One year out from the 38th America's Cup Match, the countdown is on. Emirates Team New Zealand will be on the start line as Defender. Who joins them will be decided after a gruelling Louis Vuitton Cup, slated to run from mid-May through to the end of June or early July.
Whoever earns the right to challenge will have fought hard for the privilege. By the time racing begins, the America's Cup will be celebrating 176 years of competition. History will be made on the Bay of Naples.
Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Nathan Outteridge has already begun the Kiwi summer training camp with sharp focus. "We are very excited, it's one year until the battle begins," he said.
Grant Dalton, CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand, is targeting something the Cup has never seen: four wins in a row. He knows exactly how much the next twelve months matter.
"When we won in Barcelona, it was almost inconceivable to be able to start thinking about actually defending again," Dalton said. "And here we are, one year to go before the next event, and it'll go quickly. Really, there's probably any team at this stage that can do well, probably only a few that can win it, but it will be defined 100% in the next year. What you do in this year is the critical time of whether you're going to win or lose."
Speaking in Naples, Dalton was direct about the team's priorities. "The critical thing of this year is, it's a bit of a cliché, but we've got to get faster. And all teams think like that. But you have to be quite pragmatic. It's easy to try and do too many things. It's too late for that now. You have to be very focused on knots on the table, that's the way we think about it. So everything we do now will be very deliberate. All the kind of side projects are over...but now we have to be on a trajectory of things that are ultimately going to make us faster."
While on-water development commands most of the attention, America's Cup Event organisers are deep in preparations for what is expected to be the most viewed, and almost certainly the most visited, Cup in history. Fans are set to travel from around the world to see the event held in Italy for the very first time, with Race Villages planned for Naples and Bagnoli alongside hospitality and interactive attractions.
Italian supporters cheering on home team Luna Rossa are expected to generate an atmosphere the event has never experienced.
Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi is ready for it. "We are ready for the competition, and it is a big attention in our city. The city is very happy to host this competition, and the people are waiting for the competition of the America's Cup," he said.
One year sounds like plenty of time. In the America's Cup, it is the blink of an eye.
