AC36: Scoping the event
An analysis of the recently-announced 2021 protocol.
Dalton stressed this protocol is the product of mutual consent, a negotiated settlement between the Challenger of Record, Circolo della Vela Sicilia (CVS) and the Defender (RNZYS). And while this is ostensibly between the yacht clubs, the foundation of the AC36 Protocol is the trust between the Luna ROSSA/ETNZ syndicates formed over many Cup cycles.
It definitely encourages the syndicates to gang up on the Defender and to produce the strongest Challenger through the Challenger Selection Series (CSS). The CSS will be organised by the Challenger of Record with no meddling by the Defender. The Defender will play no part in the running of, nor competing in, the CSS.
Luna Rossa team principal, Patrizio Bertelli, says it’s about “restoring the original values” and attracting “a new generation of sailors”. Dalton wants an event “more easily recognisable by most of the world” than the foiling catamarans of the previous Cup. His aim is a trickle-down, leaving a legacy for increasing the technology and performance in monohulls, as was done for cats.
This Protocol feels like the 2003 version drawn up for AC31 in Auckland – very open, plain language easily understood by a layman. It provides for independent arbitration, measurement and race management teams.
Certainly, the pace of progress has been faster than usual. The Protocol was issued only two months after the Cup changed hands. The type of boat will be revealed at the end of this month, and the class rule will be locked down in March next year. The shortened timeline theme continues with the launch of the first boat allowed one year after the rule is announced – allowing for a four-month design lead and eightmonth build.
The first pre-event regatta (in the style of the old ACTS, with points collected to determine seeding in the CSS) will be in Europe in the second half of 2019 – little more than a year after the rule is announced. But there’s no AC45 World Series or Youth America’s Cup. The focus is on reducing costs and focussing on competitiveness for the AC itself.
Much has been made of the ‘gun-to-the-head’ approach in announcing that CVS’S base in Sardinia is the back-up if Auckland City Council cannot get itself sorted and square away the infrastructure needed to host the Cup.
Dalton stresses this is for clarity and confidence for the potential Challengers that there is a Plan B if it’s needed – “for whatever reason.” Plans being considered include Wynyard Quarter’s Silo Park area and bringing forward the Halsey Street extension – so the legacy possibilities are as huge as the bureaucratic minefield ahead.
The racing area has been identified as the inner Hauraki Gulf, as close inshore off Takapuna or Milford as conditions allow. Here the wind and sea conditions are variable, and would not have suited the AC50 cats that struggled on the near lake-like conditions of Bermuda’s Great Sound.
Races are slated to be 40 to 60 minutes long – not the 20 minutes of Bermuda nor the 2.5 hours of Valencia – with ‘proper’ upwind starts after a longer pre-start sequence, and room for a spectator fleet. You can get out on the water and watch it live.
COST CONTAINMENT
Something of a moot point, given Dalton’s acknowledgement that teams will spend what they want (or can afford), regardless. He says “people are 60 percent of the budget”, so what to make of the two-boat scenario? This could be interpreted as meaning two sailing teams of 10-12 crew, an increase in shore team and sailmakers (now that we will have proper sails). And what about all the infrastructure that goes with it – from chase-boat drivers to canteen staff?
There will be a number of design elements and some ‘one-design’ components that can either be made by the challenger or sourced offshore from appointed suppliers. This is to reduce the design hours from the peripheral items and allow focus on “the big bits”, as well allow smaller teams to tap into technology not necessarily available in their home country.
One might expect to see, say, Southern Spars taking on the role of turning out the masts, booms and prods as well as standard composite parts such as some appendages, fairings or gantries for media equipment for a portion of the fleet. We will know more when the rule is published.
Testing of large-scale models in a towing tank and wind tunnel is prohibited, moving to a reliance on computer analysis for CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). This is a bold step considering that only three years ago, at the High Performance Yacht Design Symposium held in Auckland, the general consensus was CFD was good, and getting better, but had a way to go before being 100 percent reliable. It seems ETNZ has become confident in its own CFD abilities to the point that it’s putting pressure on other teams to rely on theirs.
