Coming out of a tack Glenn Ashby works the ‘Game Boy’ as he trims the wing on Team New Zealand’s successful Cup challenger while ready to put an arm out behind him to steady the wheel pending the imminent arrival of helmsman Pete Burling. Ignore the brave talk, the technical challenges of the AC75 flying monohull are not unexpectedly already causing a few jitters among some of the potential challengers for AC36. Fact is the next boat will again be about control systems – and in that department last time the Kiwis crushed it
Dog days
Andy Claughton, who was technical director for Emirates Team New Zealand before joining Ben Ainslie Racing for the last cycle, has been taking a philosophical look at the emerging picture for the 36th America’s Cup
We are indeed in the dog days of the America’s Cup cycle. The die for the 36th America’s Cup is ostensibly cast. We have a Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, and Challenger of Record (CoR), Luna
50 SEAHORSE
Rossa. They have agreed a Protocol. They have reached an accommodation as to the type of boat. The class rule is promised around Easter. On the face of it we will begin climbing out of the inter-match trough in the next few months and normal service will be resumed. But in several ways we are in uncharted territory. Firstly, the usual dynamic of dominant
Defender and compliant CoR is not in play. When Luna Rossa withdrew from the 35th America’s Cup they didn’t disband, but threw their weight behind ETNZ to help them win. There were Luna Rossa personnel throughout the team and they provided financial support. The quid pro quo was that Luna Rossa
would be CoR and have an equal stake in the management of the next Cup if Emirates Team New Zealand won. They wanted to draw the Cup back into a more traditional model, large monohulls, in an open sea venue, with an extended schedule of racing without restraint from the demands of live TV. If this gave them an improved chance of finally winning the Cup then so much the better. To their credit they backed a winner, much to the chagrin of the five beaten signatories of the Framework Agreement. The new Defender of the Cup usually has
full control of the schedule, venue and boat type. They use this to stack the deck in their favour. It is rather more than just ‘home field advantage’. But now the Defender and the CoR are equal partners, so both
Defender and Challenger of Record are working to maximise the strength of their hand through the wording of the Protocol. This gives Luna Rossa a much greater
opportunity to shape things to their benefit. Article 52 permits the Protocol to be amended at any time if the Defender and CoR agree. So dates, venues and other terms can be ‘adjusted’ at any time if things aren’t going to plan. Luna Rossa have also inked in the option
of hosting the Match in Italy if the New Zealand venue is not up to scratch. This gives ETNZ a stick to beat the Auckland City Council and New Zealand Govern- ment with to get good funding. If that doesn’t work Luna Rossa will put on a great show in Sicily. A clear example that ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune’. At no stage can other challengers influ-
ence the Protocol. That’s not to say there is a desire to mislead other challengers, but it means that at no stage can they exert any control on the event. Quite a consideration when you consider that the entry fee for the Cup and World Series events is £3-4million. This won’t deter Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR, or the New York Yacht Club, but it may give other potential challengers pause for thought. If there is an event with only four or five challengers that will suit Luna Rossa very well. Enough teams to look like a real event, but not so many as to reduce their chances of making it to the Match. Secondly, this is the first time that an
INGRID ABERY
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