At their first opportunity to line up in fleet racing of the new America’s Cup cycle, one of the eight crews on the water was forced to call it an early day. 

With the fleet out on the water for practice racing ahead of the first preliminary regatta in Cagliari this weekend, Athena Pathway capsized in the second race of the day. 

The second boat of the British challengers, comprised of members of their Youth and Women’s America’s Cup teams, opted to end their day after the boat ended up on its side. 

“We were going downwind in the second practice race on port and heard a massive bang, we’re not sure if we hit something, which caused us to veer into a bit of a Chinese gybe and capsize, unfortunately.” Athena Pathway team principal Hannah Mills said. 

“[We] dropped the sails. We had some sort of batter breakages and just a few bits that just made us think it’s much better to just get the boat back ashore and get everything checked out ready for tomorrow.” 

Mills said everyone on board was good after the capsize and they were able to take something away from the session with some practice starts and some practice racing now under their belts. 

“Hopefully there’s not tons for the team to fix overnight to be ready for tomorrow, but it is what it is.” 

The regatta in Cagliari, a city on the Italian island of Sardinia, sees a change to the America’s Cup programme, with all eight entries on the starting line for fleet racing. The teams will contest up to eight fleet races, before a final match race between the top two crews. 

Contested in the scaled-down, four-person AC40s, all teams were allowed to enter two boats – one featuring the main America’s Cup team and the other made up of Youth and Women’s America’s Cup-eligible sailors. 

The British, Italy’s Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand have taken up that opportunity for two entries, while Switzerland’s Tudor Team Alinghi and France’s La Roche-Posay Racing Team will only be sending their top team. 

The America's Cup preliminary regatta in Cagliari will see eight boats on the water together for fleet racing. Photo / America's Cup 

It will not feature late entries Team USA and Team Australia as the timeline was too short for them to feature, given their places on the starting line in Naples next year have only recently been confirmed. 

There will be plenty of involvement from Kiwis outside of the two New Zealand boats, too. 

Phil Robertson has been confirmed as port helm for Alinghi, while Jason Saunders will return in a trimming role with the French. Peter Burling is also in line to take up a helming role for Luna Rossa during the event, however the team have indicated they will select their lineup daily rather than sticking to a set group for the week. 

America’s Cup preliminary regatta 

Cagliari, Sardinia. May 22-26 from 1am (NZT). 

Friday: Practice racing. 

Saturday: Up to three fleet races. 

Sunday: Up to three fleet races. 

Monday: Up to two fleet races and the final two-boat match race. 

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.