For the first time in the 173-year history of the America’s Cup, all seven AC75 foiling monohulls will line up together on a single racecourse. Emirates Team New Zealand has confirmed the 2027 race schedule, revealing that the Bay of Naples will host an unprecedented opening series of fleet races featuring every team in the competition.
The announcement marks a significant departure from the traditional America’s Cup format, which has historically relied on match racing — one-on-one duels between a Defender and a single Challenger. By gathering all seven AC75s on the same startline, organizers are delivering a spectacle that sailing fans have long imagined but never witnessed at this level of the sport.
A New Format for a New Era
The decision to open the 2027 cycle with fleet racing reflects a broader evolution in how the America’s Cup is structured and consumed. Since the introduction of the AC75 class for the 2021 edition in Auckland, the foiling 75-footers have captivated audiences with their speed, drama, and visual intensity. Fleet racing amplifies all of those qualities, creating tight tactical battles across an entire fleet rather than isolating them in two-boat encounters.
For Emirates Team New Zealand and their AC75 Taihoro, the fleet racing format offers a distinctive challenge. As the Defender, ETNZ has traditionally been insulated from multi-boat competition during the Challenger Selection Series, meeting only the final Challenger in the Cup Match itself. Now, the Kiwi syndicate will race bow-to-bow against every Challenger from the outset, providing an early and public benchmark for relative boat speed and crew performance.
Taihoro Returns to the Arena
Taihoro, which carried Emirates Team New Zealand through their most recent defense campaign, remains one of the most closely watched boats in the fleet. The yacht’s name, drawn from te reo Māori, reflects the team’s deep roots in New Zealand sailing culture and their commitment to representing Aotearoa on the world stage. Under the leadership of skipper Peter Burling and the design direction of Dan Bernasconi and the team’s engineering group, ETNZ has consistently pushed the boundaries of AC75 development.
Racing against all Challengers simultaneously will give the defenders invaluable tactical data — not just about their own performance, but about the relative strengths and weaknesses of every rival campaign. In previous cycles, the Defender often entered the Cup Match with limited intelligence on challenger speed, having only training sessions and observation to rely on. The fleet racing series changes that calculus entirely.
Naples as the Stage
The Bay of Naples provides a dramatic and storied backdrop for this historic gathering. The Italian waters have become a familiar venue for America’s Cup preliminary events, with Naples offering consistent breeze, spectacular coastal scenery, and deep cultural ties to competitive sailing. The city’s waterfront amphitheater effect — with the urban skyline, Mount Vesuvius, and the island of Capri framing the racecourse — makes it one of the most visually stunning venues in world sailing.
For the Italian challengers and European-based teams, racing on home waters adds another layer of intensity. For teams based farther afield, including ETNZ, the Naples events serve as critical early-season competition in the long build toward the Cup Match itself.
What It Means for the Sport
The introduction of seven-boat fleet racing at the America’s Cup level represents more than a scheduling novelty. It signals the event’s ongoing effort to broaden its appeal, increase on-water action, and give fans more opportunities to compare the world’s fastest monohulls in direct competition. With all AC75s on the water together, the opening series in Naples promises to be one of the most compelling chapters in modern America’s Cup history.
For Emirates Team New Zealand, the message is clear: they are not content to wait in the wings. By embracing fleet racing and welcoming every challenger to the startline, ETNZ is signaling confidence in Taihoro and an eagerness to race at every opportunity as they prepare to defend sailing’s oldest and most prestigious trophy.
