November 2017 9I
s the return to monohulls a good
thing or a sad decision? For me, a bit
of both. These last three Cup cycles
have been a period of rapid innovation
that has spawned a revolution in
design. Elite sailing has gone from an esoteric
sport viewed with great difficulty by aficionados to
something that was easy to watch and to understand,
with superb graphics and close-up action, all in a
short package perfect for the age of mobile video.
This era of foiling cats gave us the L and J foils that
we now see in the GC32 Tour and the Extreme Series,
the foiling A Class cat, the foiling Nacra 17 for the next
Olympics and led to the powerful foil-borne round the
world Vendée Globe designs. They have produced the
latest gargantuan foiling Ultimes, such as Gitana 17.
It’s all incredibly cool stuff.
Were the flying multihulls too far ahead of their
time for the America’s Cup? Maybe. Hardcore fans
want to see a type of sailing they recognised, that
reflects history and in racing boats that bear at least
a passing resemblance to the ones they race. They
want racing upwind and downwind to actually look
different, and for the crew to sail rather than perform
as if they are working out at the gym.
And if ETNZ can make a fast class with more
active crew roles, maybe this could be an even more
amazing spectacle than the AC50s. Think of a foiling
IMOCA 60 such as Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss, wake
shooting out past the transom and man and machine
wrapped in a giant ball of spray and ask: which really
looks more sensational?O
racle Team USA is said not to be
challenging for the 36th America’s
Cup, Russell Coutts has indicated.
Backer Larry Ellison has been behind an
incredible and sometimes tumultuous
revolution in America’s Cup history:
Oracle won the Cup in the 2010 Deed
of Gift match sailing the giant trimaran
BMW Oracle against Alinghi’s catamaran.
They then defended and won the Cup in
2013 in after their famous comeback.
But when Oracle Team USA lost a
disappointing and one-sided Cup match
against Emirates Team New Zealand in
Bermuda, the team went quiet. No one
knows for sure if Ellison is out for good,
but Coutts, the architect of the modern
Cup format, who oversaw those three
campaigns, has returned to Australia
and (for now) grassroots sailing. He is
commodore of Manly Sailing Club.
What now for skipper Jimmy Spithill?
He has said he wants back in. Will the
punchy Australian, who has six Cuphoisting and handling sails.
The new design is slightly bigger than
the active 70ft Mini Maxi class, and could
appeal to existing teams and new owners
from this field. It would be large enough
to look exciting and be fast.
To contain costs, some components
will be one-design or single standard
manufacture. Challengers will be allowed
to build two boats, but sail only one at
a time. Grant Dalton also announced
the new nationality rule he had been
promising: ’20 per cent or three sailors of
the total crew (whichever is higher) must
be true nationals.’
The rest of the crew need to comply
with residency rules, and live in the
country of the challenging yacht club for
a minimum of 380 days between the 1September 2018 and 31 August 2020 –
equivalent to six months each year. The
restriction doesn’t apply to shore team
or designers. The racing will go back to
upwind starts and traditional pre-starts.
Speaking about the protocol, Dalton
said: “The plans are coming together
nicely – we shall have a very exciting boat
that will be fast and powerful.”
When his team won in Bermuda,
Dalton insisted that the formula would
not be designed from the outset to give
the defenders an advantage. But Ainslie
is not convinced. “The agreement with
the challenger of record and the defender
puts them in a pretty nice position. They
know what the rule is going to be and can
work towards it,” comments Ben Ainslie.
“There is a lot to be positive about. It
will be a monohull the likes of which we
have never seen before.”
But the close alignment of defender,
challenger and sponsor is a concern: “I
don’t think we’ve ever had a challenger
of record with so much influence in the
whole event, the challenger series and
the match, so it’s an interesting situation
we find ourselves in. Prada have control
of almost everything.
“There are clear conflicts of interest
in this protocol and it is a huge
responsibility on Luna Rossa to make
sure this is fair for challengers. It’s not
ideal from any challenger’s perspective
because we want to be on a level playing
field. But that’s the America’s Cup.”Is Ellison done with the Cup?
campaigns behind him, be able to
persuade Ellison to field another team?
Might he pop up again at Luna Rossa? Or
will an Australian team form around him?
Spithill has been saying little, though in
his recently published biography, Chasing
the Cup (Adlard Coles, £14.99) he writes:
‘I’d like to be remembered for getting
off the canvas, not for hitting it. I’ve just
come off copping one of the biggest
hidings of my life, but I’m not done yet.’Grant Dalton carries away the Cup, which
was always guarded reverently by white-
gloved bouncers during the Oracle era
Larry Ellison
watches the
final Cup match
In Bermuda and
defeat for his teamElaine BuntingDaniel FosterCOMMENT
ACEA/Gilles Martin-Raget