Seen here racing at the 12 Metre Worlds in Newport the S&S-designed 12 Metre Enterprise definitely never looked like that in Lowell North’s time as skipper, now with carbon mast, boom, sails and pretty much everything else. Enterprise finished 2nd in the Modern Division behind Challenge 12 – just ahead of the timeless Courageous. Tactician to skipper Clayton Deutsch on Enterprise was Vince Brun who would be plenty familiar with a yacht that spent its earlier life training out of San Diego where the North Sails story began
two lumps of sugar and a dragon’s head milk pitcher. Broiled fowl and pastries were accompanied by champagne, and each person received a gift at the end of the meal. Americans saw Lipton as the British version of PT Barnum, a tireless
and charming self-promoter. On the other side of the Atlantic it took until his fifth challenge and his 83rd birthday, in 1930, for him to be admitted to the Royal Yacht Squadron. By then some of the snobs who had previously blackballed the king’s grocer had died. Fast forward to 2003. Alinghi won the Cup and introduced the
‘Acts’ – a series of pre-regattas meant to keep the America’s Cup in the public eye and deliver more value to sponsors. A large supply of used IACC yachts enabled teams full of enthusiasm and short of financial support to add colour to the 2007 event in Valencia. After racing in the Marseille Act in the aptly numbered FRA-69,
Le Défi morphed into China Team. Using canvas instead of solid walls in their Valencia base freed up money for a dragon structure that crawled over their rooftop lounge and down to the dock. South Africa’s Shosholoza were the sweetheart team, justifiably
calling themselves ‘The Soul of Sailing’, with the best theme song. Jason Ker’s RSA-83was fast enough to lead many races at the first mark and beat Luna Rossa in one of the round robin races of the challenger selection series. Italy’s +39 occasionally paid their sailors and gave Iain Percy his first turn on the helm of a Cup yacht. For 2013 Oracle reprised the Acts, renaming them the America’s
Cup World Series. Whether that name constitutes a brand extension or dilution is open to debate. By building a fleet of AC45s to help teams learn to race wingsail catamarans, Oracle opened the door to new teams, most full of enthusiasm and short of financial support. Team Korea gave Chris Draper his start in the America’s Cup.
When Luna Rossa entered and hired him away, 49er gold medallist and Moth ace Nathan Outteridge got the helm of the White Tiger, and then was courted by three of the well-funded teams, landing at Artemis. China Team went through a series of helmsmen before settling on match-racing world champion Phil Robertson. GreenCom,
Aleph and Energy Team rounded out the shoestring challengers. Foreshadowing 2019, Oracle reduced the entry fees and offered easier payment terms, but only Artemis, Luna Rossa and ETNZ would build AC72s for the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup. Smaller yachts for the 2017 America’s Cup did little to expand the
challenger field. Larry Ellison got his friend and neighbour Masayoshi Son to enter Team Japan. Team France made the most of the smallest budget, taking races from Artemis and BAR. And then ETNZ upset the Framework Agreement applecart by thrashing Oracle. For 2021 Team France never got out of the sponsorship starting
blocks. Two accepted challengers have already succumbed. It looks as if ETNZ will only face three billionaire-funded challengers, the same number as showed up in San Francisco. We can debate whether the America’s Cup is better with many
teams, most with no chance of winning and many not even surviving, or better with just the three or four teams that have a chance of winning. For those who think the America’s Cup can be a profitable sports entertainment business, the closing line from The Great Gatsby seems appropriate: ‘And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’
ADVANCING ON MULTIPLE FRONTS – Terry Hutchinson The past month has been pretty exciting; Bella Mente two-boat sailing, mule sailing and three hours on an IC37 coaching the Double Jointed team with whom my youngest son, Aden, is racing the New York Yacht Club 175th anniversary regatta. Maxi72s line up, finally! In the last days of June we had the oppor-
tunity to line up Bella Mente against Cannonball and Proteus. Very quickly you remember how to start the development process. This breed of big IRC boats take a while to get right with the balance of performance and rating seemingly coming into its own in the third year of racing… or later when rating gains can be made with age allowance! That in itself is funny as after an hour on the grinding
SEAHORSE 13
INGRID ABERY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110
