The Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club confirmed on May 14 that their challenge for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, Naples, the sixth in strict line of entry, has been accepted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. The fleet contesting the America’s Cup in Naples is now confirmed as seven – the largest number of entries since the 2007 America’s Cup in Valencia.
Representing the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club will be Team Australia with backing from John Winning and family who so fantastically supported the Australian entries in the Youth & Women’s America’s Cup in Barcelona in 2024.
In a further announcement, the team confirmed Tom Slingsby, Olympic gold medallist, multiple foiling champion, and two-time World Sailor of the Year, will join the team as Head of Sailing. Three-time Cup winner Glenn Ashby joins the team as Head of Performance & Design.
Grant Simmer, famously a member of the winning ‘Australia II’ campaign in 1983 that ended the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak, is appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Team Australia.
Image: Australia II in the 1983 - 25th America's Cup
Chief Executive of Team Australia, Grant Simmer said:
''For me, this campaign is both deeply personal and incredibly exciting. I first became involved in the America’s Cup in the early 1980s and was fortunate to be part of the legendary Australia II team that changed the course of the Cup forever. Since then, I’ve been involved in every America’s Cup edition, including Australia’s successful hosting of the event in Fremantle, still regarded as one of the greatest Cups in history.
Over the decades, Australian talent has spread across teams all over the world. Thanks to John Winning and this new challenge, we now have the opportunity to bring that talent back together to compete again for Australia. What excites me most is helping build the next generation of Australian America’s Cup sailors, designers and engineers, while creating a long-term foundation for Australia in the modern era of the Cup.''
Glenn Ashby, Head of Performance and Design, and a confirmed inductee in October to the America’s Cup Hall of Fame, further added:
“For more than half my sailing career I have had a dream to see an Australian team return to the pinnacle event of our sport of sailing - The America’s Cup. As Aussies we love our sport, and the connectivity and camaraderie it brings. It is extremely humbling and a huge honour to help create and be part of a new and significant chapter in Australian sport, whilst honouring and respecting the legacy of those who have come before us.
Team Australia aims to build on this legacy, combining expert Australian experience and knowledge with new talent to build into the future across multiple departments. This new team will leverage modern engineering and design tools, simulation and performance optimization to ensure we hit the ground running in Naples, Italy, early next year. This entry to sailing's biggest stage was only possible with the desire, courage and belief of John Winning and family who have enabled the dream of so many, to become a reality.”
The Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup will mark a significant evolution for the event, with new AC75 rules requiring at least one female sailor to be included in each race crew for the first time in the competition’s history. The shift to battery-powered systems will also place greater emphasis on skill, strategy and flight control, while continuing to strengthen pathways between the Youth and Women’s America’s Cup programmes and senior teams.
Pittwater athlete and Team Australia Sailor, Tash Bryant, said the changes represented an important moment for the future of the sport:
“This feels like an exciting new era for the America’s Cup. The evolution of the boats and the competition is opening the door to broader opportunities and visibility for women in elite sailing, while also creating clearer pathways for younger generations coming through the sport. For young Australian sailors watching this campaign launch, that representation and ambition matters greatly.”
During the press conference launch Tash recalled her first encounter with the America's Cup was watching neighbour Jason Waterhouse as the Australia Youth America’s Cup Campaign Launch at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club in 2013, and realising from that there was now a pathway for sailors to have a career in their chosen field.
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Photo L to R: Darcy Robbins, Eva Attwood, Tash Bryant and Sienna Brown at a Palm Beach Sailing Club Open day in 2022. Photo: A J Guesdon
Team Australia will also accept a place on the America’s Cup Partnership (ACP) board.
Grant Dalton, Chairman of the ACP welcomed the team saying:
“History tells us that antipodean sailing has a habit of turning out the very best in the America’s Cup, and I’m delighted both as Chairman of ACP and as CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand, to welcome Australia back to the America’s Cup. We know they will be fierce competitors, and we certainly know all about the deep sailing talent in Australia, plus we know that they have some extremely fast Women & Youth sailors coming through the ranks. We wish them all well and look forward to facing them on the starting line in Naples in the summer of 2027.”
Marzio Perrelli, Chief Executive Officer of the ACP, also added his welcome to Team Australia, saying:
“Officially our sixth challenger for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, Team Australia representing the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club, have assembled an incredibly talented sporting group from the outset with deep experience and I look forward to working with the Team and welcoming them to the Board of the America’s Cup Partnership. Having Australia back in the America’s Cup is something to be celebrated and something that the whole of Australia can get behind.”
Australian Sailing welcomed the announcement that Australia will field an official challenger for the 38th America’s Cup in 2027, marking the nation’s return to sailing’s most prestigious competition for the first time since 2000.
The announcement represents a landmark moment for Australian sailing and reignites the country’s proud association with one of the oldest and most iconic trophies in world sport.
Australia II famously ending the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak in 1983, is a triumph that remains one of the defining moments in Australian sporting history and forever changed the global sailing landscape.
The announcement will see many of Australia’s current golden generation of elite sailing talent return home to compete for the Cup in Green and Gold, reinforcing Australia’s standing as one of the world’s leading sailing nations.
The renewed national attention on the sport will also help inspire more Australians to discover sailing for the first time, while creating fresh opportunities for local clubs to grow participation, attract volunteers and strengthen community engagement.
From Tackers and Discover Sailing programs through to club racing and youth pathways, the visibility and excitement generated by an Australian America’s Cup campaign will provide an important platform to grow involvement in the sport at every level.
Australian Sailing President Shevaun Bruland said the organisation was thrilled to support the Australian Challenge as it embarks on the road to the 38th America’s Cup in Naples, Italy.
