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Monday, January 13, 2014
America's Cup News for 2014
"The America's Cup is what it is because it is so difficult to win. It is not a game for armchair admirals. It is not a game for a person who is not prepared to come back. It is not a game for the faint-hearted. It is a game for those who are not scared of pitting themselves against the best that the world has to offer. It's a game where winning is almost impossible, almost, but not impossible. And this is why it is worth fighting for. It is the difficulty that gives any challenge some sense. This is the essence of life itself."
Written by Team New Zealand Sir Peter Blake, CEO, in a letter to the Italian Luna Rossa team after the Kiwis defended in 2000 the America's Cup for the first time in history. Click to see the AC news from 2013
Second edition of the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup confirmed
The next America’s Cup will be raced in Bermuda in June of 2017. The host venue was confirmed at a press conference in New York on Tuesday by Harvey Schiller, the Commercial Commissioner for the America’s Cup.
“In Bermuda we have a perfect international venue to demonstrate the excitement America’s Cup boats and teams can generate,” Schiller said. “The sailing conditions are near perfect. The race course on The Great Sound is a natural amphitheater with room for racing and spectators, amid a spectacular backdrop of islands and beaches. And the proposed America’s Cup Village at the Royal Naval Dockyard will be the heart of the event for the teams and fans alike.
“The 2017 America’s Cup will build on the successful elements that now define the event - close racing in fast, foiling catamarans crewed by the very best sailors in the world and delivered to an international audience by award-winning broadcasters.”
Michael Dunkley, the Premier of Bermuda, said hosting the America’s Cup would showcase the island’s strengths.
“We are honored that Bermuda was selected to host the 35th America’s Cup in 2017. Being the home of the America’s Cup is an extraordinary opportunity that aligns perfectly with the heritage, profile, spirit and future of our island,” Premier Dunkley said.
“We thank the America’s Cup Event Authority for their confidence in us – and for their vision to evolve the experience for spectators and participants alike. There is no more vivid and hospitable setting than Bermuda to stage an event of this nature and for the next evolution of the sport. This announcement today marks an exciting new chapter for Bermuda too. That our futures are linked in such a meaningful way will make for a great partnership.
“From the very start, Bermuda’s bid was designed around our many strengths, including our near perfect sailing conditions, our temperate year-round climate for team training, our optimal location and time zone for visitors and television viewers alike, the intimate and unmatched setting offered by Bermuda’s Great Sound, our maritime legacy and innovation, and the spirit and hospitality of our people.
“Our vision for the Americas Cup in Bermuda is to deliver an unforgettable experience that will be nothing short of spectacular for the teams, sponsors and spectators alike – whether they be with us on-island or watching from around the world.”
Six teams have so far taken up the challenge of racing for the next America’s Cup, the oldest trophy in international sport. The defending champion is ORACLE TEAM USA, which won the last event with a spectacular comeback over Emirates Team New Zealand, who return as a challenger, along with Artemis Racing (SWE), Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR), Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA) and Team France.
“Racing in Bermuda will be an incredible experience for the spectators, both on-site and for those watching the broadcast, and for the sailors, it’s going to be very challenging,” said ORACLE TEAM USA skipper, Jimmy Spithill. “I’ve raced there several times and the variety of conditions means you can never let your guard down. We’ll all need to be at the top of our game to have success and that’s how it should be.”
Red Bull Youth America’s Cup The second edition of the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup was also confirmed in New York. In the inaugural edition, over 40 national youth teams (aged 19-23) applied to enter the qualifying phase. The top ten teams raced on the America’s Cup course in the same AC45 catamarans the pros had used in the America’s Cup World Series.
The purpose of the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup is to provide a pathway towards a career as a professional sailor in the America’s Cup. In that, it has already proved successful, after just one edition.
“Sailors on the winning team in the first event, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, are now valued members of Emirates Team New Zealand,” said Schiller. “That’s an impressive proof of concept.”
America’s Cup World Series All teams have been given an opportunity to host events in their home countries. At least four events are expected in 2015, including:
Season opener - To be announced - June 5-7, 2015 Portsmouth, Great Britain - July 23-26, 2015 Gothenburg, Sweden - August 28-30, 2015 Hamilton, Bermuda - October 16-18, 2015
Four to six events are expected in 2016, including a summer regatta in the USA in Chicago. A stop in Portsmouth, UK has already been confirmed for July 2016.
2017 - the year of the America’s Cup In 2017, all teams will compete in their new AC62 catamarans, powered by highly-efficient wingsails and designed to fly above the water on foils at speeds near 50 mph. Racing begins for all teams with the America’s Cup Qualifiers where the teams are seeded - with bonus points - according to their results in theAC World Series. The top challengers then go on to compete for the America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs and the right to race ORACLE TEAM USA in the America’s Cup Finals in June 2017.
Following the press conference in New York, the America’s Cup trophy was booked to fly to Bermuda for a ceremony on Wednesday.
November 20, 2014 Ahead of the planned announcement on Dec. 2 is this... Will it be?
(November 20, 2014) – The tax haven of Bermuda has been picked over San Diego to host the 2017 America’s Cup, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because defending champion Oracle Team USA, based in San Francisco, hasn’t made the decision public.
The person said software billionaire Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. made the decision after consulting with the CEO of his sailing team, Russell Coutts, a New Zealander who also is director of the America’s Cup Event Authority.
America’s Cup officials have scheduled a news conference in New York on Dec. 2 to announce the venue selection.
This will be the first time a U.S. defender holds the America’s Cup outside the United States. It’ll also be the first time in the regatta’s 163-year history that a defender sails the races in foreign waters by choice rather than necessity. In 2007 and 2010, Alinghi of Switzerland held the America’s Cup in Valencia, Spain, because it wasn’t practical to race on Lake Geneva. FULL REPORT
November 6, 2014 China is mentioned again as a possible AC entry. (CF)
Shanghai’s Far East Boats, harbours hopes of putting its name to the first America’s Cup entry built in China. That is the lofty ambition of chairman Demolar Du Yingying.
Far East Boats, the company she founded with her husband Lu Weifeng in 2002, has produced over 14,000 yachts with a distribution footprint which reaches western Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, South Africa and Russia.
The range spans from youth dinghies like Funboats and Optimists, Lasers, International 420s, under licence to ISAF, to catamarans such as the Rosella 36C unveiled at the Shanghai International Boat Show earlier this year.
Ms Du Yingying cited the rise of the Chinese participation in global sailing events, and burgeoning Chinese engineering and manufacturing expertise as reasons why an America’s Cup entry emerging from the Far East boat yard in Qidong, Jiangsu Province might not be a forlorn hope.
“If you look at the number of good Chinese sailors competing in the China Cup and other major regattas in the Asian region and around the world, we are building a solid foundation,” Ms Du Yingying says.
“We have had Team China in the America’s Cup and currently we have Team Dongfeng in the Volvo Ocean Race, so one day I hope as a nation that we can reach our ultimate dream. We are growing our all-round expertise, and we certainly have the desire.
“We also need to have a full Chinese crew on a Chinese-manufactured America’s Cup boat to satisfy our country’s passion for sailing.”
To underline the point, Dongfeng Race Team, represented in the China Cup by a number of Volvo Ocean Race reservists, clinched class victory in IRC Division B.
Team coach Bruno Dubois explained that the objective is to expose the Dongfeng underlings, some of whom will feature on future Volvo legs in the current iteration of the race, to competitive sailing whenever possible.
“The aim is to put the sailors in a competitive environment when we get the opportunity, and the China Cup is the biggest regatta in the country and one of the biggest in Asia, with the quality going up every year,” he said.
“I was at the China Cup a year ago looking for talent and there were certain qualities we were looking for such as strength and fitness. But the main thing is spirit, and that is what these sailors have. Spirit is the most important quality.”
Click headline for full report.
November 5, 2014
Bermuda to hold America’s Cup World Series event in 2015
Island builds on strong heritage of hosting top sailing events
The America’s Cup World Series - a racing circuit featuring the best sailors in the world, competing on foiling, wingsailed catamarans - will be coming to Bermuda in October of 2015.
The America’s Cup World Series is the first stage of competition in the 35th America’s Cup and begins in the summer of 2015. Featuring all of the America’s Cup teams racing in one design AC45 catamarans, the circuit is an early opportunity to put points on the board that carry forward into the next stage of the competition.
Overall ranking position in the America’s Cup World Series determines the starting points score of the teams in the America's Cup Qualifiers in 2017.
“We’re delighted to be able to announce Bermuda will host the America’s Cup teams from October 16-18, 2015,” said Premier, the Honourable Michael Dunkley, JP, MP.
“The waters of Bermuda are ideal for racing, as anyone who has sailed here can attest. We’re very excited to have our island be a part of the next America’s Cup and to have an opportunity to showcase our maritime heritage and first class hospitality to the America’s Cup teams.”
“Our team is working very hard to bring the America's cup to Bermuda and we are truly delighted to have the America’s Cup World Series here next year,” added the Honourable Grant Gibbons, Minister of Education and Economic Development and Bermuda’s America’s Cup Team Leader. “Given our history of sailing, our focus on the maritime environment and the engagement of our entire community, we are going to make this a very special event.”
Racing in the America’s Cup World Series - Bermuda will take place on The Great Sound, while the team bases and public race village will be located on the waterfront in the heart of the capital, Hamilton.
Bermuda remains as one of two contenders - San Diego is the other - to host the final stages of the America’s Cup in 2017. A decision on the final venue is expected in early December.
“When we started to look at Bermuda as a potential venue for 2017, it quickly became apparent that it would be an ideal location for an America’s Cup World Series event, regardless of the final venue decision,” explained Harvey Schiller, the Commercial Commissioner of the 35th America’s Cup.
“The racing conditions are good for the AC45s, the logistics are in place, and the island is renowned for its hospitality and its capabilities at putting together professional events. It’s a good fit for us.”
Bermuda is celebrated in the international sailing community as the finish port for the Newport-Bermuda race, which will celebrate its 50th edition during its next running in 2016, and for the Bermuda Gold Cup, the oldest one-design match racing event in the world, dating back to 1937.
Current America’s Cup skippers Ben Ainslie (2009, 2010) and Jimmy Spithill (2005) have both won the Bermuda Gold Cup, while Russell Coutts holds a record seven titles.
Now, the island will play to host to one of the opening events in the competition for the oldest trophy in international sport - the America’s Cup.
(November 1, 2014) – The America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) confirmed that the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) will be raced in foiling AC45s when the series begins in the summer of 2015.
The six teams that have entered to compete for the America’s Cup remain confirmed to compete in the ACWS, led by skippers Ben Ainslie, Dean Barker, Franck Cammas, Nathan Outteridge, Max Sirena and Jimmy Spithill. However, Commercial Commissioner Harvey Schiller says that he also expects at least one additional team will be joining as a late entry.
The America’s Cup World Series runs for two seasons in 2015 and 2016, ahead of the America’s Cup Qualifiers, Playoffs and Finals in 2017.
In December, the final host venue announcement will be made with Bermuda and San Diego the remaining candidates to host the 2017 America’s Cup.
Click headline for full report.
October 28, 2014 Big news on the new AC 45 development!
After the Protocol was released for the 34th America’s Cup in 2010, there was contentious debate about campaign costs. While the defender insisted the rules would insure affordability, a British team argued otherwise and declined entry, the Italian Challenger of Record would step out due to costs, soon to be followed by several other challenger entrants.
So here we are again, with the Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup seeking solutions to contend with the crippling campaign costs. However, as Jack Griffin of Cup Experiencereviews the Protocol, he comments on what might be the biggest loophole in the document that could lead teams to spend serious money…
The Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup allows unlimited development (read “spending”) on up to three 45 foot catamarans. Now Oracle Team USA has given us a peek at a design for one of these exotic “development AC45″ catamarans.
Limits on sailing AC62’s and AC62 “surrogates”
Teams are not allowed to launch their AC62 catamaran until approximately September 2016 – 150 days before the round robin racing begins in the “America’s Cup Qualifiers.” Nor are they allowed to sail “surrogate yachts” – multihull yachts longer than 33 feet overall – for training, test or development of AC62 components. (They are allowed to race surrogates, e.g. Extreme 40, or use surrogates purely for promotional sailing.) No limits on up to three “development AC45″ catamarans
Protocol Article 1.1 (bbb) (ii) makes an exception to the definition of “Surrogate Yacht.” As long as the lower part of the hulls have the same shape as AC45 hulls, the designers can build whatever they want on top.
In the OTUSA renderings, we can see that they have designed flared hulls to accommodate cockpits, a grinding pedestal and wheel steering. They have added hydraulics for daggerboard control, an end plate under the wing, and what looks like a pod under the platform. What else have they added that we can’t see? Probably wing controls. In addition, the rule would allow them to add motors to simulate additional grinding pedestals to provide the same amount of hydraulic pressure they will have available on their AC62 so they can test all their control systems. No limits on wing sections and daggerboards
Protocol Article 35.7 limits teams to four “AC45″ yachts, one of which will need to be class compliant for America’s Cup World Series racing. But there is no limit placed on the number of wings, daggerboards or any other component. Wing geometry is tightly restricted by the AC62 Class Rule, but building multiple wings would allow testing of different control systems. Teams can test a maximum of 12 daggerboard sections for their AC62, but any number of shapes on their “development AC45.”
We should be seeing plenty of interesting design ideas in 2015 and 2016!
October 9, 2014
Regattas will bring thousands to race festival in Portsmouth
Sir Ben Ainslie racing in the 2012 America's Cup. Picture: AP Photo/Eric Risberg
THOUSANDS of people will line the seafront to watch teams from across the globe battle in the very first America’s Cup regattas of the series.
It comes as it has been revealed the four-day World Series events in Portsmouth are due to take place off Southsea seafront in June 2015 and July 2016.
Organisers hope to put on a festival on Southsea Common close to the finish line. Race action further off the coast will be shown on big screens.
Leslie Greenhalgh, events director at America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth, said: ‘What we’ve got together is a really public show with lots of other events going on around the racing.
‘It’s a bit like a rally car but the course is a lot closer.
‘They’re going to be 45ft catamarans – they fly above the water and can be doing anything from 25 to 30 knots.’
Final details will be confirmed in an announcement later this month.
Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena believes the Italian syndicate can finally win the America’s Cup.
“For the first time I feel in a position to win the America’s Cup,” Sirena told a media conference at the just-completed Genoa Boat Show. “It would be the realisation of a dream – winning with the Italian flag.”
The syndicate, backed by Italian fashion giant Prada, has been in the America’s Cup game since 2000. They have won the challengers series but never the cup itself despite investing a fortune. But now they believe they are ready to capitalise on the gains they made from their information-sharing project with Team New Zealand at the last event.
With catamarans to be used in the actual America’s Cup racing set to be reduced from 72-foot to 62-foot versions, Sirena predicted big changes but little compromise in performance. “It will be a completely different boat from what you saw in San Francisco,” he said. “It will be like a spaceship.”
While Italy had some initial reservations about using giant foiling catamarans because of safety concerns, Sirena made it clear there was no point in returning to monohulls. The future, he said, was with multihulls. “I personally would not go back to monohulls,” he said. “It would be like going to ask a MotoGP pilot to leave 4-stroke engines to return to the old 2-stroke.”
Luna Rossa has taken on the role of Challenger of Record after Team Australia quit, but is keen to adopt a committee approach and wants the America’s Cup venue sorted out by the end of the month. San Diego and Bermuda are vying for the right to host the cup finals in 2017 and Sirena said it was important to get the decision as soon as possible to allow teams to push on with their design work.
Sirena also indicated a late entry – likely from Asia – would boost the challenger numbers to seven. Excerpt from Stuff.co.nz
If Emirates Team New Zealand had won the 34th America’s Cup in 2013, the venue for the next edition would most certainly have been Auckland, home of the team, home of the team’s club, and the venue for when the team was defender in 2000 and 2003.
But the era of Oracle Team USA has been different. Their club – Golden Gate Yacht Club – and its base on San Francisco Bay has never been the sole venue option. Not enough leverage, so goes the theory, without options.
Newport, RI, draped in America’s Cup history, went deep in the venue selection process for the 2013 contest before San Francisco got the nod. This time, perhaps wiser for the experience, Newport bowed out early.
Clearly, the venue selection is not solely about sailing.
When San Francisco got the flick for the 35th America’s Cup, it became a shock to everyone but the bean counters. While the appearance of the event seemed ideal, the underlying costs were bleeding all budgets. Plus the City didn’t need the event. All San Francisco needs to fill hotel rooms is the setting sun.
So that now leaves us with two unlikely candidates, Bermuda and San Diego. One venue has no housing and will host the races during the height of humidity and hurricane season. The other venue will host within its enclosed bay, squeezing NFL players into an arena-style setting.
“There are pros and cons to each as far as hosting the actual America’s Cup is concerned,” said Sir Ben Ainslie, skipper of challenger Ben Ainslie Racing, to the Bermuda Gazette. “Bermuda is probably better for the purists with San Diego offering more commercial potential.”
The final selection could be as soon as October. Standing by to hear the winning pros.
September 18, 2014
The future is foiling – AC45s to be modified; America’s Cup World Series to continue into 2018
The six America’s Cup teams have agreed to a project that will see the existing fleet of AC45 catamarans modified into fully foiling catamarans for racing in the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS).
Importantly, the teams have also committed to continue to race the foiling AC45s on the America’s Cup World Series circuit in 2018, following the conclusion of the 35th America’s Cup in 2017.
“I’m pleased all of the competitors have agreed on a way forward, beyond the current America’s Cup cycle,” said Harvey Schiller, the Commercial Commissioner for the 35th America’s Cup.
“To have the teams give certainty to all stakeholders as to what will happen following the racing in 2017, regardless of who wins, is a huge step forward for all involved.”
The teams have undertaken the project to modify the one-design AC45s into fully foiling catamarans with a view to racing the foiling versions as early as the 2015 ACWS season.
A feasibility study has been commissioned to determine whether the mods will need to wait until the 2016 season as the timeline to make changes to the entire fleet ahead of racing in 2015 is extremely tight.
The competitors have also appointed a working group to select a Regatta Director, as required by the Protocol.
