Secret Sailor Auld Mug for sale for 30 pieces of silver
After months of speculation, it has been revealed that Team New Zealand have been shopping around the next America’s Cup and could take the regatta offshore — at the right price.
It would make sense to sell to the highest bidder if this was solely a business decision, but as we have seen again over the past months, Kiwis get behind their team 100 per cent. Sell it to an Arab state or European country with deep pockets and you have to wonder if it still would be “Team New Zealand”.
Who controls the team and the regatta if it’s not the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron?
And you can bet a fair number of people — including a few at the RNZYS — would be very upset if it was sold for 30 pieces of silver.
The America’s Cup is, first and foremost, a regatta between yacht clubs, and if Team New Zealand retain the Cup, the next one should be sailed in New Zealand waters.
They have to win it first, though — and the rumour mill has it that Te Rehutai has been hitting neverbefore-seen
speeds in training recently.
That wouldn’t surprise me. Team NZ have been working hard and sailing regularly out the back of Waiheke Island and, if the Cup match were to be held today, they would be the bookies’ overwhelming favourite.
They’ve possibly made things even easier for themselves by this week agreeing to the reduction of the upper wind limit for the Prada Cup final and beyond — despite protests from Ineos Team UK. The ruling — that would see the upper limit remain at 21 knots, rather than be increased to 23 knots as originally agreed — is very unfair on the British challenger.
Add to that the decision to reintroduce the 15-minute delay rule after it was allowed, then scrapped, as well as the yellow card for noncompliance that could cost them a race and it is clear that Ineos Team UK and American Magic have had very little say in decisions taken by Luna Rossa, as the challenger of record, and defender Team New Zealand.
I believe those two teams have a vested interest in the upper limit being decreased.
Luna Rossa have shown to be stronger in the lighter breeze (while the Brits are a handful in the stronger wind), while Team NZ have the fastest boat by all accounts and would be mindful of potential damage that could occur when racing at the top end of the wind range.
Yes, disagreements like these aren’t unique to the 2021 America’s Cup but things have been more onesided than during previous regattas — including San Francisco in 2013 and Bermuda four years ago.
Teams will always jostle for an outcome that suits them, and the defender and Challenger of Record usually have an advantage — but this time round, it all feels a bit nasty.
The Secret Sailor is an
● internationally acclaimed yachtie with a strong history in the America’s Cup.