Sailing, the long challenge of the Louis Vuitton Cup kicks off in Barcelona

It's on: the Louis Vuitton 37 America's Cup starts on 29 August at 2pm with the first match between Orient Express and Alinghi Red Bull Racing. After a taste of the pre-event racing, after the big Louis Vuitton party, 1000 people in the event's mundane tradition, the racing begins. The Round Robins of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger selection regatta begin, the phase in which everyone meets everyone in Italian style round robins with the aim of eliminating one of the 5 challengers and remaining 4 for the semi-finals that will start on 14 September. However, it is raced with an intruder: the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand who, not for the first time in history because it had also happened in 2017 in Bermuda, mixes with the Challengers. "Back then the regattas gave points," says Grant Dalton, the event's absolute authority, "now they don't, they don't count. True, they are demonstration regattas that put on a show but where energy is wasted and damage is risked. Perhaps useful to try something that in a decisive regatta you would not put on board. On the one hand good for the spectacle, but on the other hand the Kiwis can discover the speed of their opponents. And it is precisely Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli that would have something to prove in style. Given that it makes sense for James Spithill and Checco Bruni, the two experienced helmsmen with these infernal and titular machines, to be on board when the point counts, the golden boy Ruggero Ruggi Titta, who won two Olympic gold medals in Tokyo and Paris (Marseille race course) is destined to be the reference in the future, could 'take to the water'. The first direct match between ETNZ and LRPP is the second of the day.

Here's what James Jimmy Spithill thinks: "The fleet is close in performance and I am sure we will see some hard-fought races, we have all had some great times, we have made mistakes and we have had technical problems. I think the whole fleet has had a reliability problem, it's something we are all aware of. But you have to understand that these boats are literally on the limit; and we push very, very hard and they are incredible machines, so it's part of the technology. As for the Defender's presence in the round robins, there is no doubt that it is a huge advantage for them, because we race to survive and they don't and that makes the difference.

The preliminary ranking puts Luna Rossa in the place of the fastest challengers. Behind her American Magic New York Yacht Club: the boat of the great American comeback. Fast, perhaps less constant than the Italian one. Says Australian helmsman Thomas Slinksby: "I think we showed our potential in a couple of races, while in others we fell a bit short and we can't let that happen when the points count.

It is behind Luna Rossa and Patriot, the first name of the American boat, that the fight for survival is being fought. At least for the speeds that have been seen so far. "Everything can change in an evening," warns Checco Bruni, and it is true. So far the French Orient Express team has been considered the buffer boat, yet the two richest teams, Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Ineos Britannia, have not really shown the firepower they should have. Doing the maths, Orient has an estimated budget of 80 million euros, for the other two we are well over 120 million. Plus stellar design teams linked to Formula One. While, as usual, cars and boats seem like two different things, it is a bit of a surprise.

Sir Ben Ainslie, CEO of the Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia, accustomed with his five Olympic medals, four of them gold, to untangling difficult situations, is not frightened: "It's getting serious and we are racing not to go backwards. The preliminary races were a great opportunity and all the teams learnt. So the Swiss according to Alinghi Red Bull Racing helmsman Arnaud Psarofaghis: "I think it's enough for us to get to the bottom, and the goal for us is to win as many races as necessary to advance to the next stage. In each race we want to make sure we take a step forward, make progress and avoid the mistakes we made last week." Quentin Delapierre, skipper of the French Orient Express Racing Team, commented: "We know we don't have a lot of experience, especially in the starts, but in the preliminaries we learned a lot and we will prove it.