Emirates Team New Zealand is the Defender of the America’s Cup, affectionately known as the Auld Mug. The race for the Challenger is on!

It’s happening beginning January 15 down under in Auckland, New Zealand, 20 hours ahead of us, and ending February 22. Three teams are competing to be the America’s Cup Challenger: New York Yacht Club’s American Magic, INEOS TEAM UK, and Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.

The score so far in Round Robin 1: Brits 2 – Americans 0 – Italians 0.

It was a surprise since the British team had struggled throughout December’s PRADA America’s Cup World Series Auckland. They must have worked strategically and hard during the Christmas break because they shined on day one with two wins. In the first race INEOS TEAM UK did everything right and their boat BRITANNIA won over American Magic’s PATRIOT by a solid margin. And in Race 2 they had a 28-second win over Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.

According to Terry Hutchinson, Skipper and Executive Director of American Magic, it was evident that whichever boat was in more wind, was going faster. “It was a pretty tough race,” said Dean Barker, PATRIOT’s helmsman. “We got off the line in OK shape and didn’t really expect it to be quite as big a difference at North Head. Clearly that gave the control to INEOS, and they sailed a really good race. We knew going into today they were going a lot better from what we’d seen in the practice racing.”

On January 16  Race 3 of RR1 will start at 3:15 PM NZT, weather permitting, with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs American Magic.  Round Robin 2, Race 1 will follow with INEOS TEAM UK vs American Magic.

The 36th America’s Cup will take place in Auckland Saturday, March 6 through Sunday, March 21

Photo Credit © COR 36 | Studio Borlenghi