You can tell a lot about the importance of the recent America’s Cup World Series event in Naples by who was there and who wasn’t.
As I write, the final ACWS regatta was about to begin so I can’t tell you who won. But from the entry list of nine teams in AC45 catamarans, we can deduce that for the Defender and Challenger of Record - respectively Oracle Team USA and Artemis Racing - the outcome in Naples was not top of their priority list for April. This did not escape the notice of Grant Dalton, the head of Emirates Team New Zealand, who some weeks before Naples had this to say: “We will be there with a full-strength crew. Is it just us or does anyone else think it is hypocrisy that neither Artemis nor Oracle is sending their A team to Naples? These are the teams that said Emirates Team New Zealand wouldn't support the ‘future’.”
Where Oracle and Artemis were each fielding two teams in last year’s regattas, in Naples there was just one apiece. For the first time at the helm of the Oracle boat was Tom Slingsby. As multiple Laser World Champion and last year’s Olympic Champion in the singlehanded hiking boat there is no question that the 28-year-old Australian is one of the most accomplished sailors of his generation. But he’s not their ‘A list’ helmsman. That continues to be James Spithill, who was not in Naples.
Spithill and the bulk of the Oracle crew remain hard at work training on their AC72, as does nearly all of Artemis Racing. While last year’s star signing, 49er Olympic Champion Nathan Outteridge, is busy testing a modified foiling AC45 on San Francisco Bay, the Swedish AC45 in Naples was steered by 23-year-old 49er sailor Charlie Ekberg. A virtual unknown, Ekberg was being crewed by a number of familiar faces from the ACWS circuit, albeit in their capacity as crew of the Team Korea AC45 over the past two seasons.
While Team Korea paid the US$200,000 entry fee last year to enter the Louis Vuitton Cup with an AC72, not only was the 72-footer not built but there was no Team Korea on the start line in Naples. This is a shame for a team that had little money yet spent very wisely on hiring young talent that often showed the big teams the way round the track. Thanks to the small teams who came to do battle in the AC45s over the past three seasons, the ACWS has opened the door for a whole new generation of talent to compete at the highest level.
But to pick up on Grant Dalton’s gripe at the top of the story, for the ACWS to survive, and thrive, it needs to be seen as a grade one series in its own right, with the very best sailors seen to be on the start line - not too busy testing for another more important event. It would be like Red Bull pulling Sebastian Vettel out of a Formula One Grand Prix event so he could fly to the US to compete in the Indy 500 for a weekend. If the rest of us are expected to take the ACWS seriously, so too should Oracle and Artemis. The fact that they have remained testing in San Francisco highlights the dilemma that faces all America’s Cup holders. Oracle, and Russell Coutts specifically, have great ambitions to revolutionise the Cup. But when push comes to shove, the only thing that really matters to any Defender is winning the next Cup. And that’s why the A Team weren’t in Naples.
Alas, Naples marked the end of the America’s Cup World Series which has lit up the sailing world for the past two seasons. So why weren’t some of the big guns in Italy? The Defender and Challenger of Record had more important work to be done on San Francisco Bay. But if the top table of Oracle doesn’t show up at its own party, why should the rest of the world care?
“A joke.” That was how Dean Barker summed up his view of the AC45 racing in Venice in May. From a spectator’s point of view, I thought it was fantastic. But the light airs drifting off St Mark’s Square has reopened the debate about which should take precedence in the America’s Cup - the sport, or the show.
Australia are coming on strong, and threaten to topple the mighty Team GB from their perch as the pre-eminent sailing team in the world. Tom Slingsby wrapped up Australia’s first gold of the regatta, but his mates in the 49er Nathan Outteridge and Tom Slingsby sealed 49er gold with a Medal Race to spare, as did the Kiwis for silver.
Grant Dalton getting angry. What's new there? But did he have a right to be, when asking if it was right for Oracle and Artemis to leave their A-Team sailors behind in San Francisco. More controversy for Emirates Team New Zealand in a crash with training partners Luna Rossa. Andy Rice of SailJuice.com asks Jack Griffin of CupExperience.com to share his opinions on what went down in Naples at the America's Cup World Series regatta...
As we reach the business end of this America’s Cup cycle, we find ourselves in the ‘phoney war’ of dissembling and misinformation. Four fast boats on or above the water, yet the news flow has dried to a trickle of Twitter comments. Don’t we, the fans, deserve better? No! This is ‘their’ Cup, and ‘they’ can do what they want.
Sir Ben Ainslie was the star attraction at the London Boat Show, where the four-time Olympic Champion sounded very positive about the prospects of mounting his own America’s Cup challenge. Ben, along with French star Franck Cammas, also told us his plans to race in the Extreme Sailing Series this season. With no Cup racing going on at the moment, the global cat racing circuit has given potential Cup challengers a playground to keep them occupied for the next year.
I have barely drawn breath since Oracle’s stunning comeback on San Francisco Bay. A month later, it becomes increasingly clear that the 34th America’s Cup will go down as a classic. A defining moment in the event’s long history. But already for the sailors, the 34th Cup is ancient history as they try to make sense of an uncertain future...
This summer we will see an America’s Cup where four giant 72-foot catamarans will barely touch the waters of San Francisco Bay. Instead they’ll be flying around above it, as Swedish team Artemis has recently conceded that ‘foiling’ - rather than floating - is the new way of sailing super fast.
Adversity in the America’s Cup can come from the strangest of places, as Energy Team is finding out to its cost. The French team is facing the strangest of legal battles off the water, but as to the battles on the water.... well Ben Ainslie was the biggest winner at the recent event - even if he didn’t actually win.
Any British sailing fan has known just how good Ben Ainslie is for a long time. Even so, watching him win his fourth gold at London 2012 still took my breath away. Question is, will any of that superhuman success ever give Ben a chance to take a leading man’s role in the America’s Cup?
After some ho-hum performances in Europe, I’d begun to wonder if the sailors at Oracle were really that bothered about results on the AC45 circuit. But after a barnstorming performance in Newport, I’ve revised my view. Whichever way you look at it - financial, technological or in pure sailing terms - the Defender is going to be very hard to beat.
With a home crowd to please, Luna Rossa burst on to the America’s Cup World Series with a performance that delighted their passionate fans and struck fear into the hearts of their competitors. The wild reception in Naples was a reminder that no one can top the Italians in their enthusiasm for sport - even sailing!