New-look America's Cup set for 2013 on catamarans
by Denholm Barnetson
YACHTING: VALENCIA, Spain, Sept 18, (AFP) - In a revamp of the
world's oldest international sporting competition, the next America's
Cup regatta, in 2013, will use "cutting-edge" catamarans instead of the
traditional monohulls.
The new "action-packed" format for the event is designed to appeal to
"the Facebook generation, not the Flintstone generation," Russell
Coutts, the CEO of America's Cup defenders Oracle, told a news
conference here on Monday.
The 72-foot (22-metre) wing-sail catamarans will be "pretty special,
very powerful and very demanding," the four-time America's Cup winning
New Zealander added.
America's Cup regattas traditionally use the much larger monohulls.
But the last edition, held in the Spanish Mediterranean port of
Valencia in February, was a best-of-three multihull duel between the US
syndicate Oracle and Switzerland's defending champion Alinghi.
That match, won by Oracle, was the result of more than two years of
legal wrangling between the two teams - owned respectively by US
software tycoon Larry Ellison and Swiss biotech billionaire Ernesto
Bertarelli - which many felt had tarnished the sport's image.
Coutts said in planning the new-look 34th edition of the Cup, the
organisers "looked beyond sailing" and talked to leaders of NBA
basketball, Nascar and Formula One auto racing and European Champions
League football.
In June, organisers carried out tests off the coast of Valencia
involving multihulls and monohulls to see what works best for television
audiences.
Great racing ahead
Coutts said the AC72 catamarans, which can zip round the racecourse
with one hull in the air, will "produce great match-racing" and "open
the door to other teams from elsewhere in sailing who have never
contemplated the America's Cup before".
They will "reconnect the America's Cup with young sailors and
encourage a new larger audience to turn on and tune in," he said, adding
that many of the potential challengers "see it as a chance to level the
playing field". Pete Melvin, a champion multihull sailor, said the new
catamarans will produce "competitive, fast high-adrenaline racing,
creating a more exciting competition".
As part of the overhaul of yachting's premier event, which dates back
to 1851, Coutts also announced that a "new annual America's Cup World
Series.., featuring the cutting-edge catamaran, will deliver exciting
racing to new audiences" from 2011.
He also said a new "Youth America's Cup" will take place from 2012
and "media output will be revolutionised" with "on-board cameramen".
The regatta itself will feature a "shorter action-packed race format"
and 11 crewmen per yacht, six fewer than in the monohulls.
Need to communicate excitement
"We need to capture and communicate the excitement that our sport can
produce," Coutts said.
"We could have pressed the repeat button and organised the 34th
America's Cup much the same" as the 32rd America's Cup, held in Valencia
in 2007, the last edition of the event to follow the traditional,
multichallenger format. "Then, the boats were relatively even and some
of the racing was great. Even so, when we looked into it deeply, the
commercial and media returns fell well short of a coherent and cohesive
model that would create sustainable teams and encourage sponsors to plan
for the long term."
He said limits on the numbers of boats, sails and equipment will also
bring down costs for the competitors.
Coutts, one of the world's most successful sailors, said Oracle would
announce the host city for the 34th edition by the end of the year.
San Francisco, where Oracle is based, is widely seen as the preferred
venue, but Valencia and a port near Rome as well as a site in the Middle
East have also been cited in press reports as possibilities.
He also confirmed that the protocol for the next edition envisages an
"independent body that will run the competition", the America's Cup Race
Management. |