Ken Read: Changing sailing for America

Ken Read

Ken Read, who has been President of North Sails since 2013, resigned to lead the USA challenge for the 2027 America’s Cup. As CEO of the American Racing Challenger Team USA, Read provides this exclusive update for Scuttlebutt:

Explain how this team came to be.

This all goes back to the new America’s Cup Partnership agreement. Our campaign doesn’t happen without it. Our Co-Founder and Chairman Karel Komárek would not have been interested without the partnership agreement. I know there’s been grumbling about the agreement in what it does to the event, but I wonder if those same people have read it. It’s 700 pages.

What the agreement has done is provide smart, wealthy entrepreneurs a way to consider the America’s Cup as something other than a black hole to dump money. The event now brings about the opportunity to create a franchise, to create some sort of commercial growth and success. The America’s Cup now isn’t considered just a billionaire’s playground. It’s considered a playground of success for sailing.

Is it changing the model of what America’s Cups have been in the past? Absolutely. But the event was dying. We were literally less than a day away from a Deed of Gift match a little over a year ago. And if that had happened, everybody would’ve gone away, and it would have been over until it escaped from the ashes. So, the partnership agreement has allowed these entrepreneurs – investors, let’s call them – to think differently about the America’s Cup.

I’ve gotten to know Karel quite well. He owns the 100-footer V that I’ve been sailing on, and we spent a bunch of time in Barcelona during the 2024 America’s Cup as there was also a maxi boat regatta. We had the wonderful opportunity to tour all the bases, and while it was pretty fun, it was very clear to him that he didn’t want to play in that arena where whoever spends the most money wins.

So that was that, but then this partnership agreement gets put together, and a couple of the principals of other teams reached out to him and asked him to take a look. He agreed, had his team review it, got intrigued, and called me just over two months ago and we talked for about an hour. At the end of our conversation, I agreed to poke around and do my due diligence.

That’s really when it started. I was just doing it as his friend and colleague and tactician on his 100-footer because I care for the guy, but it started to evolve into something that made sense. Chris Welch got involved as another principal and we began talking to American Magic about their assets. All of a sudden, we were putting key puzzle pieces together. It’s been a crazy, wild two months, because I also had a full-time job at North Sails, and this was evolving into another full-time job.

The March 31st entry deadline became the bane of our existence, because we had to get a lot of complicated stuff figured out by then. But thank goodness for deadlines, because this could’ve dragged out for a year. Miraculously, thanks to a lot of hard work from a lot of people, it came together.

So now you’re an official entry you have a boat, but what about the sailors and technical team?

These aren’t going to be the bloated 150-person programs anymore because there’s a proper Formula One-style cost cap. It’s another reason why some of these entrepreneurs got into it, because they don’t see this as an endless money pit.

Our goal is to make this as inclusive as possible. We want to be as much of an open book as we possibly can, because that’s the only way we’re going to help change and promote this sport. That’s been super important as a goal. This isn’t a sailboat racing program first right now. This is a, “How are we going to use this to do a greater good?”

With that said, I wish I had more information for you. You’re looking at employee number one right now. We are very quickly trying to assemble a design team, and a critical element for us to get on the 2027 starting line, beyond acquiring American Magic’s equipment, is having secured American Magic Services.

This is a completely separate company from American Magic and they have an unbelievable set up in Pensacola, Florida. Not only is the base that they ran their America’s Cup program pretty unique in its ability to deal with boats with wings and foils and all the equipment and containers, but there’s also a brand-new manufacturing facility.

American Magic Services will very quickly allow us to scale up and become a full-fledged program through the people they already have on hire. Tyson Lamond, who was the COO of American Magic for their two campaigns, is a managing director of this new company that we’re assembling, and he has the expertise and contacts within that side of the industry to put a team together quite quickly…we hope.

The funny part is we’re essentially a tech startup, and we haven’t even thought about the sailors yet. We still have a long way to go in a short period of time to get to the point where we can even use sailors yet, never mind who they are.

You now need only five sailors, so there’s that.