During the 34th America’s Cup held in 2013, beyond the competition, there were two other events that defender Oracle Team USA sought to win: the Spectator Cup and the Commercial Cup.
Defense CEO Russell Coutts initiated drastic format changes in hopes of winning all three mugs. While he definitely won the Auld Mug, the other two prizes where not fully claimed. The event certainly had spectator appeal, but ticket sales and television viewership were underwhelming. And the commercial benefits were clearly mixed.
The importance of winning the Spectator Cup and the Commercial Cup is a result of the biggest issue plaguing the America’s Cup: cost.
“The America’s Cup involves a staggering waste of money that would be much better spent on world health or world peace or something,” noted Team New Zealand meteorologist Roger Badham in Afloat.com.au, who has had a long and intimate involvement in all the America’s Cup campaigns over the past 30 years. “Oracle last time supposedly spent about $300 million US. I call that obscene. It’s totally obscene.
“For a truly wealthy person like (Oracle boss) Larry Ellison who is supposedly worth 50 or 60 billion, then spending $300 million on an America’s Cup campaign is neither here nor there, really. It’s like some ordinary person spending a thousand dollars.
“There is no benefit to him whatsoever apart from bragging rights and more importantly, running the next Cup. He is able to say I own the America’s Cup, the world’s greatest sporting trophy. He can drink out of it or piss in it. He can do whatever he likes with it. It’s his Cup. And that is the ultimate ego trip.”
But Coutts feels they are on the right track.
“We can’t take a step backwards,” Coutts reported after the event to SportsProMedia.com. “The racing was so spectacular that we’ve got to keep the same concept. If you look at the America’s Cup brand, that is where the brand needs to be in the future, in my view. It was spectacular racing, it captured the non-sailors’ interest and we have many, many examples of media interest that is unprecedented in our sport. We’ve finally got a product that is user-friendly on television and compelling.
“We can’t take a step back but we’ve got, simultaneously, to address the cost issues because the cost of these teams is completely out of line with commercial sustainability. The main thing to address is the number of personnel on each of these teams. The personnel is somewhere between 50 and 60 per cent of the running costs of the teams, so we simply have to find ways to reduce the number of people on-site in these teams. We can do that in a variety of ways.”
For the 35th America’s Cup, reducing team size by reducing boat size is one of the prominent ways. But despite the boat being changed from the IACC yachts in 2007 to the AC72 in 2013, and the crew size reduced from 17 to 11 sailors, Coutts still sees personnel costs as the dominant problem. Will the introduction of the AC62, and its reduction of crew to 8 sailors, tip the scale enough?
One of the ways yet to be discussed is player salary. Standing by…
At what some see as the pinnacle of our sport, the sailing world watched one of the greatest, or one of the worst, dramas unfold in San Francisco at the 34th America’s Cup. The most improbable of all comebacks, or thrilling victories, and also one of the most agonizing of all defeats, played out on the waters of SF Bay, narrated by American commentators, triumphal at the end, and Kiwi analysts, shocked at the crushing defeat.Sail1design.com Airwave New Zealand correspondent, Sara Morgan Watters, got a chance to catch up with Peter Montgomery, the voice of NZL Yachting, and get his thoughts on what happened, and why.
Race 8 is what Peter Montgomery, New Zealand’s voice of yachting, will most remember of the 34th America’s Cup. Known by most as PJ, avid sports fans remember him best for his iconic call in 1995 “America’s Cup is now New Zealand’s Cup!” But broadcasting in 2013, those words, for a brief moment were only sweet memories for fans watching, during what became one of sport’s greatest comebacks.
Although PJ wasn’t able to repeat those famous words during his coverage in San Francisco, he did get an insiders view of the Cup that he recently shared at an evening presentation I attended at the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club in Wellington. In an attempt to better understand how Emirates Team New Zealand lost their lead to go on to loose the Cup, PJ broke it down into three main mistakes, holding ETNZ players both on and off the water responsible.
1. Kiwis made a mistake on the water
According to PJ, the beginning of the end was in Race 8 when Team New Zealand nearly capsized, after a last minute decision to tack because of a questionable port/starboard crossing. Problems with the hydraulics during the tack caused the one hull to lift out of the water, making the boat heel to a 44.8 degree angle. Only .2 degrees away from capsizing, at the time it was a victory that the team managed to recover with out any damage, but according to PJ, this was the first of three costly mistakes that lead to their defeat.
Eager to gain some insider knowledge and a better understanding of how this important crossing unfolded, PJ re-played this painful moment to the audience. I could feel the tension in the room rise as the footage revealed that in fact the Kiwis would have crossed on port cleanly with on-board audio between Oracle’s Ben Ainslie and skipper Jimmy Spithill confirming this as they discussed having to sail behind the Kiwi team. Instead, in a moment of hesitation, the Kiwis decided to tack, causing a near disaster. The icing on the cake was the American announcers, Gary Jobson and Ken Read (broadcasters that didn’t appear on Kiwi coverage) saying “airplane tickets are being changed from Monday toTuesday”, as Team Oracle took the lead to go on and win the race and prolong the series.Read on.
“It’s exciting to look at the roster of teams who are lining up against us,” said Jimmy Spithill, the skipper of ORACLE TEAM USA, the winner of the last two America’s Cup matches. “We’re facing five strong challengers who have a lot of resources, talent and experience. But our team is very competitive. We love challenges – the bigger, the better. It’s very easy to get motivated when you see what we’re going to be facing.”
The 35th America’s Cup begins in 2015 and 2016 with the America’s Cup World Series, raced in venues around the world. This feeds into the main events in 2017, which will narrow the field to just two: the top challenger and the defender, ORACLE TEAM USA, who will then face each other in the America’s Cup Match.
Quotes from the challenging teams:
Iain Percy, Artemis Racing: “We are not only in this competition to win the 35th America’s Cup, but to dominate the America’s Cup arena for the next decade. I’m also passionate that Artemis Racing is about more than simply winning; it’s about producing a legacy and winning in a certain way.”
Ben Ainslie, Ben Ainslie Racing: “We are delighted that Royal Yacht Squadron Racing’s challenge for the 35th America’s Cup has been officially accepted. The America’s Cup originates from the Squadron and it is our goal to return the Cup to where it belongs.”
Dean Barker, Emirates Team New Zealand: “New Zealand has a long and proud history in the America’s Cup. We see some formidable opposition taking shape in the 35th America’s Cup and we have no illusions about the job ahead. We have been working quietly behind the scenes towards this day almost since the last day of the 34th America’s Cup. Now the real work begins.”
Max Sirena, Luna Rossa Challenge: “This is Luna Rossa’s fifth challenge to the America’s Cup, an historic record. Not only does it underline the attachment of our team to the America’s Cup, but it also shows our determination to bring the Cup to Italy. This edition will be very competitive and our team has already been preparing for several months now in view of a challenge that promises to be spectacular and exciting right from its preliminary events, the America’s Cup World Series, that will take place next year.”
Franck Cammas, Team France: “Team France is very proud to be a challenger for the 35th America’s Cup. We are taking the first step of a journey that we know will be very difficult. With Olivier de Kersauson, Michel Desjoyeaux and our team, we are determined to represent France at the highest level from a sporting and technological point of view. I thank all of our partners and supporters, as without you, we would not even see the beginning of our journey, much less the road ahead.”
The teams for the 35th America’s Cup will be introduced at a press conference in London, England on September 9. Click on headline for full story.
Kyle Langford, the wing trimmer on Oracle Team USA when it won the America’s Cup in 2013, is mainsail trimmer on Oman Air at the Extreme Series in Cardiff. In an exclusive interview with mysailing, he talked about the Extreme 40s and Oracle’s progress towards defending the Cup in 2017.
The Cardiff Act is Kyle’s third on board the Oman Air Extreme 40 and he said it’s a great experience that translates directly to America’s Cup sailing.
“It’s quite similar to the America’s Cup World Series (in AC45s) in many ways,” he said. “It’s fast paced and very physical and you’re making instant decisions because of the close racing.
“There hasn’t been a lot on as far as Oracle is concerned, just a foiling camp at Lake Macquarie recently, so this (the Extreme Series) has been good.”
Kyle will sail for the rest of the Extreme season, including the final Act in Sydney in December, and has also done an RC44 regatta with team mate Tom Slingsby, but from the beginning of 2015 the focus becomes totally on the America’s Cup.
“We’ve all bought Moths and we’ll do another foiling camp in San Francisco in November with the aim of all competing at the Moth Worlds in February,” Kyle said. “Apart from Tom (Slingsby) we’re all pretty useless, so we’ve got a bit of work to do.”
He said that the Moth was a good challenge because it was all about balance and they were learning new skills, which would be of value in the bigger boats. It was also proving to be a good team-building exercise as they all help each other to improve their boat set-up and handling.
Wing Trimming
Kyle joined the Oracle squad late, only 18 months before the 34th Match – and most of the wing development on the AC72 had already been done. So he is looking forward to the development of the new AC62 because he will have input into the trimming systems from day one.
“The wings are one design but the control systems are open,” he explained. “It’s good to be able to offer input into the design of all the systems on the boat. Last time all I could really do was fine-tune, because the actual controls were already decided.”
One of the notable things about the two design approaches on the AC72s was that the challenger and defender had radically different methods of controlling the four “panels” on their wings, but the speed result was similar.
“If Glenn (Ashby) had trimmed the Oracle wing and I had trimmed the ETNZ wing, we both would have had to work things out all over again, because they were so different,” Kyle said. Click headline for full story.
Aug. 21, 2014
Six line up to battle for the America's Cup - sailing’s greatest prize
San Francisco, 08/21/2014
Six teams have entered the race for the 35th America’s Cup:
“It’s exciting to look at the roster of teams who are lining up against us,” said Jimmy Spithill, the skipper of ORACLE TEAM USA, the winner of the last two America’s Cup matches. “We’re facing five strong challengers who have a lot of resources, talent and experience.
“But our team is very competitive. We love challenges – the bigger, the better. It’s very easy to get motivated when you see what we’re going to be facing.”
The 35th America’s Cup begins in 2015 and 2016 with the America’s Cup World Series, raced in venues around the world. This feeds into the main events in 2017, which will narrow the field to just two: the top challenger and the defender, ORACLE TEAM USA, who will then face each other in the America’s Cup Match.
Teams will be given the opportunity to host America’s Cup World Series events at a venue of their choosing, while the final venue for the 35th America’s Cup will be either Bermuda or San Diego, with the selection to be made before the end of the year.
Under the rules of the event, late entries may be accepted at the discretion of the America’s Cup organizers.
Quotes from the challenging teams:
Iain Percy, Artemis Racing: “We are not only in this competition to win the 35th America’s Cup, but to dominate the America’s Cup arena for the next decade. I’m also passionate that Artemis Racing is about more than simply winning; it’s about producing a legacy and winning in a certain way.”
Ben Ainslie, Ben Ainslie Racing: “We are delighted that Royal Yacht Squadron Racing's challenge for the 35th America's Cup has been officially accepted. The America's Cup originates from the Squadron and it is our goal to return the Cup to where it belongs.”
Dean Barker, Emirates Team New Zealand: “New Zealand has a long and proud history in the America's Cup. We see some formidable opposition taking shape in the 35th America's Cup and we have no illusions about the job ahead. We have been working quietly behind the scenes towards this day almost since the last day of the 34th America's Cup. Now the real work begins.”
Max Sirena, Luna Rossa Challenge: “This is Luna Rossa's fifth challenge to the America's Cup, an historic record. Not only does it underline the attachment of our team to the America's Cup, but it also shows our determination to bring the Cup to Italy. This edition will be very competitive and our team has already been preparing for several months now in view of a challenge that promises to be spectacular and exciting right from its preliminary events, the America's Cup World Series, that will take place next year.”
Franck Cammas, Team France: “Team France is very proud to be a challenger for the 35th America’s Cup. We are taking the first step of a journey that we know will be very difficult. With Olivier de Kersauson, Michel Desjoyeaux and our team, we are determined to represent France at the highest level from a sporting and technological point of view. I thank all of our partners and supporters, as without you, we would not even see the beginning of our journey, much less the road ahead.”
The teams for the 35th America’s Cup will be introduced at a press conference in London, England onSeptember 9.
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*Photo:
The skippers for the 35th America's Cup.
Top row (L-R) - Jimmy Spithill, Iain Percy, Ben Ainslie;
Second row (L-R) - Dean Barker, Max Sirena, Franck Cammas
(August 19, 2014) – When the entry deadline passed on August 8 for the 35th America’s Cup, all that was announced by the organizers was that “a strong line-up of clubs had submitted entries to race”. But who were they?
The only team to have had announced their entry was Team New Zealand on August 7, with the list assumed to also include Artemis Racing (SWE), Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR), Luna Rossa (ITA), and Team France (FRA).
The Swedish team made it official today, publicly stating their intention to compete. Artemis Racing will again challenge alongside Kungliga Svenska Segel Sällskapet (KSSS), the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, for what will be the team’s second campaign following their effort in 2013.
America’s Cup organizers have stated that no entry is officially accepted until completing the verification process to insure they meets the requirements of the Deed and the Protocol, with the approved entries to be introduced in London on September 9.
Along with announcing their campaign, Artemis Racing revealed that Swedish Olympic champions Fredrik Lööf and Max Salminen, as well as America’s Cup veteran Rod Davis, would be joining the team.
While his boss Russell Coutts is busy planning the next America’s Cup, defense skipper Jimmy Spithill has been getting recharged for the challenge. How? How about getting immersed in another sport, and competing in the 18th Annual Paddleboard World Championships. Named the Molokai2Oahu race, the 32 mile course spans the Molokai Channel. Scuttlebutt spoke with Jimmy to find out why…
A lot of people and media asked me the same question: Why put yourself through the pain and do the race? My answer: Why not! The America’s Cup is my life, think about it every day, so much that it’s an obsession, but sometimes you need to get away.
I needed a period after winning the America’s Cup to recharge before I was ready to press myself again. It was so intense, so there was time needed to reflect, and gather the key lessons to learn from.
I remember when we won the 33rd America’s Cup in 2010; I launched right back into sailing, and realized later that I should have taken more of a break.
Both Russell (Coutts, team CEO) and Larry (Ellison, team owner) counseled me in how the break is refreshing, especially after the campaign we had during the 34th America’s Cup in 2013. These programs are so time intensive.
But I like being active, getting outside, and particularly love the water. I enjoy all water activities, and the paddleboarding offers this within a great atmosphere.
Getting involved in other sports, it has to be about learning, but it’s also good to get out of your comfort zone. You have to be honest with yourself, because you can’t think you have a shot at the podium. You can’t shortcut all those hours, but it’s such a great learning experience. You learn about yourself, you learn from the other competitors.
I’ve always enjoyed variety, and really enjoy doing sports, particularly when you get to hang out with top athletes in other disciplines. On the athletes I look up to, they tend to be successful in a multitude of things. When I am amidst these people, I always find I learn something.
It sounds strange, when you think about paddling for five hours, what could you possibly learn? But you do. Sometimes you need to get away, and get outside of your box to get your mind stimulated again and produce ideas.
For all the training, hard work, tough times you go through during the Molokai2Oahu, the adrenaline when you complete it, and hanging around all the competitors after the race having a beer and sharing a few laughs, it’s addictive and reminds me of why I do sport.
Doing the Molokai2Oahu is kind of like doing a marathon for a runner. The beauty is how that piece of water is always different, so their sport is similar to sailing in that one day is never the same as another. I really enjoy that aspect, how it is different every time.
Funny enough, when you’re grinding away over the 32 miles, and then speaking with all the competitors after, it stimulates ideas you apply to running the Team and also ideas for the boats and the future of the America’s Cup.
Click here for Jimmy’s full report on doing the Molokai2Oahu race.
With the close of the America’s Cup entry period on August 8, there still remains little known about the teams which will be competing, or where the racing will occur. Like mushrooms, kept in the dark.
Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker and syndicate CEO Kevin Shoebridge recently talked to Tony Veitch on NewstalkZB about Team New Zealand entering the 35th America’s Cup. Here are some excerpts…
Can your entry be denied? KS: No chance at all. Just because you don’t like us doesn’t mean you can deny us. DB: What the event needs is more teams.
Who has entered? KS: We don’t know how many teams have entered. We are in, and we assume that Luna Rossa Challenge, Artemis Racing, Ben Ainslie Racing are entered. There is also speculation about a French team. So either four or five teams. The delay in disclosure, I suspect, is to insure that all the teams comply completely with the entry regulations before they confirm who is in.
Are the challengers cooperating? KS: The meeting I went to in Los Angeles was the best challenger meeting I have been to in 3 or 4 years. There is a very good group of individuals now with Ben Ainslie and Max Sirena and Iain Percy. We genuinely are on the same page, so as a group of challengers, if we stick together we can be pretty strong.
Where will the racing be held? KS: We have no sense which venue is favored by the organizers (Bermuda or San Diego), but the west coast of America is much more attractive to us. There is no doubt about that, but we have no say in the decision. The venue is purely the domain of the defender. For us, we must wait and see, and keep our sponsors apprised of the process. But we are really lucky, as our sponsors are a very supportive group, and by and large all wanted to remain involved again. DB: If there are enough challengers to require two challenger series, it would brilliant for us to host one, as the public would get a good view, we’d only have one move to make if we advanced, and it would allow us to train and prepare in our own backyard.
Why is New Zealand not seen as being supportive? KS: We were left out of a recent challenger meeting in London, which was disappointing, and can only assume that it was because we didn’t follow the party line about how the challengers were happy with whatever venue is to be selected. Our position is for no other reason that (Bermuda) doesn’t suit some of our main stakeholders and supporters. DB: The frustration is centered around the lack of information. We are often accused of not being supportive of the event, but there is very little information being made available to us. So it is difficult to be supportive when you know very little about what is occurring. But now by entering, and being accepted as a challenger, we can have a voice in the event planning. The Protocol provides us the opportunity to now influence decisions.
Terry Hutchinson is a sailing legend. The 46-year-old America’s Cup vet has been at the tiller since he was a kid and on the circuit since he was 13. But the former helmsman turned Executive Vice President at Quantum Sail Design Group is currently landlocked. He will not compete for Oracle Team USA in 2017 or for his previous team, Artemis Racing, which represents Sweden. The reason is simple: Hutchinson doesn’t think the boats are safe. He said as much during the last Cup campaign and lost his job over it.
