Team NZ to change tack on cup rules
It remains to be seen how much but Team New Zealand will strengthen the nationality component of the America’s Cup.
Holders of the Auld Mug following their triumph in Bermuda last month, the Kiwi syndicate revealed the first details of the next regatta alongside official challenger of record Luna Rossa yesterday.
The full protocol will not be unveiled until September but Team New Zealand indicated the 36th America’s Cup will likely take place in Auckland in 2021 and also confirmed two important features.
Not only will the rules, as widely signalled, require more of a national element to each crew, they will ensure more of each boat is built in the country of that team.
‘‘In recognition of the fundamental condition of the Deed of Gift that the Cup be preserved as a perpetual Challenge Cup for friendly competition between foreign countries, the Protocol will contain a ‘‘constructed in country’’ requirement for competing yachts and a nationality requirement for competing crew members,’’ the Team New Zealand statement said.
A key element of the America’s Cup for decades, the constructed in country rule was close to non-existent for the regatta in Bermuda this year.
All that was required was for the exterior surface of a small forward section of each boats bows (less than 20 per cent) to be from the country the team represented.
Previous Cup holders Oracle Team USA were one syndicate to take full advantage of this, with a company located in Warkworth, north of Auckland, building most of their boat and its components.
Team New Zealand were the only one of the five challengers who took part in the 35th Cup not to sign a ‘framework agreement’ for the regatta going forward.
Among many terms, the agreement stipulated the Cup would be moved to a two-yearly cycle for its next two editions (2019 and 2021) and would continue to be raced in foiling catamarans.
It is expected the class of boat and eventual make-up of nationality requirements will be crucial in determining the number and type of challengers who decide to take part in the next regatta.
In the immediate wake of their victory in Bermuda, though, Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton indicated they wanted to make the Cup as interesting and fair as possible.
‘‘We need to put in place an exciting event that takes a lot of what has happened here because there’s a lot of good that has happened.
‘‘To me it is a privilege to hold the America’s Cup, it is not a right. We will put in place rules and an organisation that if we’re good enough we’ll hold on to it. If we’re not good enough we won’t try and impose our will on it so we can hold it at all costs.’’
Team New Zealand were yet provide any solid indications about what type of boat will be used, although it has been speculated they will go in a more traditional direction, with foiling monuhulls one of the classes under consideration.
But the new holders did confirm they would probably retain a four-year gap between regattas and that the country’s biggest city was in line to host the Cup for a third time.
‘‘The proposed dates for the event will be further detailed in the Protocol but the Defender and the Challenger of Record are considering the possibility of the 36th America’s Cup Match and the preceding Challenger Selection Series being conducted in Auckland in early 2021 during the New Zealand summer,’’ the Team New Zealand statement said.