The Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club has formally lodged a challenge for the 38th Louis Vuitton America's Cup, becoming the sixth confirmed entry alongside Italy, Switzerland, Britain, the United States and France for the 2027 regatta in Naples.
The Sydney-based club's submission, accepted in principle by the America's Cup Partnership board, ends a 26-year drought for Australian challenges that stretches back to the Young Australia campaign of 2000. The challenge will operate under the trading name Team Australia and is bankrolled by Sydney-based businessman John Winning and his family, who supported Australia's Youth and Women's entries at Barcelona 2024.
"Having Australia back in the America's Cup is something to be celebrated," America's Cup Partnership CEO Marzio Perrelli said in the announcement statement.
ACP chairman and Emirates Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton was more colourful.
"History tells us that antipodean sailing has a habit of turning out the very best," Dalton said.
The challenge is built around a leadership trio of Olympic gold medallist Tom Slingsby as Head of Sailing, three-time Cup winner Glenn Ashby as Head of Performance and Design, and 1983 Australia II veteran Grant Simmer as Chief Executive Officer. SailGP Flying Roos strategist Tash Bryant joins as a named operational member, with further sailing-team announcements expected later in 2026.
Simmer, on his thirteenth Cup campaign, said the project was the culmination of conversations he had been having for two decades.
"For me, this campaign is both deeply personal and incredibly exciting," Simmer said. He summarised his brief plainly: "My job is to pull together a good team and create a culture in that team."
Slingsby went further back, to early-career conversations with peers about what an Australian challenge could look like. "I remember us saying 'One day we'll get our shot' and it's been almost 20 years since then, but here we are!" he said.
The technical spine of the project is a partnership with Emirates Team New Zealand, the defender. Australia will acquire Te Rehutai, New Zealand's winning 2021 AC75, for early development and benefit from a collaboration agreement on upgrades. The arrangement, brokered through the ACP board, gives Australia a competitive launch platform and gives New Zealand a development sparring partner inside protocol.
Ashby, who has crewed under multiple flags, framed the Australian style of the campaign in his own terms.
"For more than half my sailing career I have had a dream to see an Australian team return to the pinnacle event," Ashby said. "One of the strengths of our country is that we're happy to lean in, swing hard and have a go!"
For Bryant, the deeper resonance was generational. "To see those 13 and 14-year-old girls around the world watching us race on a huge stage, at the highest level of our sport, it gives me goose bumps to think about it," she said.
The 38th America's Cup match is scheduled for July 10 to 18, 2027 in the Bay of Naples, with preliminary regattas and challenger selection events through the European spring. As of the Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club's submission, the challenger fleet now stands at six.
Australian sailing is back in the room.