The next-generation boats Larry Ellison introduced to last year’s competition, which use rigid wing mainsails and foil keel that allows the boat to stay above the water, are – to dispense with the nautical terminology – fast as hell. USA 17, which won the America’s Cup, can sail at two and a half times wind speed and easily hit 40 mph. That’s good news for anyone who likes to watch boats, but worrisome to the men who make a living racing them.
These sailboats don’t sink; they crash. Though racing is more exciting for the technological changes (America’s come-from-behind win in San Francisco was nothing if not engaging) but Hutchinson isn’t sure the sport is better off for appealing to a broader crowd. He’s not tech-averse by any means, but he’s a captain: He worries about sailors. He worries about sailors not coming home.
Hutchinson talked to MAXIM.com about the future of sailing and the America’s Cup. Here's an excerpt.
You were supposed to compete on Artemis, which was representing Sweden at the 2013 America’s Cup. Then you were terminated. What happened?
I had a massive falling out with the owner of the team and the CEO about the safety of our yacht so they decided to terminate me. Ten weeks after my argument with the owner about the safety of the Artemis boat, the boat capsized in the San Francisco bay and one of the sailors was killed. It was a known thing that the boat was not safe. It was a tragedy. The guy that was killed was a good person and a father.
So you’re not exactly an advocate for the new style of foil-assisted sailing that was showcased during this last Cup and will, according to rules released earlier this summer, be the centerpiece of the 2017 competition. Do you think it’s getting safer?
Basically what they’ve done is reduce the size of the wings and the size of the boats, but they’ve allowed some more foiling control options for a higher performance. They’re going to be on-edge for sure because they’re smaller; there's less drag to the wind. Think about a car when you’re driving down the road at 60 mph and you stick your hand out the window, in essence, that will slow the car down. If you have a smaller car that’s capable of the same type of speed, but doesn’t have the arm sticking out the window, that car is inherently going to go faster. The boats will go faster, and they’ll be more dangerous and on-edge.
My personal opinion is that people leading the event aren’t applying any logic or reason. They’re just trying to make something that is perceived to be cool and have zero forethought into the actual consequences of what they’re proposing.
(August 9, 2014) – A strong line-up of clubs have submitted entries to race in the 35th America’s Cup ahead of the initial deadline of midnight on August 8th. America’s Cup organizers are now working through the second stage of the entry process to insure each club meets the requirements of the Deed and the Protocol. This is expected to finish byAugust 20th. Following the confirmation of entries, there will be a press conference to introduce the clubs and their teams in London on September 9th. Event website.
As the holder of the America’s Cup, Golden Gate Yacht Club and their defense team Oracle Team USA have been exceedingly quiet about who has submitted entry into the 35th America’s Cup. Unlike the previous edition, where every team to express interest was cause for a public celebration, there is now a significantly more cautious approach.
With an entry deadline of August 8 (by midnight PT), the only news from the defender came last week when they said that four teams had entered or plan to by the entry: Luna Rossa (ITA), Artemis Racing (SWE), Team France (FRA) and Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR)
However, the first club to say they had in fact lodged a challenge is the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron on behalf of their squad, Emirates Team New Zealand.
The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron has been involved with all but one New Zealand America’s Cup campaign since 1987, winning at San Diego in 1995 and successfully defending at Auckland in 2000.
“New Zealand has a distinguished history in the America’s Cup and we expect Emirates Team New Zealand will once again make New Zealand proud, just as it has done many times in the past,” stated outgoing Commodore Steve Burrett. “We wish the team well and we look forward to contributing to the success of the 35th America’s Cup.”
Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton says the team is pleased to be able to be in a position to challenge with the confidence of being able to represent the country well. “This is the official start of a long, hard journey. We do not under-estimate the challenges ahead. We look forward to working with the other teams to create a great event.”
While the sense of wind and spray on a sailboat can never be replaced, VIRTAC hopes their Virtual Reality technology will provide sailors with the ability to simulate sailing. Perhaps a handy tool during cold winter seasons, VIRTAC is betting their tools will be a valuable training asset for the next America’s Cup.
As the Protocol for the 2017 event seeks to reduce costs by limiting actual sailing time, virtual sailing might be the best alternative. Here they report on some of the issues the teams will be working on…
One of the most useful aspects of the VIRTAC simulator will be the capability for sailors to learn and practice the optimal strategies for foiling, both upwind and down. These are not as simple as they might first appear, particularly the upwind case.
During the 34th America’s Cup, held in San Francisco last year, the ability of the Oracle team to foil their AC72 upwind at key points in the later races proved to be an invaluable asset and a significant factor in their victory.
Since then, the AC62 class has been defined as a successor to the AC72, with foiling upwind in as little as 12 knots of wind mentioned as an objective. Whether this design goal is achievable and whether it will translate into consistent upwind foiling is another matter.
America’s Cup designers such as Pete Melvin and Paul Bieker have talked about making the AC62 foil in lower winds than was feasible with the AC72. However, when the dimensions for the AC62 are compared with a scaled down AC72, the boat is heavier relative to its righting moment and sail area. This does not indicate a boat that will be more likely to foil in light winds than the AC72.
It is possible that the teams may reduce aerodynamic drag on their AC62s even more than was achieved by the Oracle team with their Cup-winning boat, but paradoxically, this may not make upwind foiling more advantageous, as it would improve the lift/drag ratio of the boat and make the high, non-foiling mode even more efficient.
Unlike the AC72, the AC62 allows dynamic control of rudder foil angle of attack. As a result, it may be possible to improve the efficiency of the main foils of the AC62 as they will not need to be as self-regulating in the heave axis. This may deliver some gains in the upwind foiling mode, as side-force can be generated more effectively when flying height can be precisely controlled. But how much more efficient upwind foiling will become is unclear, and whether upwind foiling mode can improve on the VMG available in the high-pointing displacement mode is also uncertain.
Some America’s Cup designers now believe that hulls are simply “foil delivery systems” and that hull design is no longer important, but this may be a naive view. It is a safe bet that the AC62s will be able to foil upwind in most conditions, but it is far from guaranteed that they will do so the majority of the time while racing.
Interest in the America’s Cup grew rapidly during the 1960’s, with multiple foreign clubs expressing their desire to challenge. A casual agreement on who might challenge, and in what order, was adopted but proved to be awkward in practice, so when multiple challenges were received for 1970, rather than select one yacht club to compete as challenger in the match, by mutual agreement it was established that several prospective challenger candidates could compete against each other for the right to sail in the America’s Cup match against the Defender.
This was the first time that candidates from multiple countries vied against each other on the water for the chance to challenge. It was hoped that having several challenger candidate race in a competitive selection process would help improve challenger performance, much as the New York YC’s standard practice of defender trials had done historically.
The Challenger of Record (COR) arrangement, as it has come to be termed, allows one foreign YC to challenge (becoming the initial COR), that Club agreeing to the terms of the match with the defender and subsequently allowing the winner of the challenger selection series to step into the place of the COR. Prior to 1983, the challengers conducted the challenger selection regatta under their own management and at their own cost. Starting in 1983, Louis Vuitton sponsored the challenger selection, awarding the Louis Vuitton Cup to the ultimately selected challenger. Technically, the eventual winner of the challenger selection process becomes the final Challenger of Record, and win or lose in the match, goes down in history as the Challenger for that America’s Cup match.
Since 1970 there have been 13 matches with multiple challengers, with 12 teams serving as the initial COR. Including the upcoming 35th Defense of the America’s Cup scheduled for 2017, the initial COR has resigned four times; three times also withdrawing from competition (1974, 2013, and 2017); one time remaining a competitor (1992).
This report, assembled by CupInfo.com, provides a complete explanation for what occurred in each America’s Cup from 1970 to 2017. Click here read on.
London, UK (July 29, 2014) – As the holder of the America’s Cup, Golden Gate Yacht Club and their defense team Oracle Team USA hosted a meeting with four of the teams who have entered the 35th America’s Cup or plan to by the entry deadline of August 8; Luna Rossa (ITA), Artemis Racing (SWE), Team France (FRA) and Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR).
The meeting saw a number of points debated, with the key points agreed between all parties present were:
• Regular meetings encompassing all teams in order to work collectively to maximize the potential of both this America’s Cup and future editions.
• Each team plan to host an America’s Cup World Series event in either their own country, or a country of their choice.
• All the teams present agreed that they would commit – if they were to win the Cup in 2017 – to continue with the America’s Cup World Series.
• A commitment to further reduce the costs for both this Cup and future editions.
• Support for the choice of host venue, be it Bermuda or San Diego.
• A working group to agree on the date and event structure of the 36th America’s Cup, to lay the foundations for a sustainable event.
Click on headline for images showing proposed race course areas for Bermuda and San Diego, plus weather data for both venues.
The release of the Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup on June 2, 2014 presented the essence of what can be expected for the next three years, but still lacked some key details.
Until the location for the 2017 competition is confirmed, to be announced by December 31of this year, or who will compete, to be revealed after the August 8 deadline, sailing’s pinnacle event gets shackled with rumors and rants.
An unexpected alliance was announced on July 25 by European teams Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA), Artemis Racing (SWE), Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR) and Team France (FRA), which released a joint statement to declare their support of the Protocol, regardless from the host venue that will be selected.
This is an important move for the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA), which strives to organize the competitive and commercial components of the event. Russell Coutts, CEO for the Defender Oracle Team USA, and Director of the ACEA, used his Facebook page to comment on recent media reports.
“Our goal is clear. We want to continue moving the America’s Cup forward. We need the teams to partner with us in this, and we need to debate the issues constructively and intelligently. I believe we’re on our way to reaching some common understanding with most of the teams in this regard.”
Coutts clarified the purpose of the entry fee, set purposely high to encourage only serious teams to compete.
“According to the Protocol (16.3), the first installment of $1-million is wired directly to the Regatta Officials Fund, which is administered collectively by the teams. There is a further $75,000 due that is also earmarked for specific purposes (protection of the AC trademarks and team websites). None of it goes to Oracle Team USA.
“Similarly, the second payment of $1-million (due by Dec. 1) goes directly to the Regatta Officials Fund, and the budget for that fund is approved by the teams on a ‘one team, one vote’ basis.”
Regarding the venue, and the desire for the 35th America’s Cup to remain in San Francisco, Coutts states how that appears unlikely.
“(San Francisco) is definitely not the choice of those who have to organize and fund the regatta! We are working with both San Diego and Bermuda in order to find a host venue that will be best for this America’s Cup, not the last America’s Cup. I have no doubt whatsoever that either Bermuda or San Diego will be first-class venues for this America’s Cup.”
With the Protocol requiring four challengers to fulfill entry requirements for the event to proceed, a unique clause tied to event planning and promotion, the first substantive news won’t come until ACEA confirms the entrants after August 8 deadline.
Larry Ellison’s team may have successfully defended the America’s Cup in 2013, but the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) he formed to manage the event failed to fulfill his goal of a commercially sustainable model.
Despite sweeping changes to the America’s Cup, with significant investment in organization, equipment, and promotion, the costs of the 34th edition were not recovered.
By all appearances, the commercial shortcomings can’t happen twice. The mandate for the 35th America’s Cup to “make sense” remains a priority. But instead of fine-tuning the 2013 plan, the model has seen another significant overhaul.
“A lot needs to change,” Ellison explained. “We want to keep the best of the past and combine it with modern technology. We want to create a 21st century sports business that will support sailing professionals and their families. Businesses that don’t make money are not sustainable. Sports that don’t make money are just hobbies for rich guys.”
Will Ellison win the ‘Commercial Cup’ in 2017? In this commentary by Neil W Humphrey, he sees the event trying to walk before learning to crawl…
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Maybe the AC/ACEA is not like the Gods of sports like the IOC or FIFA where they can pretty much demand the heavens from the hosting city. Like a baby, the ACEA is unable to walk. It hasn’t grown up to walk like the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL where they prefer their major events in already made facilities. They each have almost centuries of living planning formulas for their marquee events that have given them huge track records of commerce in a worldwide following.
Maybe our baby, the AC/ACEA, in its present form is nothing more than a centuries old pop-up event that has no living planning formula with a given track record of commerce. Each new AC event is basically a new sports and commercial pop-up event, rolling the dice. As a pop-up event, the AC doesn’t have the world-wide TV following, it doesn’t have the world-wide fan or traveler following, it doesn’t have the confidence of Major Sponsors or TV which needs firm dates and locations, and it doesn’t even have the confidence of its potential participating clubs of nations who rely on sponsorships with timeline budgets.
Maybe our baby, the AC/ACEA, needs to learn to crawl before trying to walk in the world of commercial sporting events. Right now our AC/ACEA is falling over once again and getting bruised in the world-wide media, which we need for news and commerce for the event to be a success with Major Sponsors or TV. - Read on
Editor’s note: Maybe what the America’s Cup needs is a Protocol that includes two editions. If commercial viability is a goal, the event’s lack of consistency is proving to be its greatest obstacle. For all the sweeping changes that are being initiated, why isn’t a long view among the list?
July 22, 2014
This is an interesting foreshadowing of what could happen...CF
CLICK THE IMAGE TO DOWNLOAD THE PROTOCOL AND AMENDMENTS.
"You have undertaken to cheat me. I won't sue you, for the law is too slow. I'll ruin you."
- Cornelius Vanderbilt
Have Russell Coutts, Larry Ellison and Norbert Bajurin lost control of the 35th America's Cup?
Unless they have a backup poodle challenger in their hip pocket, here is what could happen:
Imagine that I lead a team preparing for the 35th America’s Cup in 2017... My name could be Max or Patrizio, Iain or Torbjorn, or Sir Ben, Sir Charles or Sir Keith...
Challenger of Record Hamilton Island Yacht Club agreed to a Protocol with some terms I would not have accepted. Golden Gate Yacht Club has said they will hold the event in venues I don’t like – San Diego or Bermuda – rather than in San Francisco. Two days ago, on 19 July 2014, HIYC withdrew their challenge, leaving the door open for a new, stronger negotiator. Here’s how my club can take charge:
Today we deliver to GGYC a Deed of Gift compliant challenge. Unless some other yacht club beat us to the punch, our club now becomes the challenger and GGYC has to negotiate mutual consent terms with us or face us in a DoG match. We are under no obligation to accept the Protocol negotiated by Hamilton Island Yacht Club. (Yes, there are some "gotchas" here - I cover them at the end of this article.) Here are our club's four non-negotiable demands for the Protocol:
One venue for all racing in the Challenger Selection Series and the Match: San Francisco
The Defender does not race in the Challenger Selection Series
No points from prior racing carry forward to the AC Match
Obtain an ISAF approval for all racing that is part of the AC35 Event
We will immediately invite discussions with other potential challengers, hoping to build a consensus on other negotiating points, including:
Boats: We would like to use the AC62 Class Rule.
The current Protocol's rules on numbers of boats and components that the Defender and Challengers may build and sail are acceptable to us but we are open to other challengers' views.
The Defender should be allowed to sail two AC62's once the Challenger Selection Series begins.
We'd like to see the "constructed in country" rules tightened - perhaps the same as in AC34.
We would tighten the current Protocol's restriction on "Surrogate Yachts" in order to eliminate the large potential expense of building up to three 45 foot long, sky’s the limit test boats (see Protocol Article 1.1 bbb and Article 35.7.)
AC World Series: Not a "must have" for us, but seems like a good way to promote the AC teams for sponsors.
We'd prefer all ACWS racing in foiling cats, perhaps SL 33's or GC32's. We think foiling is more important than wings. Maybe wings can be fitted to GC32's; ETNZ and Luna Rossa showed that they can be fitted to SL33's. It seems obvious to us that non-foiling AC45’s would be a big step backward. We also think that making a class rule for flying AC45’s and then building them would lead to needless expense.
We prefer to include match racing in the ACWS.
ACWS results can affect seeding for the Challenger Selection Series but not the score.
Arbitration or International Jury: We have no strong preference.
Commercial Commissioner: We prefer that the CC be selected by the same process as the Regatta Director.
Enough event revenue (not team revenue) must be earmarked to provide the LiveLine TV graphics and open data.
For the sake of moving as quickly as possible, let's assume that most of the other provisions of the current Protocol are acceptable. If we can reach consensus with the other challengers, great - that will guide our negotiations with GGYC. On issues where there is no consensus, then our club will decide how to negotiate.
Some potential problems with this strategy, and how to deal with them:
What if GGYC claims that HIYC's challenge is valid during the 90 day notice period after their announced withdrawal? No problem, GGYC must honor the first DoG compliant challenge filed after HIYC's challenge, once HIYC's withdrawal becomes effective.
What if GGYC has a challenge from another club under the Protocol? Our response: even if that challenge came from our club, the method for challenging under the Protocol is not DoG compliant, so the first DoG compliant challenge must be honored.
What if GGYC points out - correctly - that the Defender can choose the site of the Match? We reply that if they choose any site other than San Francisco then there will be no mutual consent and we will have a DoG Match.
If another club (the rumored Canadian club perhaps?) has filed a DoG compliant challenge with GGYC before us, then they are in the driver's seat for negotiating with GGYC. If they are a backup hip pocket challenge that is both DoG compliant and GGYC pliant, then we are probably stuck with the current Protocol and San Diego or Bermuda as the venue.
Our strategy is based on asymmetric warfare. Unlike the way HIYC negotiated, we are keeping the nuclear option on the table. We want to negotiate a protocol acceptable to a reasonable number of serious challengers, but we are ready to sail in a DoG Match. We don't need to win the DoG Match and we wouldn't spend much money preparing for one. GGYC has shown they can win court cases and a DoG Match. But they've never faced a truly formidable opponent in PR battles. Our club is ready to wage total war on the PR front. What Cornelius Vanderbilt could do with money, we can do with PR.
We want a reasonable protocol, one conducive to commercial teams as well as billionaire funded teams. We doubt that the America's Cup can be built into a large sports entertainment business commanding big TV rights fees. We're certain that it won't happen in this cycle. That's not our concern. We believe that the 35th America's Cup can be a grand sports event and can make economic sense for event and team sponsors, for San Francisco and for ACWS venues.
