Youth America’s Cup on track for 2021

The brand new AC9F Youth America’s Cup yacht has successfully undergone on-water sail testing day in Auckland with the event well on track for 2021. With two female and two male crew on board, the boat was up on the foils straight away, and was pushing speeds of up to thirty knots.

This first AC9F has been designed and built in New Zealand in a collaboration between Yachting Developments and the NZ Marine Industry, including Southern Spars, Harken, and North Sails. The purposely designed AC9F is a scaled down 9-meter version of the foiling AC75 monohull.

“It was great to see the boat sailing and working well, we are thrilled with how it performed,” said Yachting Developments owner Ian Cook. “It has been a big combined effort from the NZ Marine Industry to make this happen, and to see it flying on the foils at speed today was a massive result for everyone involved.”

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron has received seventeen confirmed entries with fifteen of these teams’ internationals. With more in the pipeline, the goal of twenty teams is looking likely.

Collectively the teams are set to bring in over two-hundred-and-fifty people to New Zealand, all of whom will be staying in the country for several months.

“This event is going to be huge for New Zealand and we can’t wait to see all the teams here and getting stuck in,” said Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron CEO Hayden Porter. “A huge amount of hard work has gone on behind the scenes gathering entries and getting the first boat ready to go.

“This event is set to have a very important impact on the New Zealand economy, and will bring in the equivalent of two America’s Cup teams worth of people into the country for a long period of time. It will generate tens of millions of dollars for New Zealand. Teams will soon begin the immigration process and are willing to quarantine at their expense to ensure they can compete as required.”

Gender diversity is one of the main draw cards and motivations for this reinvigorated Youth America’s Cup, with all teams required to include two male and two female crew members.

Yachting Developments’ and Ocean Race sailor Bianca Cook was on board for the testing and is really excited by the gender diversity rule for this event. “I think to have this rule in place can only be a positive for the sport of sailing, and paves the way for female sailors to be involved in major sailing events such as the America’s Cup.”

The Youth America’s Cup will take place over a three week period in the off sailing days of the Prada Cup Challenger Series finals and America’s Cup Match. The schedule for racing in 2021 is on February 18-23, March 1-5, and March 8-12.

Teams are set to begin arriving later in 2020 for training preparations.

Event details – Facebook – Instagram

Source: Andrew Delves, RNZYS

36th America’s Cup
In addition to Challenges from Italy, USA, and Great Britain that were accepted during the initial entry period (January 1 to June 30, 2018), eight additional Notices of Challenge were received by the late entry deadline on November 30, 2018. Of those eight submittals, entries from Malta, USA, and the Netherlands were also accepted. Here’s the list:

Defender:
• Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)

Challengers:
• Luna Rossa (ITA) – Challenger of Record
• American Magic (USA)
• INEOS Team UK (GBR)
• Malta Altus Challenge (MLT) – WITHDRAW
• Stars + Stripes Team USA (USA)
• DutchSail (NED) – WITHDRAW

Of the three late entries, only Stars+Stripes USA remains committed, however, it is unclear what entry payments have been made, nor is there knowledge of a boat being actively built or sailing team assembled.

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 (DELAYED)
✔ 2nd half of 2019: 2 x America’s Cup World Series events (CANCELLED)
✔ October 1, 2019: US$1million late entry fee deadline (NOT KNOWN)
✔ February 1, 2020: Boat 2 can be launched (DELAYED)
✔ April 23-26, 2020: First (1/3) America’s Cup World Series event in Cagliari, Sardinia (CANCELLED)
✔ June 4-7, 2020: Second (2/3) America’s Cup World Series event in Portsmouth, England (CANCELLED)
• December 17-20, 2020: Third (3/3) America’s Cup World Series event in Auckland, New Zealand
• January 15-February 22, 2021: The PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series
• March 6-15, 2021: The America’s Cup Match

Youth America’s Cup Competition
• February 18-23, 2021
• March 1-5, 2021
• March 8-12, 2021

AC75 launch dates:
September 6 – Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Boat 1
September 10 – American Magic (USA), Boat 1; actual launch date earlier but not released
October 2 – Luna Rossa (ITA), Boat 1
October 4 – INEOS Team UK (GBR), Boat 1

Details: www.americascup.com