Amcup race director’s big hope
America’s Cup director Iain Murray has delivered some good news for fans, declaring there is real intention to sail next year’s event as close to land as possible.
Auckland has five courses designated for racing and choosing the course each day will be dependent on the direction of the wind.
But Murray says there is hope to bring the 75-foiling monohulls in close to Takapuna Beach and North Head on Auckland’s North Shore.
‘‘Auckland is a great place and the desire is to bring the course to the people and to race between Rangitoto off Takapuna and round North Head,’’ Cup veteran Murray of Australia told French sailing site Tip & Shaft.
‘‘We had all the fast boat worlds there, the 49ers and the Nacras worlds, last and it is a great piece of racing water. It is tidal and we can get predominantly north easterlies or south west winds which will be a good challenge for these boats.
‘‘The people of Auckland are sailing enthusiasts and they will support the event like no other place in the world. That will be a great foundation for the teams in doing all this. Not going a long way offshore like they used to, I think Auckland will be a great venue.’’
Like everyone involved in the regatta or interested in it, Murray feels the lack of warm-up racing has added intense intrigue into the design process with teams now building their second boats to be raced in Auckland on the back of their own in-house testing and development.
‘‘Today’s teams are verymuch in the infancy of this class on a very steep learning trajectory so this has probably been the biggest change to any form of sailing and to the events,’’ Murray, race director for the last two editions in San Francisco and Bermuda, said.
‘‘There are so many things which are new to the America’s Cup … the boats, the type of racing, the equipment. There is a lot of new stuff there which really would have been good to have a test drive with in Cagliari and Portsmouth.
‘‘We are back into bigger boats, big crews, very cutting edge designs and facets of sailing which are not proven or amended. This is first generation stuff which I find really interesting.’’