Am Cup will be up close and personal
Team New Zealand has confirmed America’s Cup racing will be sailed as close as possible to major landmarks in Auckland in 2021.
The Cup holders announced March 6-21 in 2021 as the racing period for the match against the successful syndicate from the Prada Cup challenger series. It will be a best of 13, first to 7-point series.
The races are tentatively planned to be held between 4pm to 6pm to maximise the traditional March sea breezes.
The racing zone covers a wide area of the Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf. Courses will be set dependent on wind conditions.
The designated area for courses will run south along the North Shore beaches around North Head encompassing the inner Waitemata harbour right up to Auckland’s iconic harbour bridge and downtown CBD, across Auckland’s eastern suburbs and all the way out the Tamaki Strait between Waiheke Island and Maraetai.
‘‘There is a reason for Auckland being world renown as ‘The City of Sails’ and for its sailing conditions,’’ Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton said as the details were confirmed at an announcement in Cowes, England, the first home of America’s Cup racing.
‘‘So we are very fortunate that the geography of Auckland allows us the ability to bring so many exciting and challenging race course options in close proximity to elevated vantage points for land-based spectators. We need to define a wide racing area to cater for all wind and tide directions and conditions which we have done.
‘‘But the one overarching objective in identifying the specific race courses within the race area was to bring the racing as close as possible to the land-based spectators. We are incredibly lucky to have both North Head and Bastion Point where the public will literally be able to hear the AC75 whistling above the water and see the wind shifts on the water without having to set foot on a boat.’’
Dalton said they had worked hard with the Auckland harbour master and related agencies to ensure they could cope with what is expected to be a huge spectator fleet on the race course boundaries.
The races are planned to last around 35-minutes including prestarts and the courses will involve leg lengths between 1.3-2.2 nautical miles.
They will be set to a typical windward leeward configuration with potential for a dramatic final reaching leg to the finish line.
Team New Zealand said consideration had been given to minimising race day cancellations due to too much wind or swell as was seen in AC34 in San Francisco in 2013.
The course area directly between Eastern Beach and Waiheke Island provides a sheltered, all wind direction race course and was the training ground of Team New Zealand for their successful 35th America’s Cup challenge in Bermuda last year.