Paul Cayar
Rob Weiland Admiral’s Cup… promoting participation
Ever since the June press release and preliminary NoR, for interested outsiders like me it has all been way too silent around the 2025 Admiral’s Cup. I contacted RORC pretty soon afterwards point-
ing out the rating bands as published for the two classes (TCC Class 1: 1.335-1.464; TCC Class 2: 1.176-1.276) were not going to get a large
number of countries participating as only Australia, France, Great Britain, Germany and the USA have suitable boats in both rating bands, but bar Australia just a few boats, certainly in the low band. With the Fastnet included in the Admiral’s Cup I was equally
surprised to see the Admiral’s Cup bands not lining up with those of the Fastnet, whose bands I presume are based on experience of what will produce good racing? I am sure I was not the only one commenting and since then
RORC has adjusted the rating bands to TCC Class 1: 1.280 -1.464; TCC Class 2: 1.100-1.276, opening up especially Admiral’s Cup 2 to a much wider choice of suitable boats and with that to a potentially much larger number of traditional sailing nations like Brazil, Spain, Hong Kong, Italy, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey,
The NoR promotes having female crew and crew of 25 or younger
by allowing one extra crew member if one of each or two of either are onboard. As the IRC maximum crew number already makes for a crowded rail I would change that to the IRC maximum crew number only if two crew are 25 or under or female. And for those not meeting these progressive and important criteria then the maximum crew will be IRC-max minus
one.It will be mandatory for all crew to be onboard for all races. Further, I would introduce a sail limit to level the competition at
least a little between the ‘have endless’ and the ‘have a lot’ teams! I would mandate that sails can be varied daily subject to Admiral’s Cup 1 boats measuring in no more than 20 sails for the event and Admiral’s Cup 2 boats no more than 18 (plus a heavy-weather jib, storm jib and trysail). Then I would add: The sails taken onboard for the offshore races shall be registered for each race and, in case of finishing a race with fewer sails than listed, this shall be reported at the finish including a ‘believable’ reason for the loss… Eligibility for the event is today worded so that teams of two boats
may enter representing a club or country. I would go a step further and allow teams as well as individual boats to enter. I would regulate this with a maximum of, say, six or eight boats per country and these boats must be of an equal number in each class – either first come first served or one club per nation to select and enter up to the full quota of boats. This seems needlessly complicated but I feel for quite a number of owners it will be a blessing not having to worry about who to team up with. Something like: ‘Clubs or countries may enter a maximum of four
teams of two boats per team (one in each class), or a maximum of eight boats (an even number of boats over two classes), or a mix of teams and individual boats but totalling no more than eight boats representing the country where that club is based.’ Going more radical… extra spice could be found by building team
selection for the individual entries into the regatta itself! Imagine team selection based on the overall result of the inshore races (no discard). Then after the three inshore days the best-scoring individual entries in Admiral’s Cup 1 and Admiral’s Cup 2 per country are teamed up, and the same for the two second best, and so on. This battle within a battle, selection trials within the main event,
will in my opinion not only boost publicity but foremost increase interest to join the event; certainly if combined with attractive indi- vidual trophies plus of course being eligible for the famous Channel Race and Fastnet Race overall silver. Following this model a country, say the UK, could for instance
For the 1985 Admiral’s Cup yachts still had to fit one single rating band which meant boats from 40ft-50ft overall. As expected many teams selected three 40ft One Tonners – which were dominating IOR at the time. Having been left out of the UK team Chris Dunning and his 45-foot Marionette, designed by Humphreys & Dubois, signed up for Singapore. She is seen at the start of that year’s rough Fastnet… during which it also rained for 80% of the time!
as well as potentially increasing the number of interested owners from Australia, France, Great Britain, Germany and the USA. Every one of these countries has one or more TP52s racing under its flag fitting the Admiral’s Cup 1 band, but most would have struggled to find a suitable Admiral’s Cup 2 boat within the former rating band. The new format also helps countries like 1999 Admiral’s Cup
winners the Netherlands who lacked suitable boats in both bands. I would personally feel it a shame if the Dutch are not represented on the water at what will be a historic event. I realise I did not mention Sweden… Sweden could be a strong
contender for the cup if Niklas Zennström enters both his IRC52 and Fast40 under the Swedish flag. I guess we may actually see one or two more national teams campaigned by a single owner. Not sure that suits the original idea of the cup but for sure it is a productive approach.
32 SEAHORSE
enter two teams plus four individual boats, which then after the three inshore days will result in four teams! During the inshore days the total score would be based on varying pairing of the six ‘indi- vidual’ yachts, keeping the final outcome open, which could add to the mystery and so popularity of the new-style Admiral’s Cup. Trophies matter to owners of racing yachts, do not underestimate
how much. As well as individual race trophies for the top three places in each of the two classes, I propose similar first-second- third-place trophies for the cumulative inshore score with no discard. I would also suggest owner-driver trophies for the three best-
scoring boats per class owned and primarily helmed by the owner (owner driving inshore + first hour of offshores). Maybe also RORC Centenary trophies for the best-scoring boats in each class owned and primarily helmed by a RORC member. There is a lot of scope to be creative to make the event interesting
for everyone. Finally, of course there should be Admiral’s Cup ‘keeper trophies’
for first, second and third national team, perhaps more if more than 20 teams take part… Then of course a few more practical topics could be addressed to stimulate participation by ‘modernising the format’, certainly in levelling the playing field and fair racing. It is much easier to be a gentleman/woman with clear rules and
especially proper controls in place. Then, with a bit of help from the wind gods, it will be a cracking event. Rob Weiland, TP52 Class Manager
q
AJAX/ALAMY
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