Rod Davis
The beginnings of the Cup as spectator sport? There were already hardy souls prepared to go to sea in the foggy waters off New York to watch – and maybe even ‘encourage’ – the two contenders in the 1920 Cup match between Shamrock IV (left) and the more fragile Resolute. Already 2-0 ahead in a best of five series, had Shamrock agreed to race on the breezy third day (she declined for reasons of safety) she would probably have won the Cup for her popular owner, Sir Thomas Lipton. Real beauty (right)… Rod Davis’s new OK was launched a few months back. Other luminaries, including Volvo winner Mike Sanderson, have joined an OK revival that is now in full flow
Damn the torpedoes
The world seems to be changing quickly. Brexit and Donald Trump. Even the yacht racing world is steaming full ahead into uncharted waters. In the battle to compete with other sports and events for air time, yachting is pushing the bound- aries by showing a willingness to fast-track radical new thinking in the quest for media and public
exposure. The America’s Cup leads the way with this new package of sailboat racing tailored for a potential TV audience. It’s a bit like Trump being the president of the United States, like it or not. He is, or will be, the next president. As for the America’s Cup, like it or not, it has charted a new course (navigated by Sir Russell Coutts) that is not going to make a U-turn any time soon. As Russell famously said about the new America’s Cup: ‘This is not your grandfather’s regatta any more.’ Well, we can all agree on that one! I am not going to get into if it’s better than past America’s Cups; not going to talk about history or the tradition of the ‘holy grail’ of yachting. Plenty has been said by others on that. It’s the course the AC is on, through uncharted waters, where no man has gone before.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not convinced the America’s Cup has gone in the right direction. I have been 40 years in the AC business so have seen more changes than about anyone around when it comes to the America’s Cup – part-time amateur campaigns to full- time professional programmes. And associated costs that would make the richest of men squirm in their seat while making that face that says ‘ouch’. But this isthe course the America’s Cup is on, with a ‘damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead’ attitude! Pretty good bet they intend to stay on a straight course. Change is going to happen. It has to happen. And with change, any change, there is resistance. My goal here is not to go back to yesteryear by reversing the course. I am simply looking at the challenges facing the new style of America’s Cup. What I call the ‘rocks, shoals and torpedoes’ (RSTs). First let’s define the objective, or at least the objective as it looks to the outside world: maximise the exposure of sailboat racing to a worldwide audience so that the America’s Cup becomes com- mercially viable.
So those RSTs, where could they be? Here is one: nationality of the crews. Let’s think: does a nationality rule for the crew sailing on the boat help or hurt the objective?
The current rule demands that only one of the sailors on the boat 24 SEAHORSE
has to be from the country that the yacht represents. The thinking is, in this global world of professional sailors, that the best sailors should be sailing and should not be bound by the country they live in or have sailed for in the past. ‘The best sailors in the fastest boats’ is the catch phrase.
But would it attract more interest if the USA boat was sailed by Americans or the Swedish boat by Swedes?
Some of those who know me think I am taking the piss, as I have
sailed for four different countries in the America’s Cup. Guess that makes me kind of an expert but an expert who is willing to look at both sides of the debate, openly and objectively? It’s a simple question: will more people be interested, and follow the America’s Cup, if the sailors are from the country they represent? Or if the teams have the very best sailors they can muster, regardless of where they come from? My thinking is that nationalism matters and will matter even more in the future. Just look at Brexit and the USA presidential election. Nationalism is coming back into vogue. What would the Olympics be without nationalism? The counter is ‘Formula One is doing just fine with the best drivers and the fastest cars’, thank you very much.
Just a sideline. It used to be the Kiwis who made up the majority
of the skippers in the America’s Cup; nowadays it’s the Australians who are skippering the USA, New Zealand and Swedish boats! The tide has turned. One of the challenges for the new direction has been the America’s Cup World Series. The ACWS has been going on for the past two years. It comprises six two-day regattas, in various ports around the world. Logistically a big effort for all the teams. It is sailed in the same AC45 catamarans we used in 2011 and 2012 though now they have been modified to foil. The boats are nowhere near as sophisticated as the new boats that will be sailed in the next Cup. In fact, the AC45Fs (that’s what we call them) used in the World Series regattas are a bit ‘ropy’ to sail. Meaning unstable when on the foils. They still have the wow factor when foiling, but need 10kt of wind and don’t foil upwind at all. No complaints, though, as every- one accepted that would be the case. The boats for the next Cup will be way cooler, foiling upwind, even through the tacks.
The RST is the TV exposure
The challenge is in making sailboat racing fit TV times. In every other televised sport there is a start time of the game which is to the minute. Sailing is perhaps the most weather-dependent sport
MAX RANCHI
ROSENFELD
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