsize, a full restart, and a splashdown across Day 1 and Race 4. On Saturday afternoon, in the race that everyone else found unmanageable, they sailed with composure and speed, hit their manoeuvres cleanly when the boats around them couldn’t, and won by a margin that felt comfortable by the end.
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Gradoni was aggressive at the finish, Luna Rossa Women and Youth crossing half a metre ahead of La Roche-Posay for second with Porro calling it home. The French collected a penalty on the line on top of it. Post-race, Mills’ relief was evident.
The GB1 problem
Through all of this, GB1 watched from the dock. A technical fault that ended Race 1 on Day 1 was never fully resolved. Three retirements became four, became five. Six races into the regatta the Challenger of Record has nine points on the board, all from a single second place in Race 3 on Day 1 when the fault seemed briefly fixed. Dylan Fletcher’s crew have had the speed in practice. None of it has mattered.
With two fleet races and a potential match race final tomorrow, GB1 need a complete technical resolution overnight and then back-to-back strong results just to reach the final. The arithmetic is brutal. But they have been here training for months, they know these waters, and Fletcher’s crew have the pace. They need the start line.
Where things stand
Luna Rossa Women and Youth lead the regatta with 55 points, three race wins from six starts, and a consistency that no other boat in the fleet has matched. They are eight points clear of ETNZ going into the final day. The Luna Rossa principal team sit three further back on 44 points, close enough that a strong performance from Burling and Tita tomorrow alongside a difficult race for ETNZ could change the complexion of the final entirely.
Two fleet races tomorrow decide the finalists. Then the match race decides everything. Set the alarm.
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Mariner 2800 (1987)
63000
1987 | 10.50 m | 1987 Mariner 2800 — 10.5m flybridge sportsfisher, twin Mercruiser diesel stern drives, ~980 hours. Loaded with fishing gear, bow thruster, dual helm stations, forward cabin, galley and shower/toilet. Tidy classic at $63,000. Tauranga, Bay of Plenty.
The start of Race 5. AC38 Sardinia Prelims – Race 5 // Photo credit: America’s Cup media
Day 2 Results Summary
Race 4: ETNZ 1st, Luna Rossa 2nd, ETNZ W&Y 3rd, Luna Rossa W&Y 4th, La Roche-Posay 5th, Athena Pathway 6th, Tudor Team Alinghi 7th, GB1 DNF
Race 5: Athena Pathway 1st, Luna Rossa W&Y 2nd, La Roche-Posay 3rd, ETNZ 4th, Luna Rossa 5th, ETNZ W&Y 6th, Tudor Team Alinghi retired, GB1 DNF
Race 6: Luna Rossa W&Y 1st, ETNZ 2nd, Luna Rossa 3rd, La Roche-Posay 4th, ETNZ W&Y 5th, Athena Pathway 6th, Tudor Team Alinghi 7th, GB1 DNF
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli is delivering a masterclass in AC40 sailing, day 2 of the AC38 Pre-Regatta in Sardinia. Photo credit: AC38 media
Overall Standings After 6 Races
Standings After Fleet Race 6
Pos.
Team
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
R8
Points
1st
Luna Rossa – Women & Youth
110
29
110
47
29
110
—
—
55
2nd
Emirates Team New Zealand
47
110
83
110
38
29
—
—
47
3rd
Luna Rossa
74
38
38
29
47
38
—
—
44
4th
Emirates Team NZ – Women & Youth
56
47
47
38
65
56
—
—
39
5th
La Roche-Posay Racing Team
29
65
65
56
56
47
—
—
38
6th
Athena Pathway – Women & Youth
65
DNF
74
65
110
65
—
—
30
7th
Tudor Team Alinghi
38
56
56
74
DNF
74
—
—
29
8th
GB1
DNS
DNS
29
DNS
DNS
DNS
—
—
9
Racing resumes tomorrow, Monday morning New Zealand time.