Naples got the home win it wanted. Over three days of racing on the Bay of Naples, the Italian Luna Rossa team — now co-helmed by three-time America's Cup winner Peter Burling, the Kiwi legend who jumped ship from Team New Zealand — took the overall title at the second America's Cup Preliminary Regatta, sealing it with a commanding match-race defeat of Emirates Team New Zealand in front of big crowds along the waterfront.

Conditions swung from fickle, shifty breezes to a steady 11-14 knots, and Luna Rossa handled all of it. Burling and young co-helm Marco Gradoni, with trimmers Maria Giubilei and Gianluigi Ugolini, topped the fleet standings on 71 points, 15 clear of Emirates Team New Zealand, with France's La Roche-Posay Racing Team third on 48. The final was almost over at the start: a slightly late final tack by the Kiwis handed the Italians the advantage, and a tight cover left the New Zealand boat struggling in dirty air. By the last downwind leg Luna Rossa led by 350 metres.

There was consolation for the Kiwis in the Women & Youth division, where skipper Jake Pye and co-helm Erica Dawson edged the Italian equivalent team in the final fleet race to take that trophy. France's squad deserve a mention too — two capsizes over the weekend, one of which the shore crew repaired in just 12 minutes, yet Quentin Delapierre's team still logged two fleet-race wins and a podium place. Britain's GB1, helmed by Dylan Fletcher and Ben Cornish, never recovered from pre-regatta repairs and foil damage, with back-to-back fourths on Sunday their best result. ARC Team USA showed patches of genuine speed, while Paul Goodison's Tudor Team Alinghi lost a likely podium spot to a costly touchdown gybe in the last fleet race.

So what's next? This was the last outing for the one-design AC40s in the preliminary series. All the teams now switch to developing their big AC75 race boats ahead of the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup in 2027. For anyone eyeing a sailing-focused trip to Italy, that's the date to watch — and Naples, with its waterfront promenades and views across the bay, proved it can stage a spectacle worth travelling for.

For sailors and race fans, the takeaway is that the 2027 Cup picture is already taking shape: an in-form Italian team with Burling at the helm, a wounded-but-dangerous New Zealand squad, and a French challenger that keeps over-performing.

Reported by Yachting World.