Series won’t threaten America’s Cup – Coutts

Sir Russell Coutts says his new world sailing series is ‘‘absolutely not’’ a rival to the America’s Cup.

Sail GP was launched in London yesterday and will feature the foiling 50-foot catamarans used in last year’s America’s Cup in Bermuda.

Six teams from Great Britain, United States, Australia, France, China and Japan will contest the series backed by Coutts boss at Oracle Team USA, American tech billionaire, Larry Ellison, who lost the America’s Cup to Team New Zealand.

The Kiwis have returned to monohulls – albeit a 75-foot foiling version – to the Cup for the 36th edition in Auckland 2021.

Ellison and Coutts believe there is enough interest to keep the exciting catamarans relevant on an international arena.

Asked if the series would rival sailing’s biggest event, Coutts, a multiple winner of the America’s Cup with New Zealand, Swiss and American teams, said: ‘‘Absolutely not’’.

Despite Oracle having a history of multi-national crews, Coutts pledged to go down a full nationality rule in a one-design boat in weekend regattas around the world. The series starts in Sydney on February 15-16, followed by regattas in San Francisco on May 4-5; New York on June 21-22; Cowes, England, on August 10-11; and the finale in Marseille, France, on September 20-22 that will include a winnertake-all US$1 million match race.

‘‘When you look at the differences they are significant. SailGP will be a one-design series,’’ Coutts told The Telegraph.

‘‘We want it to be nation versus nation with a 100 per cent nationality rule – that’s very important. Nation versus nation is such a strong selling point. We saw that at the Ryder Cup. We want it to be a globalised racing circuit with repeat venues. We want it to be commercially sustainable.’’

Boats would be supplied to the teams with a ‘‘centralised design team’’ providing upgrades.