After stops including Portugal, Great Britain, San Diego, and Venice, the America's Cup is making its final stop in Naples, Italy before the final countdown to the festivities this summer finally begin.
A nation known for its love affair with sailing, thousands of fans have already turned out to see as teams prepare over the past week for the racing that begins Thursday, April 17. For the next four days, Cup sailors will put their AC4s through the paces as they compete in the final America's Cup World Series event.
Oracle Team USA is coming in as the series leader, but will feature Tom Slingsby at the helm while Jimmy Spithill remains in San Francisco training aboard the AC72. Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa will feature their A teams with their AC72s en route to the Bay Area. Artemis Racing has invited their Red Bull Youth America's Cup team to compete while their Cup team continues to train at home in Alameda. Five other teams join the four Cup competitors, including a second Luna Rossa team, France's Energy Team, China Team, Oracle Team USA's Ben Ainslie aboard his own JP Morgan BAR team, and new entry HS Racing with Austrian double Olympic gold medalists Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher.
The AC World Series will be aired locally on Comcast Sports Net California. To watch the racing live, visit Scuttlebutt.
