The news gives hope to prospective challenger campaigns like Chris Poole’s American outfit Riptide Racing and other rumoured but unconfirmed potential challenges from Australia and Italy to join the five current contenders, Emirates Team New Zealand, GB1 from the UK, Italy’s Luna Rossa, Tudor Team Alinghi from Switzerland, and the French K-Challenge, in Naples, Italy in 2027.
Poole – currently the world’s number one ranked match race skipper – announced his intention to mount a challenge at the beginning of December 2025, after the Doug DeVos’ American Magic team announced they would not be taking part in AC38. The American sailor set an overall $50 million campaign budget but said he was targeting a fundraising target of $30m to meet the January 31 deadline.
The potential Australian challenge is believed to be led by keen sail racer and businessman John Winning who funded the Australian crews in the Youth and Women’s America’s Cup at AC37 in Barcelona. Meanwhile, the rumoured Italian campaign has been linked to Vincenzo Onorato’s Mascalzone Latino which previously challenged for the 2003 and 2007 America’s Cups. Naples–born, Onorato is a successful shipping magnate and once-active owner-driver on the one design keelboat circuits.
With fewer than 18 months to the start of the 38th America’s Cup Match in Naples, new teams are unlikely to try to design and build a new AC75 raceboat, with a more likely route being to purchase an existing previous-generation boat from another team. Options in that department include American Magic’s Patriot which raced at the 37th edition, as well as the 2021 era boats raced by the Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand in the 36th America’s Cup Match.
No teams have yet launched their AC75s during this current Cup cycle although all five are understood to have begun training and testing in AC40s, with the Kiwis and the Italians having racked up the most hours on the water so far.
The first competitive action of the 38th America’s Cup is set to take place in just over three months’ time with a four-day AC40 regatta scheduled to take place in Cagliari, Italy from May 21-24, with competing teams allowed to field two teams – one of which must be crewed by sailors from their Youth and Women’s squads.
