After five years of war serving in the Royal Navy it is unsurprising the late HRH Prince Philip often returned to the sea for relaxation (his future wife (left) joined the ATS, whose members served as anti-aircraft gunners, radio operators, mechanics and drivers… which is where Her Majesty learned how to fix a Land Rover and rebuild an engine). Among his gifts to sailing HRH suggested the creation of Cowes Combined Clubs to run Cowes Week and invented the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme which has also helped thousands of youngsters to get afloat. Before retiring aged 96 (republicans please note) he performed more than 22,000 individual public duties
It would be more entertaining to see boat-on-boat and boundary
penalties paid off with a 360° rather than listening to the helmsman arguing with the umpire over the comms. OCS penalties could be paid by going around the end of the line and restarting. Simpler for the audience to understand and more fun to watch. What will wind limits be? There are two schools of thought about
light wind: no lower wind limit at all, or raise the lower limit to ensure the yachts will be foiling. Racing when there are barely any ripples means displacement sailing and learning to deploy and drop the Code 0. It also means longer time limits and potential abandon- ments. In other words, sailboat racing. Raising the lower limit would make it harder to start races at a specific time on specific days. That won’t work for linear broadcast TV, but our audience likes sailing and will watch the races when they happen or the replays when it suits. What about the upper wind limits? We never got to see what the
Kiwis’ Te Rehutai could do in a breeze – a shame. Raise the upper wind limit to, say, 30kt and figure out how to reef the mainsail or use a heavy-air sail. Let’s keep the rule requiring one measured configuration for the rest of the yacht – foils, rudder, hull, mast – for the duration of each phase of the competition. The AC75s will evolve. Software and systems will get a lot of
attention. Simulators will continue to grow in importance. Most observers found the racing in AC36 was surprisingly high-quality; far better and closer than we expected. We should see even more impressive racing in AC37 and AC38. Now back to the question of who will be racing where and when.
First, remember that all Matches for the America’s Cup are subject to the Deed of Gift. It was not until AC21 in 1970 that there were multiple challengers. The Deed’s ‘mutual consent’ wording allows the challenger and the defender to decide whether or not to allow additional challengers. The term ‘Deed of Gift Match’ describes a match in which the defender and challenger do not reach mutual consent, so they must
use the race conditions specified in the Deed of Gift: the winner is the first to win two races; race course free of headlands practicable in all parts for vessels with draft of 22ft. First race 20 miles to windward and return; second race an equilateral triangle of 13-mile legs, first leg to windward; third race, if needed, 20 miles to windward and return; seven-hour time limit. No one has proposed that for AC37. The defender and challenger could mutually agree to a Match
between themselves only. They could hold this Match in 2022 if they want, maybe in the Solent. They could mutually agree that the winner will make best efforts to accept the loser as the challenger for the following Match – AC38, to be raced in 2024 or 2025. And they could further agree that they would hold a challenger selection series for AC38, sailing in AC75s. None of this was anticipated by the Deed of Gift but all of it is
permitted. After all, if George Schuyler could impose terms in the Deed that must be followed in the 21st century, why should the current defender not do something similar? When Oracle and Golden Gate Yacht Club were the defender their 2017 Framework Agreement would have imposed their conditions had the Kiwis not thwarted that plan by refusing to join the five families and then going to the mattresses and winning.
CupExperience.com
FINE PERFORMANCE(S) – Terry Hutchinson It has been one month since TNZ’s defeat of Luna Rossa. Watching the Match from the spectator fleet was bittersweet as a competitor and yet as a fan of the America’s Cup it was awesome. My perspective of AC36 is pretty simple: Luna Rossa did bloody
good work to keep the series tied over the first six races, but the faster boat won. The further into the series things went the better for TNZ. From a conditions perspective – two windy and four light- air races – the series should have started 2-0 to TNZ, with the next
SEAHORSE 15
ALAMY
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