Editor’s note: The twists and turns of the America’s Cup makes the event creates both intrigue and confusion. If you ever feel a bit lost in the saga, all America’s Cup stories are indexed here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/tag/americas-cup
The role of the Challenger of Record in the America’s Cup goes to the first entrant accepted by the Defender, and their responsibility is to negotiate the rules of the next event, and to represent all challengers to ensure a fair and sporting contest.
When the Challenger of Record is eliminated in competition, the responsibility of the title goes to the next accepted entrant. But for the past two editions, organized by Golden Gate Yacht Club and Larry Ellison’s sailing team, the Challenger of Record walked away before the competition began.
The Challenger of Record for the 34th and 35th America’s Cup, Yacht Club di Roma and Hamilton Island Yacht Club respectively, sought to help create an affordable and accessible event. But in both cases, their withdrawal occurred following negotiations with the Defender, when they realized their best effort in creating the Protocol had still kept the event out of reach.
* Many in the sport feel the Defense CEO Russell Coutts is putting commercial interests ahead of sailing, reports the Associated Press. Most foreign syndicates are unhappy that San Francisco, which provided a spectacular backdrop and steady wind last year, was eliminated from contention to host the 2017 regatta due to financial reasons They also are unhappy that Bermuda is under consideration to host the America’s Cup match in 2017, as the logistics and commercial appeal of the British territory are seen to be problematic.
* The New Zealand Herald notes how a provision in the Protocol says a challenge will not be accepted by the Defender until there are at least four challengers. With Team Australia’s withdrawal and a French challenge unlikely to get off the ground, it leaves only four teams – Team New Zealand, Artemis, Luna Rossa and Ben Ainslie’s British syndicate – capable of putting together a campaign. Should they lose another challenger, there will be no event.
* Team Australia CEO Iain Murray has reiterated what the New Zealand and British efforts had already stated. “The timeline is the killer in this Cup. Sponsors want to know where the venues are, and the dates,” Murray told Sail-World. “The gap gets pretty wide trying to get the sponsors to commit against the timeline of the expenditure.” Teams must submit $1.025 million to enter by August 8, but competition dates for 2015 might not be known until November, and details regarding the Finals for 2017 possibly not released until the end of this year. Secondary entry fees of $1 million cash and $1 million performance bond must be submitted by December 1, 2014. Entry and schedule deadlines.
Who will be the next Challenger of Record is not known, nor is it known who has submitted entry and the initial fee. It is rumored that Swedish and Italian clubs have entered.
Much will be determine after the entry deadline on August 8. Will the required minimum of four teams enter? If there are only four teams, will the elaborate and expensive multi-staged Challenger series be needed?
For an event seeking to take steps forward to becoming a commercial sporting enterprise, this edition’s progress is not yet measurable.
July 19, 2014
This is HUGE news.... and then there were 5 with no place to go. Count Ferrari
Update on teams for the 35th America’s Cup
San Francisco, 07/19/2014
The America’s Cup organizers have received notification from the principals of Hamilton Island Yacht Club of their intention to withdraw Team Australia from the 35th America’s Cup.
“We are very disappointed to be receiving this news,” said Russell Coutts, Director of the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA). “We were excited to have Australia as a challenger and we were also looking forward to the prospect of holding America’s Cup World Series events in Australia.
“But our focus going forward is with the teams that have already submitted challenges and the teams that have told us of their intent to do so before the entry deadline on August 8th.
In the meantime, ACEA is continuing its work to select a host venue for the America’s Cup in 2017. The selection process is progressing well with an aim to announce the final venue in October.
Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR), which revealed its America’s Cup team in a gala ceremony in London last month, had this comment:
We remain supportive of the Defender’s continued drive towards a more commercial event format, along with a more sustainable future for this historic trophy. BAR will be bidding to host two America’s Cup World Series events in 2015/16 at our new home in Portsmouth; as a key part of the road to the 35th America’s Cup. While the withdrawal of the Challenger of Record is regrettable, it is also not unusual and we will continue our own preparations for the 35th America’s Cup and look forward to an exciting future.
It is a country, at the latitude of South Carolina, a 2+ hour flight from Philadelphia, about 700 miles off the coast of the United States. It is Bermuda, one of two locations being considered to host the 35th America’s Cup.
While a summer event is not ideal, experiencing heat, humidity, and an occasional tropical storm, the island nation has favorable tax laws, plus a commodity critical to hosting the spectacle… land. Don Burgess of the Bermuda Sun explains…
A purpose-built pier for the America’s Cup teams is one of the “defining components” of Bermuda’s bid to host the event in 2017. Bermuda and San Diego are the two finalists to host the America’s Cup. The winner is required to provide space for five team bases for the event. One for the Defender, four additional spots for challengers.
Bill Hanbury, Bermuda Tourism Authority CEO, told the Bermuda Sun: “Some people may have thought that Morgan’s Point was a weight around their neck, but the reality is, it is a perfect venue for America’s Cup.” Morgan’s Point has basically been unused since the United States withdrew its navy base facilities there in 1995.
Morgan’s Point extends into the Great Sound, a body of water shaped by the islands of Bermuda, and the proposed location for the race course.
The venue decision is to be announced by December 31, 2014, though is expected to come by early fall.
Stuart Alexander shares the British perspective on the America’s Cup as a team headed by 5-time Olympic medalist Ben Ainslie seeks to head up a team for the 35th edition. Here’s an excerpt from The Independent…
A protracted struggle over the organisation of the next America’s Cup is in prospect for British team boss Sir Ben Ainslie after weekend talks for all the current declared challenger teams in Los Angeles. They were joined by representatives of the San Francisco-based Oracle team, an unusual but possibly promising move for the challengers.
The six from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy and Sweden took the opportunity to say that they disapproved of the move to drop San Francisco as the venue, expressed varying degrees of dislike for the two remaining venue choices, San Diego and Bermuda, made clear that they did not want the event split between two venues, one possibly in the southern hemisphere, and wanted to see supervisory provisions, which at the moment bypass the sport’s world governing body, the Southampton-based International Sailing Federation, reviewed.
In some of the more frank exchanges, the Oracle representatives, designer Ian Burns and lawyer Sam Hollis, were told that the choice of Bermuda could persuade some of them to pull out. Burns is a naval architecture business partner of Iain Murray, who called the meeting as chief executive of the challenger of record, the Hamilton Island Yacht Club.
Conflicting deadlines make life more difficult for everyone. The deadline for entries is 8 August, just three weeks away, but the venue is not likely to be announced before October and the stated deadline for that is the end of this year. Without a venue it is almost impossible to attract finance from sponsors and Ainslie needs up to £50m. – Read on
Editor’s note: There has not been a Challenging team which has announced they have fulfilled the entry requirements, and the event organizers are not planning to make any announcement on entrants until after the entry deadline of August 8.
The venue lottery for the 35th America’s Cup has reduced the field to two candidates – San Diego and Bermuda – to host the final match, but the next host will be staging a much different event than was on display during the 34th edition in San Francisco.
The Defender had set up their base in San Francisco in 2011, one Challenger moved in across the Bay in 2012, while the other two Challengers came to the City in April/May 2013. Racing extended from July to September 2013. The range of impact was 2+ years.
The range of impact for the 35th America’s Cup will be significantly less for San Diego or Bermuda. The schedule is not yet detailed in the Protocol, and will likely change from what has thus far been indicated, but here is a sense of what the next hosts will be staging.
The current schedule in 2017 suggests two separate venues will host AC62 racing for the Challengers and Defender.
Venue #1 (City not known) AC Qualifiers: Defender and All Challengers
Event shall be no longer than 30 days.
Shall commence no earlier than 4 months prior to the AC Challenger Playoffs.
Top 4 challengers advance to AC Challenger Playoffs.
Details by February 15, 2015.
Venue #2 (San Diego or Bermuda) AC Challenger Playoffs: Top 4 Challengers
Event shall be no longer than 22 days.
To be held between 25 days and 3 days prior to the AC Match.
Top challenger advances to AC Match.
Details by February 15, 2015.
AC Match: Defender and Top Challenger
Best of 13 series, 2 races scheduled per day.
Details by December 31, 2014.
The Union-Tribune San Diego reports the Defender favors sailing the event, either at San Diego or Bermuda, over five weeks beginning with the AC Challenger Playoffs commencing around June 1, though a slightly later schedule has also been discussed.
But what if no more than four Challengers enter? Will there be a need for both venues? And if there is, what city will be selected for the AC Qualifiers? Entries close August 8, 2014, and it is not known if any Challenger is officially entered. More questions than answers, with venue selection impacting sponsor agreements, design decisions, and athlete needs.
A reminder that the venue announcement for the 34th America’s Cup came during the 2010 New Year’s Eve celebration. Will this one linger that long? Standing by with champagne on ice.
That’s what the America’s Cup Event Authority told Chicago officials Tuesday (July 8, 2014) as its bid to host the world-class sailing race in 2017 was rejected.
Instead, San Diego and Bermuda are on the short list to have the race, organizers announced.
Cup officials met with the Chicago Match Race Center — which backed the bid — twice to scout Lake Michigan for a potential course. The city was named one of three finalists for the event in early June. The prospect of bringing America’s Cup to Chicago intrigued organizers, but one concern was whether the wind would hold up over the three weeks of the race.
“When we started this process it was my first concern,” Tod Reynolds, director of Chicago Match Race Center said. “We thought we could schedule around it, or be a little more creative around it. They didn’t feel confident they could get the races started every day. It’s tough.”
One proposed course in Chicago would have seen racers sail between Navy Pier and the Adler Planetarium, providing optimal exposure for fans along the shoreline, which, along with a time difference that favored prime-time viewing in Europe, attracted race organizers to the location.
Now it appears likely that Chicago will host an America’s Cup World Series race in 2015 and 2016, giving the city a chance to prove it’s capable of conducting a major sailing event.
“That’s originally what we thought would be best for Chicago,” Reynolds said. “Our downtown waterfront is perfectly suited for it.” – Chicago Tribune, read on
The America's Cup has existed since 1851 and not once has Britain won it in the intervening years. But is that about to change?
The British challenger for the event's next running in 2017 is certainly the strongest, the one that has all the right ingredients for success.
For one it has royal approval from Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. She's probably the most famous person on the planet right now, certainly the most photographed, and to have her present for the official Cup challenge launch of Ben Ainslie Racing was an unbelievable coup.
But her role doesn't stop there. She's a keen sailor herself and, rather than just being a face of the team, she wants to have a hands-on role as well.
Then there's the financial aspect. OK, the team has only raised 40% of the capital required but, unlike 2013 winners Team Oracle, which has effectively relied solely on America's third richest man in Larry Ellison [whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $52.3 billion], this has the backing of the six of Britain's richest men.
But arguably the new team's biggest strength is the Ben Ainslie factor. The David Beckham of sailing, people back him because of his proven track record. The knight of the realm racked up four Olympic gold medals during a glittering career.
I've known Ben for a long time. It was probably 20 years ago that I first met him and I remember a very shy, quiet kid.
But, even back then, he had this unwavering confidence that has never been knocked out of him.
Whatever the predicament, you do believe that with him anything can happen. Take those Olympic triumphs, particularly the last one when he came back from the brink to top the podium at London 2012.
It was the same in the America's Cup. He would never say so, but I know that a lot of people hold him responsible for Oracle's gargantuan comeback against Emirates Team New Zealand.
He is an amazing sailor. He works harder than anyone else, he focuses harder than anyone else and in Olympic sailing that's very clear to see. It's harder to measure in the America's Cup.
It is because of him that rich men are digging into their pockets to back him in this bid.
He's not a natural salesman by any stretch of the imagination but he finds himself as the CEO of a vast £100 million ($170 million) operation of which £60m still needs to be raised. He's in charge of a lot of money and a lot of people.
It's a big step up. Were he to pull it off and win the America's Cup, it would top anything else he has achieved in the past.
The question is can he do it? The British challenge is by far the strongest.
Luna Rossa looks strong backed by Patrizio Bertelli, aka Mr Prada, but other challengers are struggling.
France can't seem to raise the funds while reality has struck for New Zealand in the wake of their defeat last year.
Despite that loss, they came back to a hero's welcome but the post-mortem has given way to a more realistic approach.
Interim payments have come from the government to maintain key personnel but there is an election coming up next year and I'd be surprised if the money still flows during austere times.
The America's Cup has habitually been a rich man's folly. Take the case of Ellison, with vast sums of money to single-handedly throw at Oracle's defence. The British approach is different.
Ellison, though, holds all the cards. He has set – as has always been the right of the defending champions – the protocol for 2017 but it suggests that, from an Ainslie perspective, this is winnable.
Ainslie is no fool. He knows how hard it is to beat Ellison but he will have been plotting this even before the last America's Cup. He will have known the design team he wanted, they will be in place and beginning their work in earnest.
There's been talk of Adrian Newey, the design guru behind Red Bull's previous Formula One dominance, being involved. I suspect he will become embroiled in all of this at some stage.
Ben is a massive petrolhead and the pair know each other pretty well. There are a lot of similarities – particularly in terms of aerodynamics – between sailing and F1. Both are at the very cutting edge and Newey's track record is superb.
The technology of the America's Cup captured people's imaginations last time around. I'm still at a loss to fully explain how these huge boats fly over the water – it almost defies belief and it highlights the massive leap technology has taken from previous years.
Last year brought an end to the constant bickering over the future format between Ellison and Ernesto Bertarelli, owners of the previous America's Cup holders Team Alinghi, which I think caused a lot of people to get bored and switch off from the event.
But interest is greater than ever before. It caught the eye of the public in a way that no one really thought was possible. It had a Hollywood storyline where the Americans came back from the brink to win it at the last.
Were Ainslie and Britain to win it, it would be akin to Goliath toppling David. The process of them achieving that lofty goal has begun.
(June 25, 2014) – Emirates Team New Zealand chairman Dr Keith Turner says the team has now reached the point where it has the confidence to mount a challenge for the 35th America’s Cup. The team has secured sufficient private and sponsorship funding to proceed to the next stage without needing Government funding during this period. Click on headline for full report.
by Richard Gladwell, New Zealand editor, Sail-World
The current brouhaha running in New Zealand over the America’s Cup may externally look a mess, but the current NZ America’s Cup team is going through the transition phrase that always occurs at this stage of the AC cycle. This one is a lot more public.
The reason for the intense public interest and debate is because the America’s Cup and New Zealand Challenge/Team New Zealand enjoy a massive public profile, typified in the 2013 AC by pulling the largest TV audience for any sporting event in the broadcast in New Zealand ever. Over 20% of the New Zealand population are reported to have watched the races at their peak. To emphasise, that is over 20% of the NZ population, not the available viewing audience, in other words about 1million viewers of a population of 4.4million.
The reason for the high profile of the sport is because for the almost 30 years of AC involvement there has always been a live TV broadcast with Television NZ, the dominant broadcaster in NZ. We are now into at least two generations of Kiwis having grown up with the America’s Cup and who understand many of the nuances of the AC game. The America’s Cup seems to span the ages and genders more than any other sport – hence its large and diverse following.
Being able to pull those rating levels and demographic gives the America’s Cup a high media profile and fan following, in New Zealand, regardless of whether there is racing or not. The media organisations understand this and realise that America’s Cup stories repeatedly pull a big audience, even out of season. The current out of season, “stories” and public attention are ratings driven, regularly featuring on the newspaper front pages, and as lead stories in the prime time TV news.
The characters, past and present, of the New Zealand America’s Cup saga continue to attract the spotlight on the centre-stage of public and news interest. They are national characters and icons. Household names, no introduction needed. Good or bad, like them or hate them, and must be seen in that light. In New Zealand, the America’s Cup is a soap opera in the very best meaning of that term. It encompasses the very best of what people can achieve, much more than the worst. The America’s Cup brand is also perceived as being the gold-standard of technology. That has real value to sponsors and suppliers.
With the current moves towards the Commercial Cup, maybe the free to air TV model, giving away rights on the basis of providing the maximum audience and reach, will do more for the event – and lift participation and fan interest in the long term – more so than the pursuit of the monetary rights model.
The characters in the America’s Cup soap opera are not just confined to New Zealand. Dennis Conner was oft-attributed with doing what no New Zealand politician had been able to do – unite the New Zealand public.
Since the America’s Cup never ceases to fully stop, it gets divided into seasons. There is the sailing season, and then the silly season.
The Kiwi nation is up to their waders in silliness.
After their defeat in the 34th America’s Cup, they return home in October 2013 to a hero’s welcome. They were downtrodden, after being up 8-1, but the country still loved them. Big time! The enthusiasm stirs Team New Zealand to remain intact for the next Cup. They receive $5 million in government funding to stay afloat.
The Kiwis, while waiting for the Protocol, make refinements to their sailing team and administration structure. They compete in the A-Class Catamaran Worlds and Extreme Sailing Series to remain fresh, and opt out of the Volvo Ocean Race to remain focused on the America’s Cup.
The release of the Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup in June stirs negative press within New Zealand, as the media finds the rules overly tilted. Public opinion pressures the government to stop funding the team, despite the $36 million taxpayer investment toward the team for the 34th America’s Cup providing an estimated positive impact of $87 million to the New Zealand economy.
The Kiwi team remains optimistic about the Protocol rules, though is concerned about securing sponsor funding without the venue being confirmed. The entry deadline is August 8, while the America’s Cup venue may not be known until December 31, and the Challenger venue need not be revealed until February 15, 2015.
With the Kiwi team uncertain about entry, Defense skipper Jimmy Spithill and CEO Russell Coutts have questioned the leadership of Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton, with 4-time Cup winner Brad Butterworth joining the choir.
While salaries are rarely revealed, the media learned that Dalton received a salary of $2 million last year, a nugget perhaps to discourage government funding or promote Dalton’s ouster.
The team’s beginnings go back to the 1987 America’s Cup in Australia, and have since been active in each edition (excluding 2010 Deed of Gift Match). Standing by to see if the Kiwis can overcome the silliness to keep their streak alive.
