The reappearance of Alinghi as an America’s Cup contestant lends a delicious edge to the 2024 regatta. Owner Ernesto Bertarelli remains the only Cup Challenger ever to have won the Auld Mug at his first attempt, when with Russell Coutts on the handlebars Alinghi crushed Team New Zealand in 2003, handing out a humiliating defeat after their seemingly effortless defence of 2000 – the defending crew not only dropping their rig during the 2003 Match but coming dangerously close to sinking at the start of Race 1. With Coutts now replaced by Ed Baird, Alinghi then defended successfully in Valencia in 2007 in the closest Match since 1983 and Australia II. Their defeat in 2010 in the Deed of Gift Match was not representative, Bertarelli losing interest with the endless, tedious legal onslaughts of Larry Ellison. Since then the Swiss have been virtually unbeatable in other high-performance arenas, especially foiling cats where they continue to dominate the hard-fought TF35 series (opposite) on boats almost as complex as the Cup’s AC75s
‘After a slow beat into a fading westerly breeze the final approaches to the line were nervously slow.’ The tightly bunched leading group crept forward in the dark at
2-3kt with the monohulls finally able to eke out a six-deep advantage. Waves of boats then continued to cross the line through the early morning hours. A particularly busy hour between 04.20 and 05.20 saw 63 yachts finishing. The overall handicap leaders would be found in this group, which brought the wind up the coast and avoided the worst of the calm patches. Unlike the leaders, this wave of finishers stormed around Cape
Brett with a 20-25kt easterly blasting them along, before the breeze steadily reduced as they approached the finish. And this is where the 2022 race turned into a small-boat benefit. The top 10 monohull handicap results all came from Divisions Three, Four and Five, comprising yachts under 10.5m, with the top four all in the 7-9m size range. The smaller multihulls also took their top handicap prizes – all
three podium positions claimed by boats of 10m or under. ‘It was very much a race of two halves,’ says Greer Houston,
Commodore of the NZ Multihull Yacht Club. ‘It was good that the smaller yachts dominated the handicap results this year. It shouldn’t just be about the big boats. It was also a tactical race, not just the normal drag up the coast. There was plenty to think about for once.’ Onshore the revellers celebrated through to sunrise and long
into the day. Certain traditions must be observed and respected. Tony Poolman and his crew of four were relaxing over a couple of quiet rums and figured their 30-year-old Elliott 7 Elevation had the Division Five prize in the bag. ‘Then we thought, maybe we had not done too badly in the overall standings…’ says Tony. ‘So we checked in and realised we had won the big one! There was a stunned silence for about 30 seconds as we took that in.’ Poolman has owned Elevation for 14 years (it was originally
designer Greg Elliott’s own boat) and also won the Division Five prize back in 2019. This year’s overall victory is a crowning achieve- ment and just reward for a big effort. ‘We pushed hard all the way, with a lot of sail changes,’ he says. As for the future, this year’s 164-boat fleet is testament to the
popularity of this classic offshore race – however, it is one of the few events of its kind remaining on the New Zealand calendar. Offshore racing, once the cornerstone of New Zealand’s racing success, has largely given way to short-form racing as social norms eat into leisure
time. Happily the Coastal Classic is an institution that shows no sign of losing momentum and looks well set for another 40 years at least. Ivor Wilkins
SPAIN Barcelona is experiencing a strange sensation with the America’s Cup. After the information maelstrom of the announcement of the venue there was a positive avalanche of Cup stories in the local and national media. Then, like snow in the mountains, public interest faded away with the arrival of the heat. Spain had the precedent of Valencia 2007, where the teams
settled in their bases three years earlier, the teams sailed long training days and the long-awaited Acts also contributed to people being able to get familiar with the competition well in advance. Today the two most frequently asked questions on the streets
of Barcelona are: when will the teams be installed in the city and when will they be able to see the very modern AC75s sailing from the coast? The wait is turning out to be long and for many people also somewhat disappointing, surely because they had received a steady flow of news and information in the lead-up to the 2007 event. However, no one doubts that even if the noise of the fireworks lasts just one year, it will be a great show. It is no coincidence that support for Alinghi is growing.
Theoretically the ‘local team’ will be New Zealand, in gratitude for having chosen Barcelona as the venue, but the first to settle in Barcelona have been the Swiss. This has generated noise in the media, which soon remembered that they were the ones who brought the Cup to Spain the first time. In addition, Alinghi have been organising regular visits by Spanish and foreign journalists to their temporary base, gaining an early advantage in the competition waged by the teams to get the general public onside.
Alinghi gives you wings The teams are brimming with people with interesting stories, beyond the famous sailors and members of their technical staff. Searching down, we quickly found two cases with points in common – including their youth and also their academic aeronautical training. For Nicolás Bailys the AC37 will be his fourth edition. An aero-
nautical engineer, he worked in a consultancy closely tied to Airbus working on their ‘plane of the future’ project. Born in Madrid and with no sailing or nautical background in his family or circle of friends, SEAHORSE 27
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