What’s been really interesting, and one of the good reasons to bring on US Sailing, is there’s actually a really solid, young talent pool of American sailors who have the skills now to sail boats like this. They did really well in the 2024 Youth America’s Cup, and the women also had a respectable showing. At the 2026 WASZP World Championship, USA won both the men’s and women’s divisions, plus there’s some really good Olympic talent that’s starting to show off again.

We’re hoping the sailing core can be these emerging Americans, but we’re also not going to pigeonhole ourselves by saying, “We won’t have any foreigners on the boat.” However, our goal is to be primarily a US-crewed boat, because I think that’s really important. We have to show a pathway for young kids.

If we’re going to create a pathway, then I think it would be somewhat hypocritical to go after the first free agent we find to bring them in. The message we want to send to women and men in the United States is that the sport of sailing is a place that you can go from a sporting standpoint, from an athletic standpoint, and from a go-work-for-a-living standpoint.

So, the ball is rolling.

Definitely. We are one of the few teams which owns two AC40s. We have all the simulators. We’ve got the AC75, which is in immaculate shape, and all the intellectual property. We have multiple masts. The foil package the boat has right now is the foil package they sailed with last time. There are still big modifications that have to happen to align with the new class regulations, so the systems are to be gutted and cockpit layouts redone. But it’s still the same boat, same hull, same structure, which is in perfect shape.

Another sidebar to this is the people who are the core at American Magic Services are a lot of the same boat builders that did both my Puma boats for the Volvo Ocean Race along with building the 100-footer Comanche which I skippered. In many ways, we’re kind of getting the old band back together again. These are people I trust and that trust me; I know how good they are at what they do.

Rebuilding the AC75 is going to take a while, but in the meantime, we will put together a sailing program and utilize the AC40s as best we possibly can.

Are you required to compete in the first preliminary event?

No. Transporting the AC40s to Sardinia for the May 2026 racing would have taken too long and we don’t have the sailing team. That was a basis of our entry and they were totally understanding. We’ll be there in some form or fashion, but it won’t be racing.

You’re starting pretty late compared to some other teams. How do you become competitive?

There are some relaxed rules, as far as sharing technology, so we’re looking at ways to ramp up. It’s not unlike what the Kiwis did for the French in the last event. The Kiwis designed their boat, and they worked together for a long time until the cutoff date. So, we’re certainly looking at all options. Let’s face it, the Italians and the Kiwis never stopped after the 2024 races. They started their 2027 America’s Cup programs essentially the next day, so all the teams are chasing them.

Our hope is to have a very competitive program in 2027, but our principals have made it very clear that this is a multi-campaign program. That allows us to look into the future versus panicking to get it done in less than a year. That would be unreasonable by anybody’s metrics. So yes, we’re going to have some time to do this right in many ways, thinking about what’s necessary for 2027 but also beyond. This is a really good sign for sailing in America.

What is the timeline to get the boats in the water?

It will take a fair chunk of the summer to complete the necessary modifications on the AC75, so we are hoping to be sailing by the fall. We can splash it with the existing foils, and all the while have new foils being built. But the AC40s are ready now, so as we assemble our team, we look to be sailing them this summer.

There’s also limited days that you can sail. It’s not like when I competed and you’d just go beat yourself up every day and try to learn something. Now, you’ve got to be really exacting as to what you’re trying accomplish within the permitted sailing windows.

But we are fully on now. The USA is in the America’s Cup and it’s going to be really interesting.

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

Defender New Zealand and Challenger of Record from Great Britain confirmed the Protocol for the 38th America’s Cup on August 12, 2025. The close of the initial entry period was October 31, 2025, with late entries considered up to March 31, 2026.

Current entrants:
• Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) – Defender
• Athena Racing (GBR) – Challenger of Record
• Luna Rossa (ITA) – Challenger
• Tudor Team Alinghi (SUI) – Challenger
• La Roche-Posay Racing Team (FRA) – Challenger
• American Racing Challenger Team USA (USA) – Challenger

After the 2024 event, Barcelona, Spain declined hosting another edition, with the venue moved to Naples, Italy. Challenger racing begins in the spring before the 38th Match on July 10-18, 2027.

Preliminary Regattas:*
May 21-24, 2026 – Cagliari, Sardinia

* More are to be announced.