America’s Cup: Too much crazy

The 12 Meter was used for ten consecutive America’s Cup matches. The 82-foot International Americas Cup Class was used for five consecutive matches. But with the Team New Zealand defenders changing the boat for the 36th edition, it will be the third consecutive instance when a new rule is being launched.

It was a radical change when the monohull was traded for a catamaran in 2013, but at least we’d seen catamarans before. What the Kiwis are doing, shifting to an untested monohull concept that relies on ballasted foil arms for stability, is another kind of crazy.

For double America’s Cup winner Ernesto Bertarelli, this kind of crazy is nothing the Swiss magnate can support for the sport’s oldest trophy. He described the new foiling 75-foot boats under design and construction for Auckland as “catamarans dressed as monohulls.”

He felt the expense was limiting the potential field as was shown with only Team New Zealand, Britain’s Ben Ainslie Racing, Italian challenger of record Luna Ross and the New York Yacht Club confirmed so far.

“I really do not understand this: why change boat at every edition of the Cup? One could see the previous Cup had a direction to follow. You could spend the same amount to develop the project, but with less risk of making a mistake. Take the British and Ben Ainslie in the last Cup: the best sailor in the world, but had a wrong boat. Game over.”

Bertarelli confirmed he would have returned to the America’s Cup for the next regatta had the foiling catamarans been retained.

“Yes, I would have participated. Switzerland now also has sailors to do it without problems of nationality rules. Changing boats has lost at least two teams, one is Alinghi (the other, Sweden’s Artemis Racing). They would have had six from the beginning. And it would have been easy to go up to eight.”

Source: stuff.co.nz

Key dates:
✔ September 28, 2017: 36th America’s Cup Protocol released
✔ November 30, 2017: AC75 Class concepts released to key stakeholders
✔ January 1, 2018: Entries for Challengers open
✔ March 31, 2018: AC75 Class Rule published
June 30, 2018: Entries for Challengers close
August 31, 2018: Location of the America’s Cup Match and The PRADA Cup confirmed
August 31, 2018: Specific race course area confirmed
December 31, 2018: Late entries deadline
March 31, 2019: Boat 1 can be launched
2nd half of 2019: 2 x America’s Cup World Series Preliminary Events
February 1, 2020: Boat 2 can be launched
During 2020: 3 x America’s Cup World Series Preliminary Events
December 10-20, 2020: America’s Cup Christmas Race
January and February 2021: The PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series
March 2021: The America’s Cup Match

Protocol of the 36th America’s Cup
Key Points of the Protocol
Deed of Gift
AC75 Class Rule (v1.0)