Sailing-America's Cup gets late entries to swell Naples fleet in 2027

By Alexander Smith

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - America's Cup organisers said on Tuesday they had received an unspecified number of late entries for the 38th edition of the event due to be held in Naples next year, after extending the deadline to the end of March to encourage more teams on board.

Teams from Britain, France, Italy and Switzerland have already announced they will compete to win the right to take on defenders New Zealand in July 2027, but there have been hopes others could yet join the fleet of AC75 foiling yachts.

"The America's Cup Partnership (ACP) can confirm that additional entries have been lodged for the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup in Naples and the acceptance process is under way," the organisers said when asked for an update.

"In accordance with the Protocol, in due course the full list of entries will be confirmed and published in entry order," they added in a brief statement, which did not name any teams.

The five teams who have already signed up to the new ACP came together in January to announce dates for Naples and are already in various stages of preparation with their campaigns.

"Out of respect for the new teams, the ACP will await their individual confirmations and public announcements, before publishing the final list," the Cup organisers said.

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton, when asked in January about the possibility of late entries, flagged one unnamed team from Australia, a potential second Italian entry in Mascalzone Latino and Riptide Racing of the United States.

None of these, however, have so far publicly announced a late entry for AC38.

However, Riptide Racing, led by skipper and CEO Chris Poole, had said in December they planned to "acquire an existing America's Cup package" which would give them "immediate access to proven assets, design data and infrastructure".

The U.S. team have assembled crew members, sponsors and corporate partners, but are yet to announce a formal entry.