The 34th America’s Cup and Sailing in Valencia
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SAILING IN VALENCIA WITH MIKE O'NEILL HERE

The 34th America’s Cup
The way forward
Following the constant court battles and lack of reliable information that beset the staging of the 33rd America’s Cup Challenge, the wealth of original thought and detailed plans emanating from BMW Oracle/Golden Gate Yacht Club has been a welcome change.

To summarise the new way forward for this once-prestigious event, BMW Oracle and GGYC, the current Defenders of the America’s Cup, have accepted Club Nautico di Roma as Challengers of Record for the 34th America’s Cup series. This gives the Italian club, represented by Vincenzo Onorato, the right to be consulted at every stage in the preparations for the next event.

Races will be in AC72 one-design catamarans, so BMW/Oracle’s 3-year design lead in multihull and wing-mast technology will be significantly reduced as the new craft will be available to all challengers soon after completion. The wing mast will be 130ft (39.6m) tall and the craft will achieve speeds in excess of 30kn (55km/h).

A smaller 45ft one-design catamaran (AC45) will be built in early 2011 to enable challengers to gain experience. Challengers will race this craft between June 2011 and March 2012, when the AC 72s will become available. It is also planned that a ‘Youth America’s Cup’ will be held in AC45s to help the series ‘re-connect with young talent’.

To create a ‘level playing field’, they plan to issue all of the event rules before the end of 2010. “Teams will know exactly what they are signing-up to.” An America’s Cup ‘World Series’, with a total of 9 regattas at various venues will take place over the 24 months leading up to the final event.

According to Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW Racing (and 4-time winner of the America’s Cup), research suggests that more teams will enter a multihull event than a revised monohull event. Entries will be open from 1/11/10 to 31/03/11.

Russell estimates that a team’s budget will be between €40M - €100M; similar to 2007 costs, but it could be less. For example, the new craft can be dismantled for easier transportation.

At least one other American team may challenge BMW/Oracle for the right to defend the trophy. This is in keeping with the current format of the America’s Cup.

A venue for the 34th America’s Cup, to be held in 2013, will be announced by the end of December, giving prospective challengers time to get teams and sponsorship in place. Possible venues include San Francisco, Sardinia and, of course, Valencia. We will have more news of this as talks with prospective teams are evaluated.
Mike O’Neill

13th September - date, type of boat and protocol announced in Valencia
America’s Cup – A change of direction

At a press conference in Valencia today, Russell Coutts of BMW Oracle announced that the 34th America’s Cup series will be contested in 72 ft catamarans instead of the traditional monohull yachts. In an effort to reduce the cost of entering a challenge, the AC72 will be built to strict one-design rules by a NZ boatbuilder. Marcus Young, commodore of Golden Gate Yacht Club, the current defenders of the trophy commented, “The playing field has been levelled”. In a further change to former Cup series, a 45ft ‘scaled down’ catamaran will be built to introduce potential challengers to the new class. Russell Coutts plans that this smaller multihull will also be available to young sailors to help the America’s Cup ideals “reconnect with young talent”.

The 34th America’s Cup series will be held in 2013. The venue will not be decided until December, giving competing ports the opportunity to submit realistic bids for the rights to host this prestigious event. More news will be released shortly.

Mike O’Neill

photos
Alinghi-©2010 George Johns/Alinghi
BMWOracle - ©2010 Gilles Martin-Raget