America’s Cup: Keeping feet to the fire

Friendships get set aside during the America’s Cup cycle, and the alliance that Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa had to help the Kiwis win the 2017 America’s Cup is so far off the radar that it is hard to remember these two team once worked together. Here’s the latest…

A leading America’s Cup official has described suggestions Team New Zealand could be barred from December’s warm-up regatta as “a very remote hypothesis” and predicted a small fine or penalty for their late payment of entry fees.

Matteo Plazzi is technical manager of the race operations area for ​​the Challenger of Record that oversees the world series event in December and he’s also technical director of the Prada Cup which the challengers will contest in January and February.

Emirates Team New Zealand are in dispute with the Challenger of Record over the late payment of a $430,000 fee to contest the world series regatta that also includes the Christmas Cup race.

The matter has gone before the Cup’s arbitration panel, with Team New Zealand already contesting the legitimacy of the entry fee.

The Kiwi complaint about the fee pre-dated the entry fee deadline, so Team New Zealand feel there is no issue.

They also said no race notice had been issued with the racing format over the four days still being fought out as Team New Zealand’s frosty relations with Challenger of Record Luna Rossa continue.

Certainly, claims they could be barred from racing on their home waters in their only opportunity to line out against the challengers ahead of March’s America’s Cup match, appear wide of the mark.

“It is a very remote hypothesis,” Plazzi told Italian website Saily, noting that New Zealand’s fee was only four days late.

“In the end, I believe that at most there may be a small fine or penalty, but we’ll see ETNZ racing with everyone else.” – Full report

Details: www.americascup.com

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• Malta Altus Challenge (MLT) – WITHDRAWN
• Stars + Stripes Team USA (USA) – STATUS UNCONFIRMED
• DutchSail (NED) – WITHDRAWN

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 (CANCELLED)
• February 18-23, 2021
• March 1-5, 2021
• March 8-12, 2021

AC75 launch dates:
September 6, 2019 – Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Boat 1
September 10, 2019 – American Magic (USA), Boat 1; actual launch date earlier but not released
October 2, 2019 – Luna Rossa (ITA), Boat 1
October 4, 2019 – INEOS Team UK (GBR), Boat 1
October 16, 2020 – American Magic (USA), Boat 2
October 17, 2020 – INEOS Team UK (GBR), Boat 2
October 20, 2020 – Luna Rossa (ITA), Boat 2
November 19, 2020 – Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Boat 2

Details: www.americascup.com