The Road to Naples Is Shortening: America’s Cup 2027 Shifts from Prep to Performance
For the world’s oldest trophy, 2025 isn’t just closing — it’s pivoting.
As the calendar flips toward 2026 and the 38th America’s Cup draws closer, the campaign mode is shifting decisively from planning to execution.
The era of prototypes, negotiations, and recon flights is giving way to on-water training, design evolution, and the first tangible signs of what the Cup in Naples will truly look like.
Quick Hull Check
- America’s Cup 2027 campaign enters full preparation mode
- Teams are heavily training on AC40 one-design foilers
- The new America’s Cup Partnership (ACP) is now in place
- Preliminary Regattas return in 2026
- First AC75 sailing windows are approaching fast
The Setup
With the end of the year comes a clear shift in tempo.
Where 2025 was dominated by agreements, governance, and structure, 2026 will be about execution. Across multiple team bases, AC40s are already on the water, delivering high-intensity two-boat sessions designed to sharpen starts, maneuvers, and match-racing instincts.
This phase isn’t a warm-up.
It’s where systems are internalised, control loops refined, and that elusive feel for foiling performance begins to hard-wire into the crews.
Naples may still be months away — but the sailing has already begun.
The Moment
What stands out most is how early the intensity has arrived.
Teams like Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa, Athena Racing, K-Challenge and Alinghi are stacking meaningful on-water hours long before official competition begins. AC40s have become the pressure chamber — identical boats, tight racecourses, no excuses.
At the same time, the next-generation AC75s are nearing launch.
These boats mark a major step change:
- five-person crews
- new power systems
- radically simplified deck layouts
- fresh interpretations of foil control and stability
This is not refinement.
This is reinvention.
Foil Nerd Corner
This campaign cycle is built around two platforms:
- AC40 (One-Design)
Fast, reactive, perfect for tactical training and preliminary regattas. - AC75 (America’s Cup Class)
The ultimate big-boat foilers, now re-engineered for a smaller crew and new control philosophy.
Foil 101:
AC40 racing accelerates learning faster than any simulator. Identical boats force sailors to focus on decision-making, flight control and timing — skills that translate directly when crews step back onto AC75s.
AC75s, meanwhile, demand balance: mechanical innovation on one side, human coordination on the other. The teams that solve both will define Naples.
How We Got Here
The formation of the America’s Cup Partnership (ACP) in late 2025 was a turning point.
Five founding teams — Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa, Athena Racing, Tudor Team Alinghi and K-Challenge — committed to a shared framework aimed at stabilising the Cup’s future.
For a competition that’s survived for more than 170 years on gentleman’s agreements and legal battles, this represents a structural evolution with long-term implications.
More stability.
More continuity.
More room to build value — on and off the water.
Dock Talk: The Debate
As the road shortens, questions sharpen:
- Will early AC40 intensity give some teams a decisive edge?
- Can the ACP balance collaboration without dulling competition?
- Will the new AC75 rules deliver closer, more watchable racing?
The answers won’t come from press releases.
They’ll come from the first boundary-tight crosses and marginal foil touchdowns.
What Happens Next
2026 will be loud.
- AC40 Preliminary Regattas across Europe
- Youth and Women’s fleets gaining real race exposure
- AC75s returning to the water for structured testing
- Media attention ramping up as Naples comes into focus
The first possible AC75 sailing window opens January 16, 2026.
From there, the clock runs fast.
The Last Wake
The road to Naples isn’t just getting shorter — it’s getting steeper.
2025 laid the framework.
2026 will test whether those ideas can fly.
From AC40 duels to AC75 breakthroughs, the America’s Cup is transitioning from concept to consequence. And when the first starting horn sounds, we won’t be talking about plans anymore.
We’ll be talking about performance.
Read more here on AC official’s site!