“The America’s Cup is the pinnacle of our sport and Australia has a proud history in the competition,” Bruland said.
“To see an Australian challenge return for the first time in more than two decades is incredibly exciting for our sailing community and for Australian sport more broadly.
“Australia has its fingerprints on almost every America’s Cup and SailGP team through the involvement of our athletes, coaches, designers and technical team members. They are the best of the best, and now they can represent their home country in an America’s Cup campaign which will also inspire more Australians to get involved in sailing at their local club.
“Major sporting moments create aspiration and excitement, and we know this challenge can inspire the nation and encourage the next generation of Australians to discover a lifelong connection with sailing.”
You can follow the latest from the campaign through the Team Australia website.
About the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club
The Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club was founded on 4th August 1922 by a group of dedicated yachtsmen wishing to establish a private yacht club closer to their homes in Point Piper, on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour in Australia.
The club was originally named The New Yacht Club, later called the Southern Yacht Club and subsequently renamed The Prince Edward Yacht Club in honour of the official visit to Sydney by His Royal Highness Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) who arrived in Australia aboard the battlecruiser HMS Renown to great fanfare in May 1920. The Club celebrated its Centenary in 2022 in style with formal events for club members and a sailing regatta which included all the yacht clubs on Sydney Harbour.
About the 38th America's Cup
Italy will host the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, with Naples set to welcome the world’s oldest international sporting trophy in the European Spring and Summer of 2027. The Government of Italy brings the Cup to one of sailing’s most storied coastlines—where history, innovation, and competition meet on the water.
The Louis Vuitton Cup (Challenger Selection Series) will put every competing team through a series of intense regatta stages to decide who will earn the right to face the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, in the highly anticipated Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Match starting on 10 July 2027.
The Preliminary Regattas are where the first real clues about each team’s strength emerge. The first Preliminary Regatta takes place in Cagliari, Sardinia from 21-24 May 2026 followed by a final showdown in 2027, just weeks before racing begins in Naples. Sailed in the dynamic AC40 class, these regattas also introduce an exciting new opportunity. Each team may now field two boats: one helmed by their core America’s Cup squad and another showcasing the rising stars of their Youth and Women’s teams. It’s the first glimpse of form, strategy, and speed as teams test new ideas, refine crew configurations, and push hard for early momentum on the path toward sailing’s biggest prize.
The Team of Australia II
John Bertrand AO (skipper)
Colin Beashel OAM
Will Baillieu OAM
Peter Costello OAM
Damian Fewster OAM
Ken Judge OAM
Skip Lissiman OAM
John Longley AM
Brian Richardson OAM
Phil Smidmore OAM
Grant Simmer OAM
Hugh Treharne OAM
Rob Brown OAM
Sir James Hardy OBE
Scott McAllister OAM
Syndicate Chairman - Alan Bond
Syndicate Executive Director - Warren Jones AM
Designer - Ben Lexcen AM
Coach - Mike Fletcher AM
The America’s Cup fascinated the Australian sailing community for decades before it was finally won. Up until 1962, Britain and Canada were the only two nations to challenge for the Cup.
In 1914 Walter Moffit Marks, then Commodore of the RPAYC, had taken part in Shamrock IV's sailing trails prior to departing England for America but was excluded from sailing in the races that didn't happen anyway, was aboard Sir Thomas Lipton's steam yacht Erin, which was engaged in convoying Shamrock IV north. Mr. Walter M. Marks, a well-known Australian yachtsman, was the then title-holder of the Sayonara Cup, which was recognised as the America's Cup of Australian yachting. Mr. Marks’ presence was due to a special invitation extended by Sir Thomas Lipton to sail as a representative of Australia on board the Shamrock IV. in the Cup races.
In 1962 an Australian syndicate from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron challenged the Americans for the first time. Led by Sir Frank Packer, the challenge by Gretel was unsuccessful, but the Australians became the first challengers to win an America’s Cup match race against the Americans since 1934.
Randall ‘Snowy’ Whiteman, David's father, put in a submission to the council that an open space in Newport be named 'Gretel Park' after the yacht and to honour the challenge.
Dave explained during his Profile:
''That little park at Ross Street and the Boulevarde, called ‘Gretel Park’, was just overgrown weeds when we first went there in the late 50’s. There was an open drain that used to run through the centre of it and there was no kerb and guttering then. In the early 1960’s when Packer’s yacht Gretel went to contest the America’s Cup, my dad put in a submission that the park should be called ‘Gretel Park’ after the yacht. All those trees around there, the Norfolk Pines, he planted those and they are still there.''
The Warringah Shire Council Meeting held October 2nd 1962 records in its Minutes:
R.H. Whiteman, 6 The Boulevarde, Newport Beach, addressed to the President, 26.9.62 - placing on record his appreciation of the fine job done by Council in recently completing the kerb and guttering of The Boulevarde, Myola Road and Ross Street, Newport Beach; in completely covering in the existing open drain running across the Park at the intersection of The Boulevarde and Ross Street and in remaking the roadway adjoining this area. Re: small park which is now defined by the new kerb and guttering recently completed (unnamed). Suggesting this park be named 'Gretel Park'. 58. Resolved: That the contents of the letter be noted and the park be named 'Gretel Park'. (Crs. Wade/Brown).
Gretel Park Newport, Google street maps
Gretel, as the first ever Australian 12 Metre, was launched on February 19th 1962 at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron on Sydney Harbour, seven months before the first Americas Cup Race. The boat was christened Gretel nine days later on February 28, 1962, in memory of Sir Frank Packer's late wife. Mr. Packer was President of the Challenge Association.
Team Australia's 38th America's Cup Challenger: Artist Impression