Three races, three wins. It was only a practice day and no points were awarded, but in the Gulf of Naples Luna Rossa has already shown something. Not so much for the result, which in practice races counts only up to a point, as for the manner: speed, precision and an ability to read the racecourse that allowed the Italian team to pull away from its rivals by as much as 500 meters.
Yesterday, September 24, in a breeze of 10 to 12 knots, the AC40s topped 30 knots. Peter Burling and Marco Gradoni at the helm, Maria Giubilei and Gigi Ugolini on trim. Luna Rossa opted for cautious starts, then found the right side of the course and sailed away. Three times out of three.
But looking at these images, something else emerges too. The America’s Cup is no longer just a sailing competition. Around these boats a system is being built in which sport, technology, luxury, image and communication end up speaking the same language.
LUNA ROSSA, NAPLES AND THE BUSINESS BEHIND THE SAILS
Just look at the names. Louis Vuitton is title partner of the 38th America’s Cup. Luna Rossa carries a history that for years has been intertwined with that of the Prada Group. Tudor gives its name to the Swiss team Alinghi, La Roche-Posay to the French one. And right on the eve of the Naples regattas, MSC Cruises also came on board as Global Cruises Partner of the competition.
This is not a detail. It is a sign of how far the America’s Cup has become a global platform capable of bringing together performance, research, design and brand value. A field that, in some respects, is not so far from fashion. The tools change, of course: on one side fabrics, garments and runways; on the other carbon, foils and boats that fly over the water. But behind them lies the same need to build identity, innovation and desire.
THE GULF AS A STAGE
And then there is Naples.
Here the story changes again. Because an event of this scale does not bring only the boats in front of the cameras. It brings the Gulf, the waterfront, the city, the Italian landscape. And when technology and competition move against such a backdrop, the territory itself becomes part of the story.
This is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the America’s Cup that will arrive here in 2027. Not just a regatta, but an enormous international communication machine. One of those events in which the sporting product is only the core of a much larger system made of companies, sponsors, media, tourism, design and image.
FROM TODAY IT GETS SERIOUS
From today, September 25, however, things get serious. Practice gives way to the races of the Naples Preliminary Regatta: three fleet races today, three more on Saturday and two on Sunday, before the final match race between the top two boats.
What we saw yesterday, then, does not award anything yet. But it said one thing clearly: in front of Naples, Luna Rossa got off to a strong start.
And this time it will not be just a matter of sailing.
Source: America’s Cup, Luna Rossa Team, September 24, 2026.
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Alessandro Sicuro
Brand Strategist | Photographer | Art Director | Project Manager
Alessandro Sicuro Comunication
