Everything is set for the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, the precursor to the 37th America's Cup

This Thursday, August 22, the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta begins in Barcelona, featuring the five Challengers and the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand. This will be the third preliminary event for the Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup, but the first in which the latest generation AC75s will sail.

Four one-on-one races are scheduled each day in a match-race format. The two best boats will reach a one-on-one Grand Final, where the winner takes all, on Sunday, August 25. Races start each day at 14:00.

The inaugural match will be between Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Orient Express Racing Team, where the Swiss will seek success against the French and their swift boat, especially upwind. Alinghi Red Bull Racing's skipper, Arnaud Psarofaghis, and his co-skipper, Maxime Bachelin, will try to take advantage of the great maneuverability of the BoatOne, while the French will focus on speed.

Following that, a star race between the finalists of the last America's Cup in Auckland 2021: Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. In the training sessions, these two teams have continued to set the standards in this edition of the America's Cup, and with the unveiling of their AC75 designs, it became clear that both had taken a step forward.

Then we will see INEOS Britannia and NYYC American Magic face off, with many performance and speed issues to resolve. How fast is Britannia now that its foils are devoid of Pitot tubes and tuned for racing? And which hull design is faster, the Americans' low profile or the muscular aerodynamic profile of the Britannia? We will witness a first-class match-race, with Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher-Scott or Giles Scott on the British boat facing Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison on the Patriot. A real spectacle is expected, but choosing the winner between these two teams could come down to pure performance under specific conditions.

In the last race of the inaugural day, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli returns to the race course to compete in their second test of the day, this time against Orient Express Racing Team. This time, the most revealing aspects will be the pre-start and the upwind leg, as the French are more than capable of applying pressure and using the inherent speed of the hull shape. The race could be decided on the execution of maneuvers, an area where Luna Rossa excels.

By the end of Saturday, after three intense days of racing, a very tight ranking is expected. The final day of racing, Sunday, which will see New Zealand versus the United States, Italy versus Switzerland, and France versus Great Britain, could be decisive for the top spots before the grand final, in which the top two boats will compete in a single race where the winner takes all.

The official website of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup will offer the race live and for free. It will also be broadcast on the America's Cup Youtube channel and Facebook page, each race day starting at 14:00 CET.

In addition, the teams of the UniCredit Youth and Puig Women’s America’s Cup, based at the Port Olímpic, will have five days of training before the start of the regatta on September 17 for the youth. The UniCredit Youth America’s Cup final will take place on September 26. The Puig Women’s America’s Cup also begins with five days of training before its first day of racing on October 5, and the final is on October 13.