(Can Brad Butterworth make a smooth transition into a team that was running well, without throwing a spanner into the mix? It sounds a bit like water and oil to me. Count Ferrari)
Sir Stephen Tindall has confirmed they will make it to at least January. Photo / NZ Herald
Relief for sailing fans, as it's confirmed Team New Zealand will have the money to survive to the end of the year.
A week ago, syndicate head Grant Dalton claimed the team was running low on cash, and would need government funding to survive past this month.
But director Sir Stephen Tindall has confirmed they will make it to at least January.
"We've got enough money to get through to the end of the year, we're getting more and more comfortable that we are going to be able to get through and we haven't made any decision on when any announcements would be made."
There's speculation the team will make an official announcement sometime next week.
However, questions have been asked about where the team is spending the cash.
It's emerged today that syndicate head Grant Dalton received a salary of $2 million last year.
Just a week ago, Dalton claimed cash could run dry by the end of the month.
Former tactician Brad Butterworth has revealed he put forward a plan for the team, but was rejected.
He told Tony Veitch a change in leadership would probably be needed for the team going forward.
Butterworth says it would change them from being the bridesmaid, to being the bride.
However the former Team New Zealand tactician is under fire, for not understanding the syndicate's financial constraints.
Sir Stephen told Tony Veitch other than his time with them, Butterworth's sailed with wealthy, private syndicates.
"He's worked for these mega-wealthy people who have provided his funding so he's been able to just look after the sailing side of things without having to be commercial and raise funding as well."
June 18, 2014
CUP CHALLENGER BOSS BACKS PROTOCOL
IAIN MURRAY SHARES HIS OPINIONS ON THE 35TH AMERICA'S CUP PROTOTCOL
THE AC62, TO BE USED FOR THE 35TH MATCH AND LEAD-UP EVENTS, IS SAID TO PROVIDE A LESS EXPENSIVE PLATFORM FOR TEAMS, THEREBY REDUCING OVERALL CAMPAIGN COSTS.
THE AC62, TO BE USED FOR THE 35TH MATCH AND LEAD-UP EVENTS, IS SAID TO PROVIDE A LESS EXPENSIVE PLATFORM FOR TEAMS, THEREBY REDUCING OVERALL CAMPAIGN COSTS.
IAIN MURRAY, THE BUSIEST MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO DURING THE 34TH AMERICA'S CUP, SAYS THE 35TH PROTOCOL IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
Team Australia syndicate head Iain Murray was one of the principal negotiators of the Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup. As CEO and Regatta Director of the 34th America’s Cup, Murray was on the front lines of one of the more star-crossed Cups in recent memories: the lack of entries and death of Artemis Racing crewman Bart Simpson being two of the primary detractions. Murray was keen to address topics such as cost savings and safety in the new Protocol, and thinks those goals have been achieved.
What do you think this Protocol achieves? It achieves a workable platform to pick up where the 34th America’s Cup left off. The big thing with the last Cup is that Oracle spent a lot of money and wasn’t prepared to do that again. So this document has taken up where the event left off last year, trying to promote efficiency, cost savings and strong competition. It’s probably more focused on the events, a shorter, sharper focus on events.
Who were the main negotiators that worked on the document? We dealt with three people, Oracle Team USA’s Russell Coutts, Grant Simmer and ACEA lawyer Sam Hollis. On our part, there was myself, Team Australia COO Michael Jones, rules advisor Richard Slater, and the Oatleys [supporters of the challenge].
In late March you said the negotiations were in a stalemate. What were some of the sticking points? Split venues, number of boats, nationality, commercial rights, web page—there were a whole lot of things.
You’ve been clear in stating that cost savings is a primary goal; how have costs been reduced and how much of a cost savings might teams realistically see? There are opportunities for teams to save. There’s a realization for teams to work together. If they chose to do so, there’s a potential for big savings. If competitors want to spend huge amounts of money, they can. If they want huge numbers of designers and researchers and an expensive staff for three years, they’re going to spend a lot of money. Hopefully what we’ve achieved is a more sensible approach. There are limitations on development that will reduce budgets. At the end of day, the Cup is looking for more competitive teams. I stress more competitive, as opposed to just more. Look back at where we were. The last Louis Vuitton Cup was a disaster. Had the Kiwis won the Cup 9 to 1, it would’ve been a disaster, too. Luckily, the competition turned around and it’s been hailed as the best Cup. But it was within one race of being a lopsided competition. Clearly people enjoyed the strong competition at the end. What we need is lots of strong teams to ensure all races are good races.
What else was important for you to get done and did you achieve those desires? Safety is always close to our heart. A lot of attention was paid to that. No one doubts that. The procedures for testing and structural layout were continual considerations to make the AC62s not only fast and spectacular, but also safe.
"IT’S A LARGE UNDERTAKING FOR A TEAM TO BUILD SECOND BOAT AND FIELD A SECOND CREW."
This protocol is 78 pages in length. The first protocol for the 34th Cup was only 41 pages. What experiences were encountered through the last Cup that had to be addressed in this document? Last time many things needed to be done and were achieved through the commercial and competitor forums that were established after the Protocol was issued. We had to write the racing rules, and lots and lots of things. We’re much wiser now. A lot of things in detail have been written into the event with fewer decisions to be made along the way. It’s a good thing that everyone knows what it is going into the event. The defender was trying to tighten up a lot of things, all of that turns into words on paper.
How many teams do you realistically see entering? If we get six teams, it will be hailed as a success, but it has to be six good teams. We thought we had 14 last time. I can remember sitting in city hall and listening to the mayor and Larry Ellison, and 14 turned to three. That wasn’t a successful period. Hopefully we have six competitive teams. If we get more than that, it would be fantastic.
The defender also gets to build two boats. And although there are limits on when and which rounds it may be raced, do these permissions give the defender a leg up on the competition?What’s important is that all teams have one race boat. The defender gets a trial horse when they can’t sail with the challengers (when the racing advances to the playoffs). They are governed by the same rules to make modifications and they get to sail against a trial horse. It’s a large undertaking for a team to build second boat and field a second crew. The challengers have the option to sail together and race together. I think it’s reasonable the defender gets a trial horse. The defender wanted to race a second boat, but we didn’t accept them racing a second boat they could implement changes to. It has to be the same as the first boat. The important thing is that they can’t race the second boat unless the first is destroyed, and that would be up to the jury to decide. I think there’s been a lot more read into that.
Since the entry period for the 35th America’s Cup opened on June 9, two challengers have announced their intention to vie for the right to compete in the 2017 Match:
Sir Ben Ainslie, the most successful Olympic sailor in history, is setting his sights on the America’s Cup. On Tuesday, he introduced his team during a ceremony at Queens House, in England, to launch his America’s Cup challenge.
“This is the last great historic sporting prize never won by Great Britain. It has always been my ambition to mount a home challenge,” he said. “The time is right and I am hugely encouraged by the support we are getting, not least from the Duchess of Cambridge. I learned a great deal aboard Oracle in San Francisco and I would not be challenging if I did not believe we have a real chance of winning this time.” Full report.
On Thursday Luna Rossa Challenge announced their team for the 35th America’s Cup. Patrizio Bertelli, the passionate team principal of Luna Rossa, introduced Max Sirena as skipper for the second consecutive challenge: “In addition to his unquestionable technical skills, one of Max’s strongest qualities is the ability to manage relationships with his staff: he understands the needs and rationale of each department in the team and puts himself on an equal level with everyone. He is also a strong team builder: success in the America’s Cup is never the result of an individual but a combination of factors that lead to the victory of an entire team.”
Sirena says he has retained the core of the team from the last America’s Cup, adding some crucial parts to develop the strongest possible team. Among the inclusions are American Bora Gulari. Full details.
NOTE: The Count watched Bora Gulari win the Moth Worlds in 2009 when those boats were among the few which foiled. This could be a BIG step forward for the Italians. Count Ferrari
( It appears the Count will have to travel to exotic locations for the next AC)
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee got an unwelcome letter late Tuesday night: As rumored, the city was ruled out of hosting the 2017 America’s Cup sailing races.
Russell Coutts, director of the America’s Cup Event Authority, e-mailed the mayor confirming news reports that San Francisco hadn’t made the shortlist to host the 35th sailing regatta. San Diego, Chicago and Bermuda are still in the running.
“Given the tight timeline and demands from prospective teams to confirm the final venue, it has been necessary to continue reducing the shortlist of candidate cities,” Coutts wrote. “We have therefore taken the difficult decision to no longer consider San Francisco as a possible candidate to host AC35.”
The letter gives no explanation, but Lee has been adamant that the city not use general fund money to host the event after losing $11.5 million in city funds on the sailing races last year. In addition, the mayor wanted the race organizers to pay rent on the piers and to pay prevailing union wages for construction projects. Those demands seemed to be a no-go with Coutts and Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle. As last year’s winner, Ellison gets to make the ultimate decision on the host city.
Coutts in his letter said that the race organizers would be open to discussing hosting the 36th event in San Francisco – probably in 2021 or thereabouts.
Heather Knight of the San Francisco Chronicle reports more.
There were a lot of changes to the 34th America’s Cup to improve the event’s commercial appeal. Faster boats, accessible venue, and ground-breaking broadcast tools heightened the excitement and interest, but still did not attract sufficient sponsor support.
Now Sir Russell Coutts, chief executive of Oracle Team USA, is determined to change that, with decisions for the 35th America’s Cup designed to insure it be a commercial as well as visual and competitive success.
So how will Coutts go about baking a better cake? Here’s an excerpt published in BBC News…
Timing
The 2013 final was held in September when US sports fans and advertisers were focused on the beginning of the NFL (American football) season. Coutts describes that timing as “crazy” and, after talks with broadcasters, decided that June would be a good time to stage the final. He says the whole event will probably end around the 4 July holiday weekend in the US.
Format
“In the past we’ve run a lot of races when they just haven’t made commercial sense and so you’ve got all that cost and you’re not really getting a return,” Coutts says. Qualifying races have now been shortened and reorganised. The biggest change is for there to be a sequence of qualifying events for the Challengers, at different venues, with only the top four teams advancing to the finals venue. Whereas the challenger series in 2013 spanned nearly two months, the new schedule calls for just 22 days.
Quality teams
Broadcasters and sponsors, of course, want excitement. To deliver that, Coutts is keen to raise the level of the teams entering the next series. “That was one of the things that didn’t go right last time, we didn’t have enough strong teams in the competition,” he says. There is now a stiff entry fee of $3m to vet out all but the most serious campaigns. “We are not going to have dozens of teams entering. But I think if we get six or more strong teams in the competition – you know, really competitive teams – I think that’s going to be really good for the event,” Coutts says.
Location, location, location
The list of venues had included San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago and Bermuda, but Coutts told The Associated Presson Monday night (June 9) that one venue had been eliminated, and that he plans to reduce the field to two by the end of June. Who remains? San Diego confirmed they remain on the list, while it is rumored that San Francisco is no longer in the running. Local enthusiasm weighs into the venue decision, but commercial factors are vital too, as Coutts is considering the potential sponsorship and other advantages that local companies can offer.
Time zone
Being further east, Chicago and particularly Bermuda may be able to offer more attractive racing times for European TV viewers and sponsors.
June 10, 2014
In the Deed of Gift we Trust
Since details were announced on June 2 regarding the 35th America's Cup, the oldest international sporting trophy has been busy. Here's the latest...
Protocol: With the governing document for the 35th America's Cup not yet a week old, it has already been amended based on feedback from prospective teams. One of the clarifications involved a rule that restricts America’s Cup teams from racing - as teams - in events that conflict with the America’s Cup. Full report.
Entry Period: The opportunity to enter the 35th America's Cup began June 9 and extends to August 8, 2014. The initial entry fees amount to $1,075,000, with $1,000,000 due byDecember 1. It is anticipated that scheduled announcements from Great Britain (Ben Ainslie Racing) on June 10 and Italy (Luna Rosa Challenge) on June 12 will declare their entry in the event. Ainslie plans to headquarter in Portsmouth, but is facing local opposition. A meeting on Monday had to be postponed due to overcrowding. Full report.
Rules: Managing the complexity of the America's Cup requires the ability to control its commercial and competition components. For each ensuing Match, the level of control increases. Within the Protocol for the 35th America's Cup, there is little mention of the world governing body for the sport of sailing - the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). Would the America's Cup be held without the sanctioning of ISAF? ISAF Vice President Gary Jobson (USA) provides an update on the situation. Click here.
Newport: When it was announced that America's Cup officials were talking with other venues about hosting the 35th America’s Cup in 2017, among the strongest candidates was Newport, RI. The venue had been closely considered for the 2013 event, and had been home to the event from 1930 to 1983. The venue had several attractive attributes: passionate fans, summer seabreeze, and dedicated facilities. So why has Newport been eliminated as a finalist? Brad Read, Executive Director of Sail Newport, which coordinated the bid on behalf of the state and Sail Newport, Rhode Island’s Public Sailing Center, sheds light on situation. Click here.
San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago and Bermuda are all vying to stage the 35th America’s Cup finals in 2017, according to the BBC News. San Francisco was also the setting for last year’s race, won in dramatic fashion by Oracle Team USA. A final decision is due by the end of the year.
Not making the shortlist were Newport, RI and Hawaii, both of which were considered for the finals venue.
Russell Coutts, chief executive of Oracle Team USA, says all four finalists are “very motivated” to host one of sailing’s biggest events.
But he says there are a number of factors under consideration, including the public interest in sailing at each venue and the potential for sponsorship and other commercial activities.
The time zone is also a consideration. The West Coast of the United States is around eight hours behind most of Europe, where many of the teams, sponsors and fans are based. Being further east, Chicago and particularly Bermuda have an advantage and may be able to offer more attractive racing times for European TV viewers.
Microsoft and Apple, Coke and Pepsi, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Their conflict is our engagement.
Can you imagine the 34th America’s Cup without Emirates Team New Zealand challenging Oracle Team USA? Summed up in a word: Unwatchable.
Their conflict on water, and on land, was our engagement. No other challenger came close. And like it or not, for the America’s Cup to raise its profile, conflict is a component.
The next America’s Cup needs these two teams, but now with the release of the Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup, the negative noise from New Zealand is deafening…
* An editorial in the New Zealand Herald called the terms imposed by defender Oracle Team USA to be” among the most self-serving rules that have been tabled in the 163-year history of the event. Team NZ, and the other potential challengers should not play any part in it.”
* Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton is not sure he can gather sponsor commitments without knowing the venue location, which won’t be released until after the entry deadline. “It is impossible, completely impossible to raise sponsorship money without being able to close the loops with the sponsors and making commercial decisions through a marketing committee. Without a venue you can’t raise real money and that makes it very difficult for commercial teams.”
* Any further New Zealand Government contribution to the America’s Cup team will depend on other sponsors, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says. “My personal view is that it’s still a great thing for New Zealand in terms of the marketing opportunities – particularly if it’s held in one of the cities in the states that we have a strong involvement with such as San Diego or San Francisco.” But the minister reiterated that it’s never going to happen without all the other sponsors, saying: “There’s no way this is a government funded challenge in total.”
* Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill, interviewed by New Zealand broadcaster TVNZ, questions the Kiwi leadership. “If the current management team of Team New Zealand isn’t confident they can pull a team together, or be competitive and win, then maybe the wrong people are running Team New Zealand.”
(The above might turn into a big deal... Count Enrico)
* Team CEO Grant Dalton is concerned about a clause in the Protocol that requires team members to receive written approval of the America’s Cup commissioner to sail in any regattas outside of the event jurisdiction. “They are saying: you need permission to sail in any other event at any time. Follow that through to its conclusion. When [reigning Olympic silver medallists] Peter Burling and Blair Tuke sail in an AC45 for Team NZ next year, those guys would need Coutts’ permission to go to the Olympics. It’s nonsensical.”
Team New Zealand had bridge funding from their government to retain critical members of their team, but that money will have been spent by the end of this month. For the team to remain viable, they must find funds to keep the payroll going, as well as 2+ million dollars to enter the regatta. The entry period is June 9 to August 8, 2014.
Among the terms that drew significant concern was how the defender would be sailing in the challenger series. “All the teams should have the same amount of true racing time,” explained Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth. “If the challenger trials or lead-up regattas excluded the defender, they would sit on his own for months, which is unfair and tough on sponsors also. In the end the top challenger has to race the defender anyway; it’s the same for all parties. Also, because of the one boat sailing restriction (no two boat testing for cost saving), the choice was between allowing the defender to race with challengers longer or to allow the defender special boat allowances, which would have been even more tilted to the defender.”
Back in 2007, leading the charge for change was Larry Ellison and Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), who was the second challenger to submit entry. The GGYC entry followed Club Nautico Español de Vela (CNEV), who had been selected as the Challenger of Record.
But when it was found that CNEV might not be a viable club under the terms of the Deed of Gift, that was the opening needed to invalidate the club and insert the next in line, GGYC, to negotiate revisions to the Protocol.
As history shows, that didn’t go so well. After years of legal wrangling between SNG and GGYC, the result was the 2010 ‘Monster Multihull’ Match in which GGYC defeated SNG.
Fast forward to now; GGYC has released the Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup which has two features that recall the past, though with some caveats:
Challenger Series
The defense team can compete in the AC World Series (ACWS) as they did prior to the 34th America’s Cup, except this time the ACWS impacts the seeding for the AC Qualifiers (ACQ). The defender can also compete in the ACQ, a 30-day event that reduces the challenger field to the top four teams. Also, if the winner of the ACQ is a competitor in the AC Match, they are awarded ‘one win’ in the best of 13 AC Match. The defender is excluded from the AC Challenger Playoffs (ACCP), an event for the top four challenging teams to determine who will face the defender in the AC Match.
Two boat testing
The challengers are only allowed to build one AC62 while the defender can build two boats. However, both boats for the defender must come from the same moulds, and the defender must use the first boat launched in the ACQ and the AC Match unless it is damaged. Also, the defender cannot sail its two AC62s together until after the ACQ. The amount of time between the ACQ and the AC Match is not yet stated, but could be over three months. There will also be an as of yet unstated period when the challengers will be able to sail their AC62s “in a coordinated manner with another competitor”.
Back in 2007, when asked about Larry Ellison’s concerns regarding the Protocol for the 33rd America’s Cup, Butterworth noted: “Larry doesn’t have to enter if he doesn’t like the game.”
