The America’s Cup is officially open after months of preparation To.

Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ), the defending champions of the last America’s Cup, claimed victory in the opening round of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta yesterday, while Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli finished second in Barcelona. The results are a repeat of the 2021 Cup in New Zealand, when New Zealand claimed victory over the Italians.

The match race between the two teams in yesterday’s final was arguably the best of the four-day series and showed the strength of both teams and their boats. The Kiwis emerged victorious in a race that could have gone either way. New Zealand celebrated by raising large magnum bottles of champagne at each other.

But this four-day, show-stopping round-robin tournament is just the start of a three-month yacht racing series. The Louis Vuitton Cup begins on Thursday and runs until October 5, when the overall winner will face New Zealand in the 10-day America’s Cup Match, which ends on October 21.

If it sounds like a long season, it is. But the America’s Cup has slowly evolved from an often boring, elitist “sport” contested offshore with very slow boats, to a kind of technical spectacle featuring fast, 75-foot monohulls, called AC75s, all of which have the same specifications and where some modifications are allowed. But not many. The idea is to make the event a more level playing field, technically and financially. Previous America’s Cups have favored the wealthiest teams, who could afford technical modifications, often made in a matter of days, to gain an advantage over the competition.

“New Zealand and Italy are looking really strong this year, with strong boats and teams,” says Dave Reed, editor-in-chief of Sailing World Robb report. “But the American team is also a contender. They have a really fast boat and some of the best sailors in the event.”

ETNZ chose Barcelona to host the race because thousands of Europeans and North Americans would be watching the races in person. Sponsors include well-known brands such as Prada and Louis Vuitton (which is sponsoring all races this year), as well as the world’s most famous professional racing sponsor, Red Bull, who promised to bring excitement to the event.

Teams now rely on competitive spirit rather than refined agility on a course that produces close calls at speeds of up to 93 km/h. But the dangers are less this year because each boat is surrounded by an electronic barrier that penalizes competitors who trespass into their opponents’ territory.

Last week’s series, which pitted one team against the other in head-to-head match racing, saw moments of brilliance and plenty of self-inflicted mistakes, but also just how fast and agile the AC75s are.

The New York Yacht Club’s American Magic team, which finished third overall due to a broken rudder at the start of the series, soundly beat the New Zealand defenders on the final day of racing and showed the world that it was a serious contender. American Magic’s AC75, named Patriot, outgained the Kiwis by nearly 700 yards in the home stretch. “It’s hard not to be happy, but we still finished third in the series,” says Terry Hutchinson, captain and president of American Magic. “You can win a few battles, but you can’t win the war, so you have to look at the bigger picture. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

The experts seem to favour Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic as the top contenders for the defending champions, with Swiss team Alinghi Red Bull Racing, with its team of young sailors, British team INEOS and French Orient Express Racing in second place. The New Zealanders are widely considered the Cup favourites, partly because they will not face any other teams until they meet the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup in the America’s Cup final.

“The America’s Cup is already over, we just don’t know who won,” said Grant Dalton, head of ETNZ, Robb Report a few weeks ago. “The crew is important, but the only possible winner of the competition is the fastest boat. The decisions the teams made two years ago from a technical point of view and the people who were hired have already determined the outcome – and will not determine it.” Unsurprisingly, Dalton favored his own team to win the Cup, with the Italians coming in second.

But the dynamic could change over the next few months as teams become more familiar with their boats and the racing conditions in the Mediterranean. Beyond a team’s racing strength, a mechanical failure could dash any team’s hopes at a critical moment. That’s what happened to American Magic in the 2021 Louis Vuitton Series.

Last week’s round robin events gave a taste of how the next races might unfold as the five Challenger teams compete. Most boats performed well over the four days, with the final day being particularly challenging with unstable winds and choppy seas. Most were worried that the boats would break, which could have had devastating consequences just days before the Louis Vuitton Cup. But the teams battled through with only minor technical issues and looked forward to three great months of racing.