The number of appendages to be analysed is not yet known, with the details of the yacht to be released at the end of November, and a class rule issued in March next year. Design director, Dan Bernasconi would not be drawn, answering with “They might be or might not be foiling”, and that many candidate configurations are still being assessed.
Still, the CFD stipulation is a sly move, as the intention of cost reduction is wrapped around a reliance on a tool that is potentially capable of giving misleading results. If you get it wrong, the extent of alterations/modifications to the two boats is limited to 25 percent of the hull surface area, while repairs and restoring back to original are unlimited.
NATIONALITY
At least three (20 percent) of sailing team must be citizens of (and the rest resident in) the country of challenge for 380 days of the preceding two years. On the face of it that actually sounds a bit slack. But there is a complication: if you engage 80 percent nonnationals, you’re constrained by where and when you can practice outside of the country of challenge.
That will impact on both when you might decamp to NZ for training, and the time spent in the AC pre-events (or other events such as the Tokyo Olympics in 2020) outside of the country of challenge.
So, this definitely encourages the recruitment of home-grown talent, while allowing those teams without sufficient depth to swell their ranks, but only if they commit to train in-country for the AC.
How many teams might we expect? There were two entries in 2011 (well, only one challenger, really), three challengers in 2013 and five in 2017. Might that upward trend suggest eight or more in
The racing area has been identified as the inner Hauraki Gulf as close inshore off Takapuna or Milford as conditions allow.
2021? GBR, Sweden, multiple USA teams and Australia? Maybe Alinghi and France (if Bruno Troublé has a say)? Or Japan, China or even Korea again?
Might we see Ben Ainslie and Iain Percy team up? Percy would be an asset for Artemis if it was to challenge, but having already relinquished the helming role, he could comfortably slot in alongside Ainslie. That’s a potent team, without doubt. He’d struggle to make the residency days productive in Sweden’s short sailing summer. Imagine Glen Ashby and Jimmy Spithill sailing for Australia...
The word on the dock is the New York Yacht Club is gathering under the Devos family (Quantum Racing TP52) and Hap Fauth (Belle Mente IRC 72) to mount a challenge. West Coast US is also building pressure, and we might hear news of a second, if not a third, Us-flagged challenge.
PROFIT
Larry Ellison tried to make a buck, not appreciating that the stewardship of the Cup, and all it entails, may well cost rather than make you money. That’s the nature of this poisoned chalice. It is a thing to be desired, pursued and in the end, you pay for the privilege.
But rather than try to turn a profit from every angle, it seems this time there is a return to free-to-air broadcast and online rights. “You can’t sell the rights in sailing,” asserts Dalton, who is also looking further afield for the provision of the on-screen graphical overlays provided by Liveline. Official timekeeper Omega has access through its parent Swatch to the technology used in televised swimming and skiing.
Missing from the debit side of the ledger is the cost to host the event. Unlike Bermuda and San Francisco – which both had to pay Ellison huge sums for the ‘right’ to host – on top of huge sums for the actual running of the event – Auckland has it secured without a bidding war.
But, while Auckland has ‘only to build some infrastructure’ in an area that is already earmarked for development, the cumbersome machine that is Auckland City Council and its supposedly subservient Ports of Auckland are not known for moving with alacrity.
Such a development would leave a legacy like the Viaduct. But the fact the venue may not be confirmed until two months after the deadline for entries closes will prove a bone of contention, and the knock-on effects to the design criteria (by switching venues) would be significant.
The return of the guest racer or 13th man will add to corporate appeal. The general flavour of the commercial aspects seems to be to add value for the sponsor and the viewer, while foregoing profit for the Defender. That, in itself, is refreshing.
FINALLY
It’s worth remembering that ETNZ won the Cup with the lowest budget, the least in-venue time training and no collaboration with any other team.
Big boats, upwind starts, in big breeze on the Hauraki Gulf – the power and the glory!