Feature

New boat introduced for America’s Cup

Published on September 9th, 2021

Auckland, New Zealand (September 10, 2021) – America’s Cup defender Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron along with British Challenger of Record Royal Yacht Squadron have revealed a new class of boat, the one design AC40 foiling monohull, will be developed to expand pathways into the America’s Cup.

While the AC75, introduced for the 2021 event, will remain as the centerpiece of America’s Cup racing for at least the next two editions, the AC40 will be a scaled down version of the AC75 to help accelerate participation in the event for female and youth sailors.

The AC40s will be used by entrants of the next America’s Cup for their scale testing and development, Match Race training, Preliminary Regattas, and then for the Women’s and Youth events. This initiative will be included as part of the Protocol for the 37th America’s Cup due to be published November 17, 2021.

“Creating pathways and increasing participation for women, youth, and emerging nations is something that has been a priority since winning in 2017,” said RNZYS Commodore Aaron Young.

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton explains that all the competing teams must purchase at least one AC40 which will be used in the Preliminary Regattas and then made available for the respective and independent Women’s and Youth regattas to be held at the venue of the AC37 Match.

“The yacht clubs of competing AC teams must enter both the Women’s and Youth events, however, entries will also be open to other countries and yacht clubs,” said Dalton. “We would certainly anticipate an entry from the Host country if in fact they do not have an America’s Cup team.

“Furthermore, once the teams AC40s are delivered by the end of 2022 and early 2023, our hope is that private owners will purchase their own AC40s as we start to build an exciting and accessible class for the future.”

While the Defender and Challenger of Record work to finalize the Protocol for the next America’s Cup, both parties have confirmed the next event will be a multi-challenger event and not be a one-on-one event that had been speculated.

The venue for the 37th America’s Cup, anticipated to be held in 2024, is expected to be revealed on September 17, 2021.

Details: https://www.americascup.com/