Editorial Andrew Hurst All change
Things have suddenly got more serious for Team New Zealand’s hopes of defending the America’s Cup for a second time. A spoof press release did the rounds in December announcing that Scuderia Ferrari had thrown their weight behind Prada Luna Rossa. In the context of how slowly this Cup is coming together it was believable. As
our friends at Sailing Anarchy observed, the average cost of today’s Mercedes range is a long way under $100,000 while the cheapest Ferrari starts at $250,000 once you put some fuel in. A competition between luxury brands… who’s laughing now? American Magic looks likely to renew its Airbus partnership and
Alinghi have Red Bull Racing in their camp, bringing with them the greatest racing car designer of his generation, Adrian Newey, and one of the best composite engineering teams on the planet. When your F1 world championship cars start as a pencil sketch
on the master’s drawing board, rather than in the computer, then do not be surprised if in 2024 Alinghi turns up with a fresh left-field solution to the AC75 conundrum. As one member of the Alinghi design team has observed, at the last Cup Team NZ flew fast on tiny foils; but no one else came up with anything that wasn’t just a variation on a theme. The AC75 rule is ripe for the picking. Team NZ made an error in allowing the next Cup to be dragged
into the sort of hiatus we saw in 1987-88 and 2007-2010. Those episodes showed that when a defender is distracted challengers with backing in place do not let the time go to waste. Alinghi has been at it for months already, Luna Rossa never really stopped, neither did Ineos but now with the technical might of an eight-time F1 constructor’s world champion. Meanwhile, Team NZ has been crying foul on every attempt to
put funding in place for the next regatta, hoping to have enough left over to also pay for a big defence programme. Chasing rainbows in terms of venues and sounding uncharacteristically desperate. An America’s Cup in Cork? Great town, great country, great sailors. And great hosts. But, but, but. Valencia, where they’ve only just finished chopping up abandoned ACC boats from 2007? (I may be an unlucky hostage to fortune, in which case I will be
quite content; anywhere is better than nowhere). Team NZ’s efforts to use the leverage of a venue contest to also
get their team funding looked misguided. There is a fallback venue in Saudi Arabia – political noise be damned if things get desperate enough – plus a new candidate who appeared before Christmas, but would it not have been better to agree a home defence with the New Zealand government cash already on the table and then go hunting for team backing? After all, Team NZ’s Grant Dalton has proved himself the master of landing big sponsorship. There has been money on the table since June to run a first-class
Cup regatta. I believe Team NZ will regret not taking it. The irony is that at its heart the next Cup will be the ultimate
battle of billionaire private owners. A perfect rerun of the Vanderbilt Cups of the 1930s. Team NZ’s own billionaire keeps a lower profile than his Cup rivals, but he is there nonetheless. The entry of Alinghi in December may, in retrospect, prove to
have been the tipping point for Team New Zealand’s hopes. The Swiss know how to win the America’s Cup. They did so with and without Russell Coutts in 2003 and 2007. After spending two years in the courts, rightly or wrongly, by 2010 team owner Ernesto Bertarelli had started to lose interest; for the 2010 Deed of Gift Match he declined to build the wingmast for Alinghi 5 which the team knew was now essential to beat Oracle. Before that, however, Alinghi rewrote the Cup playbook. They did
what it took to win at their first attempt; they not only beat Team New Zealand, they humiliated them. Coutts walked out in 2004 but then they confounded observers by winning again in 2007 with- out him. They were also Dennis Conner-like smart, always playing the long game – also a Russell Coutts trait. Yes, they used every available design tool but they were the only Cup team in the ACC era who always tested new design ideas at full scale. A lot of work for the builders, and a lot of cash, but it paid off. It is repeated ad nauseam that the only thing more valuable than
‘
Seatbelt, why, cigar, tick, co-pilot, bu**er off, what for? The Great Man takes charge during his flight to the 1943 Tehran conference
money in a Cup campaign is time. All of us who admire Dalton’s team have watched with sadness as they traded away a year of preparation for a so far fruitless pursuit of gold.
PAY ATTENTION Let’s just say when Keith Richards says you do too many drugs, it’s bad
– Mick Jagger counsels (the late) Brian Jones
DISTRACTIONS DISTRACTIONS We understand that Team New Zealand are agreeable to selling these new hydrogen powered foiling support
boats to other teams – Bruno Dubois, sailing team manager (and legend)
campaign… – Dubois OLD HEAD
– Of course at $2million each they are another way of financing their
People do many things for money, this is just another one
– Young McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris defends his move to Monaco
CALLED OUT Personally, it doesn’t matter whether or not I
win the title – Max Verstappen, Red Bull F1
I love it when drivers
tell themselves that! – Jenson Button, world champion 2009
PROHIBITION
This is to certify that when travelling the convalescence of the Hon Winston S Churchill necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits especially at meal times. The quantity is naturally indefinite but the minimum requirements would be
250 cubic centimetres Dr Otto C Pickhardt CHEERFUL
– Jens Georg Spahn, (former) Minister of Health
Most of Germany will be vaccinated, cured or dead by the end of winter
BIG BALLS Wayne, you’re basically fu**ed
– Frank Williams visits badly injured MotoGP champion Wayne Rainey in hospital
The best thing you can do is get back out there and do what you love
doing, and that’s racing – Williams
BLOODY CHEEK Andrew, I see the Hunter S Thompson
look has passed – Stewart Takatu
Good move – Stewie
Seahorse magazine and our associate raceboatsonly brokerage site are both at:
seahorsemagazine.com The editor is contactable by email at:
andrew@seahorse.co.uk
SEAHORSE 11 q
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