America's Cup World Series 2016 in Portsmouth – Dates and The Teams: Kate Middleton, Prince William & The Duke of Edinburgh To Witness The Action-Packed Sailing Event

By Junrell Calunod, CP Contributor Tuesday, July 19, 2016

The highly anticipated Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series (ACWS) will be returning to the shores of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England, featuring the world's best sailors in high-speed race action. The prestigious sailing event has already started attracting thousands of spectators, including The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, as well as, The Duke of Edinburg, Prince Philip.

The Christian Post reported earlier that ACWS will be held in Portsmouth for the second time on July 21-24. The elite sailing competition is part of the racing circuit held in several parts of the world. The series kicked off at Portsmouth in 2015 and will be culminating in Bermuda next year.

The Royal Spectators

According to ACWS, Prince Philip is scheduled to watch the action-packed racing event at Portsmouth on July 22. The duke will be meeting the design and engineering team who built the boat of the Land Rover BAR, the representative of Britain in the ACWS. He is also expected to meet the British sailing team headed by Sir Ben Ainslie and watch them race on the water.

Moreover, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have also confirmed their attendance on July 24, the final day of the prestigious sailing event. Just like Prince Philip, the royal couple will also visit the base of the Land Rover BAR team to check out their testing boat and meet the staff.

Prince William and Middleton will also join the spectators to witness that race action of the elite sailors from six different countries. After the race, the royal couple will spend some time with the ACWS teams and the children involved with "The 1851 Trust," the official charity of ACWS. They will also take part of the awarding ceremony.

The Competing Teams

Six teams composed of the finest sailors from the different parts of the world are set to compete at the ACWS in Portsmouth. As of press time, Emirates Team of New Zealand tops the leaderboard of the world series with 295 points. Land Rover BAR of Britain and Oracle team of U.S.A. closely follow with 285 points.

Other competing teams include Artemis Racing of Sweden (262 points), Softbank Team of Japan (259 points) and Groupama Team of France (234 points). These ACWS scores and rankings are expected to change after the Portsmouth event.

"We're really looking forward to racing at home in Portsmouth and trying to perform well in front of our home crowd," Ainslie stated. "We won the event last year as a new team and we'd love to have another strong showing."