Entry period for the 35th America’s Cup is from June 9 through August 8, 2014. Standing by to see who likes this game.
Leading up to the 34th America’s Cup in 2013, there were what we will kindly call “pretend” challengers. This was made possible by lenient entry requirements and an affordable AC World Series circuit. Eight teams entered and bought AC45s, which looked good in the build-up. Lots of interest, lots of activity.
However, it was mostly smoke and mirrors, and all the insiders knew it.
When real money was required to build and campaign the AC72, only three teams remained. For the 35th America’s Cup, defense CEO Russell Coutts did not want a repeat of this charade.
“What’s important is that the teams that enter the America’s Cup are teams that are prepared to complete the entire schedule,” explained Coutts. “This is particularly important for event sponsors, in which the terms of the contract are based on a certain size event. When there are teams that drop out, like we had in the 34th America’s Cup, it becomes a problem.”
As a result, the entry requirements for the 35th America’s Cup were stiffened up to insure only legitimate teams get confirmed. Here’s what’s needed from teams after they submit their challenge during the entry period from June 9 through August 8, 2014.
Initial fees when the entry is confirmed…
- US$1,000,000 (first installment of entry fee)
- US$25,000 (contribution to protect the event’s legal interests)
- US$50,000 (website fee)
Secondary fees no later than December 1, 2014…
- US$1,000,000 (final installment of entry fee)
- US$1,000,000 (performance bond)
Real money is now needed to play the game. But where does the money come from? According to Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton, teams are going to have a tough time getting it from sponsors.
“It will make it difficult for fully funded commercial teams and I think when this all plays out and we actually dig in to the teams that will be in it, they will be backed by wealthy billionaires.”
Dalton says it’s impossible to get potential investors on board when the venue hasn’t even been decided. While the rules have been laid out, a venue hasn’t, and won’t be until well after the close of entries.
“It is impossible, completely impossible to raise sponsorship money without being able to close the loops with the sponsors and making commercial decisions through a marketing committee. I don’t know how you reconcile those two things. Without a venue you can’t raise real money and that makes it very difficult for commercial teams.”
So when will the venue details be released? Here are the terms in the Protocol…
2015 / 2016 AC World Series – AC45 racing – Defender and All Challengers
2015 – 6 to 8 events; details by November 1, 2014.
2016 – 6 to 8 events; details by August 1, 2015.
2017 AC Qualifiers – AC62 racing – Defender and All Challengers
One venue, details by February 15, 2015.
Event shall be no greater than 30 days and shall commence no earlier than 4 months prior to the AC Challenger Playoffs.
Top 4 challengers advance to AC Challenger Playoffs.
2017 AC Challenger Playoffs – AC62 racing – Top 4 Challengers
Same venue as AC Match, details by February 15, 2015.
To be held between 25 days and 3 days prior to the AC Match.
Top challenger advances to AC Match.
2017 AC Match – AC62 racing – Defender and Top Challenger
One venue, details by December 31, 2014.
Not knowing the venue is a problem for the challengers, while not knowing the number of challengers is a problem for the organizers.
Because of what is being asked of Host Cities, such as facilities, services, and fees (local sponsors or other), will a Host City enter into a venue agreement without knowing the full scope of the event? If the event has no more than four challengers, what becomes of the 2017 schedule?
The commercialization of the America’s Cup adds significantly to the complexity of venue selection. When compounded by the changes to each eddition, it has created a historical event without sufficient history. Welcome to the 35th America’s Cup!
Fast, foiling, wing-sailed catamarans will race in the next America’s Cup as the new class rule for the AC62 yacht has been released.
The AC62 is 10 feet shorter than its predecessor, but is expected to be just as fast and challenging to race for the crews, and will produce the same heart-pounding action for spectators.
“This new boat is going to be significantly lighter and under much less load than what we raced last time, which makes for a big cost-saving when it comes to how it gets built,” said ORACLE TEAM USA skipper Jimmy Spithill.
“At the same time, as designers, boat-builders, and sailors, we’re all starting to come to grips with how to get the most out of foiling, wing-sailed multihulls, so I think we’ll see similar, if not greater performance this time around.”
In the last America’s Cup, boat speeds approached 50 knots (96kph/58mph) at times as the hulls lifted out of the water on their foils, creating a spectacular sight for spectators, not to mention a challenge for the best sailors in the world.
This time the mandate was to get similar performance from a slightly smaller boat, but one that would be significantly less expensive to design, build and campaign. Initial calculations by the designers have the cost of the AC62 at about half that of the AC72.
Pete Melvin, a designer with Emirates Team New Zealand in the last America’s Cup, and his firm Morrelli and Melvin, were commissioned by ORACLE TEAM USA (the Defender) and Team Australia (the Challenger of Record) to oversee the writing of the AC62 class rule.
“Writing this rule has been a very collaborative process, with designers associated with several teams helping out. We also had great assistance from Nick Nicholson, the Chief Measurer from the last America’s Cup,” Melvin said. “Since we circulated the draft rule, prospective teams have also given constructive comments that we’ve been able to take on board.”
The AC62s will be crewed by 8 sailors (down from 11) and teams aren’t permitted to begin sailing in their AC62s until approximately five months before racing starts in the America’s Cup Qualifiers in 2017.
“I think it’s going to be hard to wait until then,” Spithill said. “It just looks like it’s going to be a great boat to race. I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on it!”
June 3, 2014
Who’s up for the challenge? Protocol released for the 35th America’s Cup
“We’re going to have our work cut out for us, that’s for sure.”
So says ORACLE TEAM USA skipper Jimmy Spithill as he assesses the competition for the 35th America’s Cup.
Today, the Protocol was released, which defines the rules, format and commercial regulations for the 35th America’s Cup. Entries open on June 9th and close August 8th, 2014, giving prospective teams two months to enter.
The Class Rule for the new AC62 yacht, which has already been shared with teams in draft format, will be issued in the coming days, prior to the entry period opening.
Highlights of the Protocol include:
* A three year racing program from 2015 to 2017 with every race counting towards qualification and/or points in the final America’s Cup Match
* At least six America’s Cup World Series events per year in 2015 and 2016 to be raced in the AC45 class. All teams have an opportunity to host an event in their home country
* An America’s Cup Qualifiers series in 2017 involving all teams, with a bonus point in the America’s Cup Match at stake
* America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs for the top four challenger teams to emerge from the Qualifiers
* The America’s Cup Match, featuring the defender, ORACLE TEAM USA against the top challenger. The first team to win 7 points will win the America’s Cup
* Up to two Youth America’s Cup events providing a pathway for young sailors to join the top rank of professionals
* The new AC62 yacht – a foiling, wing sail catamaran sailed by 8 crew – to be raced in all events in 2017
* A crew nationality rule requiring at least 25% of the AC62 crew to be nationals of the country of their challenge
The Protocol was negotiated between defending champion ORACLE TEAM USA and its Golden Gate Yacht Club and Team Australia’s Hamilton Island Yacht Club, the Challenger of Record.
The 35th America’s Cup builds on the successful elements of the last America’s Cup – fast, exciting racing in foiling multihulls that is challenging for the best sailors in the world and appealing to spectators.
“We are convinced the 35th America’s Cup will surpass previous events in almost every way: more challengers, amazing new boats and a competition structure that will engage and enthrall people over a three year period,” said Mat Belcher, the skipper of Team Australia, the Challenger of Record.
For his part, Spithill is aware that a stronger group of challengers will make it that much more difficult for his team to hold on to the Cup.
“It’s the America’s Cup, so it’s not supposed to be easy, but our goal is to make it a three-peat,” says Spithill, who led his team to victory in 2010 and 2013. “It was so close last time. Battling back to win from being down 8-1 is something we will never forget and I expect it will be just as difficult this time.”
The entry period is open from June 9th to August 8th 2014.
Following the 33rd America’s Cup, won by Golden Gate Yacht Club in 2010, there was hope to see their massive 90-foot wing-powered trimaran USA 17 sailing in San Francisco Bay. It would have made for an impressive sight, and created early interest in the 34th America’s Cup that would be held three years later.
But due to its enormity and considerable risk under sail, the manpower was directed elsewhere, and USA 17 sat dormant on the blacktop of Pier 80 in the Dogpatch that became home to the American defender.
So what becomes of this America’s Cup winning marvel? She becomes a pond ornament.
Larry Ellison, owner of the defense syndicate, had USA 17 moved to the lake at his Oracle Corporate Headquarters in Redwood City. Affectionately known as Dogzilla, Erik Simonson describes the 20-mile transit….
The Dogzilla Relocation Project reached new heights Saturday, May 10 as an Erickson Skycrane lifted her out of the water and over the Oracle Buildings and placed her in Larry’s Pond. But things did not start out so smoothly, and there was a delay as Dogzilla put up a fight, digging her claws into the mud in the shallows of the Belmont Slough, holding up progress for nearly an hour. The tide finally rose enough to free her and the Skycrane worked it magic.
The Oracle security and local law enforcement did a notable job of keeping spectators in a safe area, and when the gigantic skycrane crested the buildings with precious cargo, ground rattling thunder and massive turbulence on the water, the distance was appreciated.
We expected a drop and go, but the skycrane along with waterborne craft took time to maneuver her onto the mounts that had been carefully placed in the pond to keep the hulls out of the water and give the appearance of her heeling to victory.
But the Dog still had some fight, and after 12-15 minutes of battling, with the giant skycrane rocking and rolling, tugging and pulling, almost as if she did not want to stay, Dogzilla was finally released to her new home.
A massive carbon fiber mast was soon lifted into place and the stays and shrouds reconnected. When all is said and done, the Oracle staff will have a new pond ornament to ponder.
With two obsolete AC72s now collecting dust at Pier 80, one wonders if the Big Dog will have pond mates in the near future!
The New Zealand government says the $36 million of taxpayer money used to send Team New Zealand to the 34th America’s Cup has been recovered more than twice over, a result of the “direct and indirect benefits” of entering the iconic yachting regatta.
However, further investment by the New Zealand government may not occur until the Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup is released.
“From a $36m taxpayer investment, the evaluation shows an estimated positive impact of $87m to the New Zealand economy,” said Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce.
Sixty-six per cent of the campaign’s funding came from international sources including sponsors, meeting the Government’s requirement to find $2 for every $1 of State support.
The report said $153m, representing 85 per cent of the total campaign budget, was spent in New Zealand.
It is likely that much of the money spent in New Zealand came from boat building. Both of the team’s boats, along with parts, were built in country. Additionally, training partner, Italian Luna Rossa also had parts built in New Zealand.
Both teams also trained in Auckland. The Kiwis were on the water for over eight months, while the Italians were there for over four months. The cost of support labor and facilities contributed to country’s economic benefit.
Joyce said one of the key benefits was the boost to New Zealand’s profile in international media over the 55 days of racing. However, opponents of the funding have pointed out that yacht racing is a niche sport with a relatively small global audience.
Looking to the 35th America’s Cup, the Government has already made an interim investment of $5m to keep key team syndicate members for the next challenge. A decision on further funding will depend on the business case Team New Zealand delivers.
(April 11, 2014) – San Diego has made the short list of venues being considered to host the 35th America’s Cup in 2017, port commission chairman Bob Nelson said Friday.
“It’s an honor for the San Diego region to be shortlisted for the 35th Defense of the America’s Cup and the chance to showcase San Diego Bay on a worldwide scale,” Nelson said in a statement released to The Associated Press. “San Diego Bay is a dynamic, top-ranked venue that has much to offer a competition of this scale.”
If San Diego is chosen, racing would be in 62-foot catamarans on the bay. San Diego hosted the America’s Cup in 1988, 1992 and 1995, with racing on the Pacific Ocean.
An America’s Cup World Series regatta in 45-foot catamarans was held on San Diego Bay in November 2011.
“A decision to host the America’s Cup requires regional commitment and cooperation. The Port of San Diego is working with its partners to carefully analyze this opportunity to host the ‘Super Bowl of sailing,’” Nelson said in his statement.
America’s Cup officials have cut the list of potential venues in half, but it wasn’t clear Fridayhow many cities besides San Diego remain in contention to host sailing’s marquee regatta. The venue is expected to be decided by late summer. – Associated Press, read on
More: It is believed there are four venues on the short list. Both San Diego, CA and Newport, RI are confirmed, and it is suspected that Chicago, IL and a location in Hawaii are also finalists. While San Francisco, CA does not appear to be on the short list, it is rumored they are revising their proposal for consideration. It is confirmed that Long Beach, CA is not on the short list for hosting the America’s Cup, but the city is under consideration for an America’s Cup World Series event.
Despite being a multihull guy, American Gino Morrelli is among the most seasoned designers currently involved in the America’s Cup.
Geno’s involvement dates back to the 1988 Deed of Gift Match, where he helped Dennis Conner’s Stars and Stripes team create the winning catamaran. When the America’s Cup returned to multihulls again for the 2010 Deed of Gift Match, Morrelli was back too, working with challenger BMW Oracle Racing to refine their 90-foot trimaran.
After assisting in writing the AC72 rule for the 34th America’s Cup, and then working with the New Zealand challenger in that event, his firm Morrelli & Melvin are back again to help create the design rule for the 35th Match.
Gino’s partner Pete Melvin had reported in February that the new boat would smaller, but not noticeably slower. Their tests indicated the new class could be similar in speeds downwind as the AC72, but a bit slower upwind. Gino thinks the new boat could prove faster on all points of sail.
Gino hosted a seminar at the Strictly Sail Pacific show on Friday, providing some additional insight into the next boat for the America’s Cup. Here are some bullet points from his presentation:
- The design rule is completed. The boats are designed to sail in a range of 6 to 30 knots, but the final rig size will be determined when the venue is selected.
- Reducing the size of the boat from 72-feet to 62-feet will reduce the loads by half, which will reduce structural costs.
- The smaller size boat will require less sailing crew (from 11 to 8) and less support crew, thus reducing the budget needed.
- Wing dimensions will be tightly specified, which will reduce design costs.
- Hull shape will have more bow volume to improve safety.
- Boats will foil on all points of sail.
- Daggerboard adjustment will be simplified slightly to reduce costs, and rudder angle will be adjustable to improve foiling control.
Here are some of Gino’s estimations going forward:
- The design and build time is approximately 14-18 months.
- The AC72 rule was designed for the boats to be transportable. The new rule is not, so he expects the boats to be glued together. Given the time frame, this could require their assembly at the venue.
- While a flat sea state is preferred, Gino estimates the boats can handle a 6 to 7 foot swell as long as the peaks are far apart.
Here is Gino’s prediction on what could be the big difference with the new design:
Gino expects the teams to remain fully foiled through the upwind tacks. The team that can stretch the tack furthest, and keep the hulls up and out of the water the longest while heading straight into the wind before bearing away onto the new tack, could make significant gains. This technique should encourage tacking, and thus the races in AC35 could prove to be both high speed and highly tactical upwind.
April 9, 2014
Some news is just noise. Where is the protocol and venue to be?
While the planning for the 34th America’s Cup was far from smooth, it was widely expected that whatever could be agreed upon between the organizers and the City of San Francisco, it would be a solid step toward something better if Golden Gate Yacht Club were to defend the Cup. The expectations were that the defense would be in San Francisco…
For many of us the circus has packed up and left town, boy has it ever! No sooner than the champagne stopped flowing and everyone from Oracle Racing USA (OTUSA) stopped self-congratulating themselves over their improbable, yet miraculous comeback last Sept. 25, than any remnants of the famed regatta remain. Not even a morsel of a crumb.
Here in San Francisco there is nothing, nada, nyett, at least in 2014 and probably beyond. The only tangible evidence that the America’s Cup was here are the fading billboards on the Embarcadero at the abandoned offices at Pier 23 or the decaying, once state-of-the-art trimaran that sits in front of OTUSA’s team base in the Dogpatch.
The once mighty America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) is down to a receptionist, a couple of bookkeepers and OTUSA’s marketing director.
I assumed (ass of me) that when the GGYC (Golden Gate Yacht Club) retained and defended the America’s Cup last fall that there would be some continuity with the event. I did not expect that the whole machine would be shut down except for (Russell) Coutts, who seems to be fashioning the Auld Mug into a similar mold as the Sochi Olympic rings. Hopefully he won’t morph into the Vladimir Putin of the America’s Cup.
Where is the GGYC in all of this? Don’t they want to host the event off their balcony again?
A reminder to Larry (Ellison), Russell and the GGYC, though: “It is distinctly understood that the Cup is to be the property of the Club, subject to the provisions of this deed, and not the property of the owner or owners of any vessel winning a match.” – George Schuyler 1887.
Editor’s note: The desires of GGYC appear to be influenced by defense team owner Larry Ellison. His long time employee Tom Ehman has been Vice Commodore since 2011, and himself along with employees Russell Coutts and Stephen Barclay are listed as Board of Directors.
British interest in challenging for the 35th America’s Cup is rising as the country’s royalty is preparing for a “friendly” in New Zealand, reports the New Zealand Herald…
“Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker will join forces with the Duchess of Cambridge against her husband, Prince William, and Grant Dalton in two match races on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour on Friday, The Diary has been told.
“The royal couple will board separate Team NZ America’s Cup yachts for two short, informal races off the Viaduct, alongside Princes Wharf. The public will be able to see the Duke and Duchess in action on the former America’s Cup yachts NZL41 and NZL68.
“Kensington Palace said the pair were ‘just a little competitive’, and the races will pit husband against wife, who are each expected to take a turn at the helm.
“Kate, who displayed a cheeky smile for bare-bottomed Warrant Officer George Mana at Government House on Monday, will be paired with sailing heart-throb Barker. That will keep the snappers happy.”
While this might appear to be a friendly between spouses, perhaps Kate is training for a showdown against sister Pippa Middleton, who was seen sailing with four-time Olympic gold medal champion Sir Ben Ainslie in home waters over the winter.
British tabloid media might be what the America’s Cup needs. Gossip mongers spreading words about Ben and Pippa, and Dean and Kate? There is no such thing as bad publicity, right?
