Podcast: Can anyone beat New Zealand to win the 38th America’s Cup?

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A year out, The Foil’s podcast team ask the key question: can any of the six teams lining up against the Defender really take on and beat Emirates Team New Zealand in Naples at the 38th America’s Cup next July? We run through the teams to assess what we know so far.

ETNZ has Defender privilege – but under the rules of the new partnership arrangement, AC veteran Freddie Carr and Lewis Smith ask whether they have “depowered their advantage” by accepting Naples as the venue rather than racing on their own home waters.

On the point of home advantage, Freddie refers back to his own experience sailing with Luna Rossa in the AC World Series in Naples in 2012 and ’13, when he experienced his “rock star moment” in sailing firsthand. Racing at home really can make a difference.

As Lewis says, Luna Rossa was “a league ahead” in the recent Cagliari Prelim, and asks whether there might also be an operational advantage working from home.

Meanwhile, The French La Roche-Posay team have hit the water in the past week and can make the most of 10 extra sailing days – even if they have capsized this week. Working out of same design stable as ETNZ, Lewis and Freddie weigh up their challenge.

As for the Swiss Alinghi squad, question marks remain over their hardware following the huge capsize last time out in Barcelona, and they are pinned as a late starter too.

As for the official Challenger of Record, unashamed patriot Freddie labels GB1 as the “dark horse for this Cup”, acknowledging the distracting context of the legal battle between Athena Racing and Ineos over the ownership of the British AC75.

The return of Australia is an exciting moment for the Cup, but the team has been up front and honest about their biggest challenge: a lack of time. Freddie describes them as “underdogs”.

Finally, the USA. As Freddie puts it, they are “super under the radar” given the little amount of information that has been confirmed about the American effort. Lewis and Freddie then summarise the fleet and come up with the answers to that big leading question…

Lewis also brings us news of The Foil Live, our first public event taking place on the morning of Sunday 26 July. We’re taking over Musto’s flagship Lighthouse store in Portsmouth ahead of the final day of racing at Emirates Great Britain SailGP for a live podcast – and it’s free to attend. Get your free tickets here.

0:00 Introduction
01:34 Andy Rice on Foiling Week
03:17 Can anyone beat New Zealand in AC38?
11.00: ETNZ
17:25 Luna Rossa
21:00 La Roche-Posay
30:00 Alinghi
38:20 GB1
47:10 Team Australia
50:20 Team USA
56:20 audience comments
1:00:50 Any other business
1:04:00 The Foil Live