America’s Cup: Maybe Four is Enough

by Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt
I am inherently pessimistic when it comes to team announcements for events like the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race. There’s been too many examples where the media (me) is used to fortify the façade of a team, only to see the house of cards soon crumble. Sailors were pushing fake news before it was trending.

Best to wait for the checks to clear, and someone with authority to declare legitimacy, but when we received a statement in June 2018 from an Italian team based in Sardinia that it had issued a challenge for the 36th America’s Cup, which they said had been accepted, we foolishly forgot our cynicism and shared this news. Turned out to be a false report.

Now we have the Italian publication Vela e Motore reporting how another team from Italy has launched a challenge from Yacht Club Imperia, located to the east of Monaco which sounds good as I say it. The new consortium is called Columbus 2021 and can count on the availability of 50 million euros, which is a third of what the Brits are boasting. Hmm…

Unlike the good old days when a team could fake it all the way to the race course with the International America’s Cup Class monohull used for five editions from 1992 to 2007, there is no faking it anymore. With the proposed foiling 75-foot freak of a boat to be used in 2021, people can die (have died) in this high performance era of the Cup. There’s now four legitimate teams for the 36th edition. Maybe that’s enough.

Key America’s Cup 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
November 30, 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

Details: www.americascup.com