Click on headline for photos and additional details.
by Stuart Alexander, The Independent
A moment of truth is rushing up for Sir Ben Ainslie and his hopes of mounting a British challenge for the next America’s Cup. The format for the next Cup, AC35, in 2017 was expected in March. Latest whispers say it could be Monday or Tuesday. Even then, it will be incomplete.
Patrizio Bertelli has already committed €50 million of his Prada fashion house backing to Italy’s Luna Rossa. Sweden’s Torbjorn Tornqvist spent €120 million on the 2013 Artemis challenge which claimed the life of British gold and silver medallist Andrew Simpson.
Despite any complications caused by the United States targeting Russian oil company links following the upheaval in Crimea, Tornqvist is unlikely to be any less full-blooded in his backing for Simpson’s Olympic partner Iain Percy, who now leads the Artemis challenge.
Estimates on the defence budget at computer mogul Larry Ellison’s Oracle start at the eye-watering and rise to the astronomical. It will, to say the least, be adequate.
The Kiwis are in the midst of appointing a new board to Emirates Team New Zealand. The government has already put in NZ$5m. of pump priming, has been kept in the re-organisation planning loop throughout, and is apparently happy to see chief executive Grant Dalton moved upwards as his lieutenant Kevin Shoebridge takes over the day to day running.
And that leaves Sir Ben, the quadruple Olympic gold medallist (he has a silver, too), who played such a prominent role in the comeback from 1-8 down to 9-8 winning defenders of the America’s Cup, Oracle, needing to know how the next one will be played.
He has already been in the recruitment market with the help of finance from a mixture of private and corporate backers, but the full steam ahead lever cannot be activated until he knows more exactly the scale of the task ahead of him.
He is not alone; but the quirky sailing trophy, which dates back to 1851, is not subject to anything like any other major sports event. There is no set time, place, equipment or even race format.
It can, and does, change every time, meaning that Ainslie is at the mercy of a strange negotiation process between the defender and a so-called Challenger of Record, this time the Hamilton Island Yacht Club of Australia. Iain Murray, who was boss of the racing management team in San Francisco last year, heads Bob Oatley’s Challenger of Record group and has held talks individually with each of the teams, but never as a group.
That means that both the defender and the lead challenger will have had valuable design information on the 2017 boat, expected to be a 62-foot catamaran which can lift on to foils to skim across the top of the water, ahead of everyone else. Introducing some standardization of anything from parts of the wing sail or other structures would benefit everyone equally.
But that is of limited value until a decision has been taken on where the next America’s Cup will be staged. That may take several more months. San Francisco conditions are different to Newport, Chicago, and especially Honolulu. – Full report
(April 1, 2014) - While the long awaited Protocol for the 35th America's Cup is not ready to be released, defense owner Larry Ellison has revealed the context of the document in an interview with Julian Gutrhie, author of The Billionaire and the Mechanic. Here is her report...
Larry's vision for the next America's Cup involves the staging of regattas all over the world - leading up to the Louis Vuitton Cup, and the main event, the America's Cup, taking place in Honolulu.
This competition would be a significant departure from anything done before. The plan for the 35th America's Cup is to attract a wider audience to the sport of sailing and to the 163-year-old regatta.
As for the next Cup, "we're going to start with two years of globe-trotting, Formula One-style racing in AC45s," Larry said. "AC45s are inexpensive to build, transport, and sail. You can throw an AC45 and its support equipment and chase boats into a couple of containers and ship them to regattas all over the world: Shanghai, Tokyo Bay, Marseilles, the Port of Rome, anywhere."
Larry continued, "The teams will be divided up into two divisions: Atlantic and Pacific. The Atlantic division will have teams from France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland. The Pacific Division will have teams from Australia, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, and San Francisco, USA."
The top four finishers in the AC45 races during 2015 and 2016, two from the Atlantic group and two from the Pacific, will qualify to race in their division championships in the spring of 2017. The division championships would be contested in the new AC60s, a lot bigger than the AC45s and just as spectacular and fast as the AC72s, but not as expensive.
As for the challengers that get eliminated before competing in their AC60, Larry does not see this as a problem. "This isn't about winning the America's Cup; this is about professionals getting paid. Like me. We are trying to sustain a business, and it's time the challengers pull on their big boy pants." - Read on
Media production for the 34th America’s Cup has received five Emmy Award nominations, including for Outstanding Live Sports Special. The Emmy Awards recognize excellence within various areas of television and emerging media. The 35th Sports Emmy Awards will take place on May 6th in New York City. Click on headline for full report.
The America’s Cup defender, Golden Gate Yacht Club, does not intend to hold a defender series to select the team to represent the club in the 35th America’s Cup. This information was disclosed in a document recently submitted to the New York State Supreme Court.
Historically, it is the discretion of the defending club as to how they select their representative. The Protocol for the 34th America’s Cup did include a provision for there to be a defender series, but only the Larry Ellison owned Oracle Team USA was submitted as a defense candidate.
The Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup, which will define all the terms for the event, has not yet been released.
Alameda, CA (March 13, 2014) – Artemis Racing announced today that French sailing legend Loïck Peyron has committed his future to the Swedish team as a member of the design group and helmsman. Following his role as technical coach and helmsman during the 34th America’s Cup, Loïck brings his renowned versatility and unparalleled experience to Artemis Racing.
On rejoining the team Loïck commented, “I have been involved in two America’s Cups, but always just for the final year of the campaign. What’s great about today is that I’m with a team I really like, at the beginning of the game, when there is a blank piece of paper and everyone’s heads are burning with excitement. With Alinghi I had the chance to spend the final 12 months with a team that had dominated the America’s Cup for a number of years; and with Artemis Racing; it feels like I’m now involved with a team that will be the dominant force of the future”.
Peyron, who joined Artemis Racing in 2012, had a key role in developing the team’s ability to sail the AC72 during last campaign.
Commenting on his new role “the America’s Cup is a story of communication, a melting pot of different cultures; not just in terms of nationality but also in terms of sailing culture. I like to buzz everywhere, that’s the way a solo sailor has to live, because you need to have the answer to any question or any situation. I’m very happy to act as backup helmsman but also really looking forward to offering support in other areas of the campaign” said Loïck.
Ainslie Update: Ben Ainslie is making good progress on putting together an 80 million pounds ($130 million) British challenge for the next America's Cup, the four-times Olympic champion said on Thursday (March 13). Ainslie has now set his sights on leading his own country to a first win since the race began in 1851 and is expecting details imminently on the rules and protocols for the next edition likely to be held in 2017. "We don't have those yet, we're expecting them in the next couple of days," he told the SportsPro Live business conference in London, adding he should learn the class of boat and the race dates but not the venue. - Reuters, full story
by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt
It’s not often when Larry Ellison discusses the America’s Cup. But when he does, he goes big, and this week he went huge as he laid out his vision for the 35th America’s Cup.
Considering the enormity of his statements, one could think he is still tinkering with the plan. Given the Protocol is due to be released this month, he could be near final. And that would be something.
The primary flaw of the 34th America’s Cup was the plan was too big for the time frame. There were sports professionals hired, but the troubled pursuit of the plan led to turnover, which then led to plan revisions. It was quite distracting, and it was hard for the event to gain support when the flow of manure was steady.
Thankfully, three things saved the 34th America’s Cup. The boats foiled, which made them fascinating. The teams learned how to maintain speed through the maneuvers, which allowed for legitimate match racing. And the comeback by Oracle Team USA gave us the storybook ending.
My hope for the 35th America’s Cup was incremental improvements. Small tweaks here and there to allow the event to live on its performance rather than bear the weight of its promises.
Apparently, Larry isn’t the kind of guy to make small refinements.
Larry and Co. are determined to commercialize the event. They want to generate revenues through sponsorship and media sales, and their plans appear to be a significant change of America’s Cup history.
“A lot needs to change,” Ellison explained. “We want to keep the best of the past and combine it with modern technology. We want to create a 21st century sports business that will support sailing professionals and their families. Businesses that don’t make money are not sustainable. Sports that don’t make money are just hobbies for rich guys.”
This plan has some interesting implications. A challenger may be eliminated a year in advance, following the AC45 elimination series in 2015-16, having never got to sail the AC60 (or whatever it will be) in 2017 that they should already be working on.
Will Oracle Team USA be racing in, and arguably impacting the results of, the AC45 challenger elimination series?
A challenger’s budget could be modest if they were to be eliminated, having only competed in AC45s for two years, but must be significantly greater to compete for an extra year and have the additional costs associated with the bigger boat.
For the challenger seeking sponsors, what can they promise? Before they could only promise to remain active through the initial challenger series and not the challenger finals, and certainly not the America’s Cup finals. Now the challenger might be gone a year in advance?
Once the rules are released, how long a time period will the teams have to enter? Even if the rules are released this month, the venue plan is apparently still months away. Do you enter not knowing where the racing will occur? Do you organize the 2015 global AC45 circuit without knowing the players?
And then there’s Larry’s longstanding dream of holding the America’s Cup in Hawaii. Pretty wild stuff.
“That’s the plan anyway,” Ellison said. “We have a lot of work to do. We have to make deals with all the cities where we want to hold races. It’s not going to be easy to pull this off.”
You could say that again…
From Roy Disney:
Regarding Larry Ellison and the 35th America's Cup in Hawaii (Scuttlebutt 4038), I can't wait to see what happens when a ½ million dollar daggerboard and a whale meet up on live TV! Perhaps Stan Honey could geotag the whales and have live updates on the screen.
From D.D. McNicoll:
If Larry Ellison wants the America's Cup to resemble the "F1" series, let him call it Larry's Cup, because the series he proposes would ensure that he never again lost the America's Cup.
The challengers would have to perform well in light wind areas to make the finals and only two get to sail in the Challenger series in Hawaii in AC60s. Whereas, Larry would have three years to tune his AC60 in Hawaii and only has to sail in those 20 knot plus conditions.
Teams who have spent years sailing on flat water will have no experience in sailing in mid-Pacific swells. Even if all foiling cats can sail in the open ocean, Larry is giving himself an unbeatable head-start.
3-11-14
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Larry Ellison basks in the glory of Oracle Team USA's comeback win in the America's Cup in September. Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle
Larry Ellison sat in the quiet living room of his Woodside home and talked about what comes next, after winning the America's Cup for the second time in September 2013, an epic victory being called "the comeback of comebacks."
His vision for the next America's Cup, detailed in a series of exclusive interviews over several months, involves the staging of regattas all over the world - leading up to the Louis Vuitton Cup, and the main event, the America's Cup, likely taking place in Honolulu.
This competition would be a departure from anything done before, and would mean that - unless negotiations turn around - San Francisco will not be the host city for the next Cup.
While outlining his vision for the 35th America's Cup, Ellison acknowledges that much needs to happen before his plan is a reality, and that Team USA CEO Russell Couttsremains actively - and earnestly - in talks with other venues, from San Francisco and San Diego to Newport, R.I.
Ellison's ideas for the 35th America's Cup advance his goal of attracting a wider audience to the sport of sailing and to the 163-year-old regatta. He called the races of the 34th America's Cup "the most magnificent spectacle" he'd ever seen on the water and believes the regatta has "changed sailing forever."
As for the next Cup, "we're going to start with two years of globe-trotting, Formula One-style racing in AC45s," Ellison said. "AC45s are inexpensive to build, transport, and sail. You can throw an AC45 and its support equipment and chase boats into a couple of containers and ship them to regattas all over the world: Shanghai, Tokyo Bay, Marseilles, the Port of Rome, anywhere."
Ellison continued, "By using AC45s, we keep the costs to a manageable level, so we expect to have 12 teams entered in the 35th America's Cup. The teams will be divided up into two divisions: Atlantic and Pacific. The Atlantic division will have teams from France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland. The Pacific Division will have teams from Australia, China, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, and San Francisco, USA."
Under Ellison's plan, the top four finishers in the AC45 races during 2015 and 2016, two from the Atlantic group and two from the Pacific, would qualify to race in their division championships in the spring of 2017. The division championships would be contested in the new AC60s, a lot bigger than the AC45s and just as spectacular and fast as the AC72s, but not as expensive. (The AC72s were sailed in the 34th Cup.)
Ellison sees the Atlantic Division championship regatta being held in the Port of Rome and the Pacific Division championship in Shanghai. A couple of months later, the Atlantic and Pacific division winners will race their AC60s off Honolulu for the Louis Vuitton Cup. The Louis Vuitton winner would stay in Hawaii to race their AC60 against Oracle Team USA in the 35th America's Cup.
Holding the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup in Hawaii has been one of Ellison's long-standing dreams. In June 2012, the Oracle Corp. co-founder and CEO purchased the island of Lanai for $300 million. It was a far-fetched fantasy that he'd had since he was in his 20s, when he first flew over one of Hawaii's smallest inhabited islands in a Cessna 172 and was captivated by the thousands of acres of fragrant pineapple fields.
Having the America's Cup on the waters off Honolulu would be a boon to Hawaii's tourism and visibility.
"That's the plan anyway," Ellison said. "We have a lot of work to do. We have to make deals with all the cities where we want to hold races. It's not going to be easy to pull this off. All that, plus we have to get an agreement with the Challenger of Record, the Hamilton Island Yacht Club of Australia."
Ellison said the tradition of holding most of the races in one city doesn't make commercial sense.
American Andrew Campbell is the newest recruit to join ORACLE TEAM USA and he is making his debut with the team during its training camp in Sydney Australia this week.
A four-time All-American, Campbell was a standout sailor at the collegiate level, leading his Georgetown University sailing team to three single-handed national championships, among other titles. Incredibly, on a list dominated by football and basketball players, Campbell has been named among Georgetown’s all-time Top 10 Athletes by Sports Illustrated magazine.
Following up his college sailing with Olympic campaigns in the Laser and Star class, Campbell sailed for the United States in the Laser in the 2008 Olympic Games in China.
And it’s from a relationship formed in the Laser that he comes to ORACLE TEAM USA.
“I’ve been racing a lot against (ORACLE TEAM USA tactician and sailing team manager) Tom Slingsby over the last 12 years,” Campbell says. “We went to the youth worlds in 2002 and competed against each other in the Laser and we’ve either been racing each other or at least racing in events on the same circuit as each other for a long time. Tom is my main connection here.”
Campbell also knows American sailor Rome Kirby – both of their fathers worked with the America3 campaigns in San Diego in the 1990s.
But now it’s Campbell’s turn to take on the sailing’s pinnacle event. This will be his first America’s Cup campaign and he joins a team that just completed one of the greatest comebacks in all of sport.
“I’m trying to come in this week with as open a mind as possible,” he says. “This group of guys have been together through some serious obstacles and they fought through it to win the top prize in our sport. So I’m going to have to fit in to a squad that’s already running at high gear. I’ll do my best to see what kind of role they need me to play and I’ll fit my sailing style and team skills in as best I can.”
The America’s Cup defender, Oracle Team USA, took the first step toward the 35th Match by announcing the crew participating in the team’s first training camp of the new America’s Cup cycle.
Skipper Jimmy Spithill will be joined by Australian countrymen Tom Slingsby (tactician/sailing team manager), Kinley Fowler, Kyle Langford, Joey Newton; Americans Andrew Campbell and Rome Kirby; and Kiwi Joe Spooner. Yes, that’s two Americans.
“I’m excited that we’ve managed to assemble this group,” said skipper Jimmy Spithill. “Most of the guys were on board for the last America’s Cup, so they’ve been battle-tested and know what to expect. Andrew Campbell joins us as a very talented, motivated, American sailor who has proven he knows how to win in the Olympic classes. I think we have a good combination.”
Campbell, 30, is a 10-time national champion who represented the United States at the 2008 Olympic Games in the Laser class. This will be his first America’s Cup team.
“It’s a thrill to be joining ORACLE TEAM USA,” Campbell said. “The talent level and experience on this crew is second to none. This is a group of guys who have been together through some serious obstacles and they’ve won the ultimate prize in our sport. For me these first days will be about learning the systems, getting some hours in on the boat and spending time with the guys to form those bonds that are so important as a team.”
The sailing team is scheduled to be on the water from March 7-16, training in the AC45, which will include sparring on Sydney Harbour with Team Australia. Philippe Presti will be returning to the team as coach.
by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt
The American team Oracle Team USA wasn’t too American during its successful defense in the 34th America’s Cup. During the span of their campaign, there appeared to be no mandate to nationalize the team. When crossing the final finish line of the 34th Match, only one American was among the 11 crew.
The Challenger of Record for the 35th America’s Cup, Team Australia, appears to be taking on this mandate.
“We’re incredibly proud to put forward this Australian challenge and hope all Australians come together and rally behind us,” declared Sandy Oatley, Chairman of Challenger – Hamilton Island Yacht Club. “There is a great sense of pride in Australia striving to win the America’s Cup.”
Team Australia has chosen Australian Sailing Team’s Olympic Gold Medallist Mathew Belcher as its skipper.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for Mat,” shared Yachting Australia’s Performance Director Peter Conde. “We are very excited for him as well as for our sponsor Hamilton Island and the Oatley family who have been strong supporters of the Australian Sailing Team over the last decade. We have very talented sailors on our team and it’s great to see that this is recognised by professional programs like the America’s Cup.”
Team Australia CEO Iain Murray sees the America’s Cup as an opportunity to connect the successful accomplishments within his country.
“As a country, we’ve proven we can produce some of the best sailors in the world, and now it’s our turn to build an all-Aussie winning team skippered by one of most awarded Australian sailors.”
Beyond Team Australia, the country appears that it will be well represented in the 35th America’s Cup.
In addition to the appointment of Belcher as skipper of Team Australia, Olympic Gold Medallists Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen are part of the Swedish Artemis team, Olympic Gold medallist Tom Slingsby continues with the Defender, while Olympic medallist Glenn Asbhy will once again play a key role in Team New Zealand’s challenge.
And don’t forget about 2-time Cup winner Jimmy Spithill.
Team Australia should have company in their nationalistic approach. It is expected that challenges from New Zealand, England, Italy, and France will be well represented by their countrymen.
When the 35th America’s Cup Protocol is announced this month, it is expected to include a partial nationality crew clause, which should help to Americanize the defender.
Murray had hoped the nationality quota agreed upon in the still unfinished Cup laws and protocols would have been greater than 25 per cent, but he understood why the ratio could not be higher – yet.
“It looks like it’s going to be 25 per cent,” Murray said. “We would have hoped for more, but it’s a start. It’s important to bring more teams into it. There are a lot of inexperienced nations out there who will need to supplement their own crews with experienced crews.
“We hope that next time it will be a higher percentage … as the talent pool gets spread around and the knowledge base widens.”
(March 6, 2014) – Hamilton Island Yacht Club (HIYC) has today set sail on its four-year Australian Challenge for the 35th America’s Cup in 2017, with the announcement of Olympic Gold Medallist and ISAF Rolex Sailor of the Year, Mathew Belcher as its skipper and the christening of Team Australia’s AC45 catamaran.
Hamilton Island Yacht Club is the Challenger of Record for the 35th America’s Cup. Hamilton Island Yacht Club’s Australian team will represent all challengers in dealings with the defender Oracle Team USA of Golden Gate Yacht Club, San Francisco.
Belcher, the 2013 Rolex ISAF World Sailor of Year, Olympic Champion, five-time World 470 Champion and quadruple 2013 ISAF Sailing World Cup Winner, will lead Team Australia’s AC45 in its first training sessions on iconic Sydney Harbour from March to June 2014 with Oracle Team USA. Team Australia will use the training sessions to rotate a number of crew through the boat, introducing them to the AC45 catamaran, as they race against Oracle Team USA.
In parallel to these training sessions, Team Australia sailors will race on the global Extreme Sailing Series under the GAC Pindar banner. The Extreme Sailing Series is an elite level multihull stadium racing circuit with eight events held across the globe culminating with the final regatta in Sydney on December 10-14 2014.
Iain Murray, CEO Team Australia, said Hamilton Island Yacht Club, as the Challenger of Record, was committed to making the 35th America’s Cup more accessible to other challengers by driving costs down.
“Our aim is to make significant reductions to budgets in the order of 40 percent from previous America’s Cup challenges and we are working hard with Oracle as the Defender to achieve this outcome. In addition to demonstrating technology, we are keen for the immense talents of our sailors to be showcased.
“Indeed, as a country, we’ve proven we can produce some of the best sailors in the world, and now it’s our turn to build an all-Aussie winning team skippered by one of most awarded Australian sailors. Mat is a remarkable example of an elite athlete and one of the most accomplished sailors that Australia has ever produced,” explained Murray.
“During the training sessions, a pool of Australian sailors will rotate through the boat, giving them a great opportunity to practice their skills. It’s a fantastic opportunity to have the defender wanting to come to our shores and spar with us.” Murray said.
Mat Belcher on being announced Skipper of Team Australia said: “I’m humbled and excited by this honour. It’s an incredible opportunity and I’m looking forward to the journey, coming aboard and working together with the crew to bring the Cup back to Australia.”
Click on headline for crew, video and full article.
It is confirmed that Prada will be the main sponsor for the Italian Luna Rossa Challenge team for the next America’s Cup, planning to contribute €50 million to its next effort. Prada’s spending will be capped to a maximum of €25 million in the period until January 2015, €24 million in 2015, €9 million in 2016 and €4.5 million until January 2018. Although that total adds up to €62.5 million, Prada said its spend will not exceed €50 million. – SportsPro, full story
2-19-14
America’s Cup: Spring training down under
As Major League Baseball teams commence their Spring Training in advance of the 2014 Season, so does the defender of the America’s Cup. Here is their announcement…
ORACLE TEAM USA, the America’s Cup champion, will begin its sailing program in Sydney, Australia in March 2014. The team has scheduled practice against Team Australia, representing the Hamilton Island Yacht Club, the Challenger of Record for the 35th America’s Cup.
ORACLE TEAM USA has shipped one of its AC45 catamarans to Australia for spring training before the sailing team returns to the United States later in the year.
“This training session on Sydney Harbour is the first of a series of trials and training sessions for our sailing team and will be the first time our sailors have been together since the America’s Cup,” said sailing team manager Tom Slingsby.
“We’ll welcome back some old faces and introduce some new blood as we look for the right crew combination for the sailing team for the 35th America’s Cup. These sessions will be coordinated with Team Australia and we’re looking forward to sailing against this new Cup team.”
ORACLE TEAM USA has already announced Jimmy Spithill, the skipper, and Slingsby, the strategist and sailing team manager, will both be returning to lead the sailing team. Further sailing crew announcements are expected before the summer.
Editor’s note: We assume all the seasonal time references relate to the Northern Hemisphere cycle.
The 2014 Extreme Sailing Series will celebrate its eighth year on the international sailing calendar, with twelve elite teams putting it on the line this week as the circuit gets underway in Singapore.
The season has gotten extra attention this year, as with details still getting sorted out for the 35th America’s Cup, several aspiring challengers are directing their training to the Extreme 40 racing. Among the field in Singapore are…
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) – Skipper/Helm: Dean Barker (NZL)
GAC Pindar (AUS) – Skipper/Helm: Seve Jarvin (AUS)
Groupama Team France (FRA) – Skipper/Helm: Franck Cammas (FRA)
J.P. Morgan BAR (GBR) – Skipper/Helm: Ben Ainslie (GBR)
While GAC Pindar has been a previous Extreme Sailing Series competitor, in 2014 they have joined forces with Team Australia, the Challenger of Record for the 35th America’s Cup, and will compete for the fourth consecutive season with a talented young all-Aussie crew led by Seve Jarvin, the youngest skipper in the series.
Joining Jarvin will be experienced America’s Cup sailors Sam Newton, Ed Smyth, and Troy Tindill, and 2013 18ft Female Skiff World Champion Alexandra South.
“The Extreme Sailing Series tour will be an exciting challenge for 2014 and I’m looking forward to getting out on the water and competing,” said Jarvin, who arrived in Singapore earlier this week. “We’ll face some tough opposition, with a world-class line up of sailors, but we’ve spent the last few weeks in Sydney training on F18 Catamarans, and the crew are in great shape. We are ready to give it our all!”
Following the Singapore stop, Jarvin will return to Sydney where he will set sights on leading his Gotta Love It 7 team of Sam Newton and Scott Babbage into the 2014 JJ Giltinan 18 Footer Championship (March 1-9). Jarvin will be attempting to equal the record of his team manager Iain Murray as a six times winning skipper.
Murray is also the leader at Team Australia, which is the Challenger of Record for the 35th America’s Cup.
Scuttlebutt is hosting video players to watch the racing in Singapore. Competition begins Thursday, with live streaming starting on Friday. Click here for details.
2-18-14
My crystal ball missed the obvious adjustable rudder for foiling. I will have to get it tuned, that was an obvious place to make things safer and faster for little cost. With the foiling up and down the course the 20 minute course may need to be stretched out a bit as the lap times should be quicker, even if the boats do not reach the 50k downwind speeds.
Also the stored energy is a bit surprising. It is like they want to make it easy to sail this version of the AC boat. Maybe they are intending to have them safe enough to carry a guest observer?
One design wings make a lot of sense for cost reduction. With two or three extra in inventory for the fleet, you could have Russell Coutts falling through the wing again and not miss the next day on the water. Given an open wing design, one design will be dominant over another and then we would have more parades around the course. Those deep pockets would dominate for sure. I missed this idea in the foreshadowing for the AC35 but like the direction the rule is taking. An open wing design could be for AC 36.
For the 34th America’s Cup, American Pete Melvin’s design firm, Morrelli & Melvin, were the lead designers in writing the America’s Cup class rule for the AC72 catamaran.
Melvin has again been hired by the Defender and Challenger of Record of the 35th America’s Cup and tasked with coming up with the class rule for a second consecutive time.
Motivated to reduce budget costs, yet still intending to design a foiling catamaran of similar to the AC72, the new class rule is expected to be released in March 2014.
In an interview at the A-Class World Championship, Melvin offered a glimpse of what to expect. Here are some of the bullet points:
* Adjustable rudder angle: The AC72 restricted active adjustment of the rudder angle while sailing, which affected foiling efficiency. The new class of boat will allow active adjustment, which will improve foiling ability both upwind and downwind.
* Stored energy: The AC72 allowed no stored energy, and while all systems were human powered, there were peak times on the race course when the grinders were heavily taxed. It is expected the new boat again will again rely solely on human power for the systems, but there may be a provision wherein some power can be held in reserve to lessen the peak periods.
* Manpower: The class of boat is to be in the 60-65 foot range, which will reduce the crew needed to sail it, and the shore team required to launch and service it. Fewer people needed should reduce team budgets.
* Performance: The design brief was for the new class to be no slower than 10% of the AC72 speeds. Tests indicate the new class could be similar in speeds downwind as the AC72, but a bit slower upwind. Melvin expects the speed difference to be visually difficult to discern, and the new class may even appear faster given its smaller size.
* Foiling: Expect the new class to foil both upwind and downwind.
* One Design: In the interest of cost savings, it is likely the wing will have some one design restriction. Of the major components, it is believed the wing provided the least amount of performance gain per dollar spent on design and construction. It is believed that the hull and foil systems will remain open and restricted only by the class rule.
The new version of the America’s Cup Class Rule, which will produce a foiling, wingsailed catamaran in the 60-65 foot range, is on schedule to be released next month.
Several potential America’s Cup teams are cooperating in the rule writing process with the design firm Morrelli & Melvin.
The Protocol for the 35th America’s Cup, which defines rules specific to this event, is also on track for a March release.
“We’re working with the Challenger of Record from Hamilton Island Yacht Club to have a Protocol ready to issue in March,” said Russell Coutts, CEO of Oracle Team USA.
“An overriding theme of both documents is an effort to reduce costs and increase media exposure, so that teams can provide a better return to their sponsors for significantly less money than was required last time.”
The selection of the venue for the 35th America’s Cup is likely to stretch into summer. Several venues are under consideration.
“We need to take the time to assess each potential venue and ensure we get the best possible outcome for the America’s Cup, the teams and the event commercial partners.” Coutts said.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Unified Port District commissioners are scheduled to discuss a proposal by a local group to host the America’s Cup in 2017.
The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting includes an item listed as ”Resolution Proclaiming Support for America’s Cup 35 Event in 2017 and direction to staff.”
Port officials didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Tuesday’s meeting would be a preliminary step. If the commissioners decide to proceed, it’s expected they would direct the port staff to begin discussions with America’s Cup officials.
SEA San Diego has proposed that the 35th America’s Cup be sailed on San Diego Bay in August 2017. The group organized an America’s Cup World Series regatta in November 2011 and a regatta in the RC44 class in March 2011, both contested on the bay.
The RC44 class was started by Russell Coutts, the five-time America’s Cup winner who is CEO of two-time America’s Cup champion Oracle Team USA.
Coutts recently told The Associated Press that America’s Cup officials are talking with other venues about hosting the 35th America’s Cup in August 2017 because San Francisco officials haven’t offered the same terms as they did for last summer’s regatta, which ended with the American syndicate staging one of the greatest comebacks in sports.
Coutts said he’s not prepared to rule out San Francisco. But he said San Diego, Hawaii and other venues are possibilities for hosting the next America’s Cup.
San Diego hosted the America’s Cup in 1988, 1992 and 1995, with racing on the Pacific Ocean off Point Loma.
The 2013 America’s Cup was the first in the regatta’s long history to be held inshore. A regatta San Diego Bay would continue organizers’ desire to make the racing more TV- and fan-friendly by having it close to shore.
The ACWS regattas were sailed in 45-foot catamarans and the 2013 America’s Cup was sailed in 72-foot cats. Coutts is proposing the next cup be sailed in 60-foot catamarans.Story
NOTE: There are two US dudes from the Kiwi team with OR now!
ORACLE TEAM USA Design Team Powered By Homegrown Talent
The America’s Cup winner, ORACLE TEAM USA, has announced its design team for the 35th America’s Cup.
The design team features 11 Americans, as ORACLE TEAM USA looks towards homegrown design and engineering expertise to successfully defend the next America’s Cup.
“We’ve collected a talented group of designers for this campaign and a majority of them are American,” said Grant Simmer, who returns as General Manager of ORACLE TEAM USA. “We have a good mix of experience and expertise across the disciplines where we think the design challenge for this next America’s Cup will be contested.”
Among the returnees from previous campaigns, wing design manager Scott Ferguson (USA) is back for a third successive America’s Cup with ORACLE TEAM USA. A collegiate All-American sailor, Ferguson has 30 years of design experience and is an expert in masts, spars, and now wing sails.
“It’s exciting to be back and trying for three in a row with ORACLE TEAM USA,” Ferguson said. “We know this is going to be a big challenge as the competition is always getting better. We’ll be working to a new class rule again with more constraints, but there should be a plenty of scope for innovation.”
Among those new to the team are Len Imas (USA) and Hal Youngren (USA), who worked with Team New Zealand during the previous Cup, contributing to the design of a Kiwi boat that came within one race of winning it all.
“It’s still amazing to think that the final was so close, and that it all came down to one last race,” Imas said. “Now, it’s great to sit down with these guys, learn what they were thinking and to start work again with the new team.”
The ORACLE TEAM USA design team met as a group for the first time in San Francisco this week and is eagerly awaiting the release of the new America’s Cup Class Rule next month.
“In many ways, the release of the design rule is the starting gun for the 35th America’s Cup,” said Simmer. “From that moment on, the clock is ticking towards the start of race one, and time which is your most precious currency in these campaigns, starts to get spent. We need to be ready to work from day one and spend our time wisely.”
The ORACLE TEAM USA design team for the 35th America’s Cup:
Paul Bieker (USA), Dimitri Despierres (FRA), Len Imas (USA), Hal Youngren (USA), Aaron Perry (USA), Bryan Baker (USA), Juan Vila (ESP), Scott Ferguson (USA), Christophe Elberding (GER), Thomas Hann (GER), Steven Roberts (FRA), Jose Luis Vela (ESP), Tom Speer (USA), Eric Jolley (USA), Andrew Gaynor (USA), Ian Burns (AUS), JB Braun (USA), Kurt Jordan (USA)Story
- See more at: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2014/02/06/oracle-team-usa-design-team-powered-homegrown-talent/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scuttlebut+4017+-+February+7+2014&utm_content=Scuttlebut+4017+-+February+7+2014+CID_8ac75d2968929b695ca766ed35da07a3&utm_source=Email%20Newsletter#sthash.cJnlESbQ.dpuf
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2-4-14 (Opinion from the Count)
The AC pieces are falling into place very slowly.... One assumes RC is on board, now Jimmy and Slingsby. I would guess Rome Kirby is a shoe in for the Oracle team as his passport works just fine for the hopeful nationality rule.
I foresee an ACWS on the two year old AC45s but adapted to foiling. These boats are too good a platform to just be discarded and a bit spendy at $1m US a pop. They would go on a world tour again to the various homes of the challengers for racing that may seed the challengers for the AC. There may be some AC points awarded for winning the season but ???? Look for Oracle to have two 45s in the mix. Here is a place for the deep pockets to spend money on research and training.
This is followed by the AC in San Francisco on boats just shy of 60' (18 meters) with crews of 8. Foiling, wings, multihull (tri or cat either way), no power storage , shared launch facility, shared carbon fiber work room/s with all the vacuum bag toys with all syndicates paying to have repairs done there (similar to the ACWS).
Again Team ORUSA will have two rides out on the bay. Will the tri hull be an advantage on this closed course? They have the team to check that.
Challengers lining up will be more numerous than for the 34th AC. China is ramping up, Korea made a good showing in the ACWS, Australia is in as Challenger of Record, France is in, Sweden is in, Italy is in (I think) or should be, the Brits are pounding the pavement with their Ben Ainsle flag trying for money, and the most dangerous challenger from Kiwi land is Team New Zealand. There may be others but this is a good core.
If the programs can be trimmed so one can put a competitive boat out there for $50 million on a total program we should see some fun. I suspect there will be no limit on the money spent. Why change the America's Cup now? Deep pockets have the edge in most things and this will not change.
Australian Jimmy Spithill has re-signed with two-time America’s Cup champion Oracle Team USA.
While Spithill’s announcement Monday wasn’t a surprise, the winning skipper tells The Associated Press he was offered jobs with other syndicates after leading Oracle Team USA’s stunning comeback over Emirates Team New Zealand in the 34th America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay in September. Oracle won eight straight races to keep the oldest trophy in international sports in the United States.
Spithill says his relationships with software billionaire Larry Ellison, who owns Oracle Team USA, and syndicate CEO Russell Coutts, a five-time cup winner, are important.
He’s also looking forward to the chance to win the Auld Mug a third straight time with San Francisco-based Oracle. In 2010, Spithill, then 30, became the youngest skipper to win the Cup.
- See more at: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2014/02/03/americas-cup-jimmy-spithill-pursue-third-win-oracle-team-usa/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Scuttlebutt+4014+-+February+4+2014&utm_content=Scuttlebutt+4014+-+February+4+2014+CID_bf9abe086788e6553015bba11f2e7b3f&utm_source=Email%20Newsletter&utm_term=Americas%20Cup%20Jimmy%20Spithill%20to%20pursue%20third%20win%20with%20Oracle%20Team%20USA#sthash.BQJbFdgJ.dpuf
1-15-14
Here is an article on foiling upwind that might make some sense.
It has been almost 4 months since the Cup was concluded. Here is a quote in response to questions I had that may help. I am looking at any and all bits of AC fun so stay tuned to this blog.
Must remember - after our win on 14 Feb 2010 - it took 8 months and 14 days for the new protocol and then 10 months and 14 days for the new venue. So considering this last win was Sept 25th - it hasn't been even 4 months yet.
Norbert Bajurin
Commodore
Golden Gate Yacht Club
1-09-2014
Here is an interview done in New Zealand where Sir Russell Coutts talks about things done and to do in the America's Cup.
Well worth the 29 minutes of air time it takes.
My own opinion here: As goes Russell Coutts, so goeth the AC.
The America’s Cup World Series is the first stage of competition in the 35th America’s Cup and begins in the summer of 2015. Featuring all of the America’s Cup teams racing in one design AC45 catamarans, the circuit is an early opportunity to put points on the board that carry forward into the next stage of the competition.
Larry Ellison basks in the glory of Oracle Team USA's comeback win in the America's Cup in September. Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle
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