America’s Cup

Bon dia Barcelona!

As the vibrant Catalonian capital gets set to host the next America’s Cup, we look at why the decision was made and what happens next

he announcement that the 37th America’s Cup is to be held in Barcelona, Spain in 2024, was met with mixed reaction by the global sailing community, as the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand dramatically declared the choice of venue a day ahead of schedule.

It’s news that’s been eagerly awaited since the Kiwis successfully retained the Auld Mug on home waters in March 2021; within minutes of their victory the debate around the next venue had begun raging. But posturing aside, in accordance with the Deed of Gi , the nal decision was always in the hands of the team and their club, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Amidst huge controversy (see p31) team CEO Grant Dalton has insisted that his overseas search for nancial security is to ensure they can stage a successful defence, and is rmly in New Zealand’s longer term interests.

And his rationale in choosing Barcelona was no less philanthropic; he fronted the announcement by saying: “As Defender of the America’s Cup, we have always felt the responsibility to grow the event, the audience, and the sport of sailing on a global scale and certainly having the event hosted in a signi cant city such as Barcelona will allow us to propel the growth trajectory on the global sporting stage.”

Emirates Team New Zealand Principal Matteo de Nora a erwards told press that Barcelona showed “exceptional enthusiasm” and “met a broader set of requirements than the other candidate locations”.

Although no details have been revealed, Dalton has made it clear that all of the shortlisted bidders met the minimum nancial requirements. But Barcelona’s support for sustainability, equality, social impact and technological innovations in line with this Cup’s forward-thinking Protocol were lauded, and have no doubt been key in edging the win over others in the nal running; which included the Saudi Arabian venue of Jeddah, Spanish rival Malaga, and the Irish city of Cork.

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Barcelona won the bid and will host the 37th America's Cup in 2024

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For the British team, this will be their third consecutive campaign

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Sir Ben Ainslie says he is supportive of the venue choice

Ainslie’s view Sir Ben Ainslie shares his view on the venue decision, and reveals how it will impact the next steps in his Cup campaign

As Principal of INEOS Britannia, Sir Ben Ainslie has his sights on being the first British team to win in the 171-year history of the Cup. Representing the Royal Yacht Squadron, his team is the Challenger of Record for AC37. It’s a role that gives a unique opportunity to help define the Cup.

Asked how much influence his team has had as Challenger of Record over the decision on venue, Ainslie reveals: “We were in constant discussions with Team New Zealand. I have a great relationship with Grant Dalton, ultimately it was the defender’s decision.”

Ainslie is strongly supportive of the venue. “As Challenger of Record, we believe Barcelona will be a brilliant location for the Cup,” he says. “It is an iconic city and sporting venue with the 1992 Olympics being hosted there. It has a huge maritime history. That married with the America’s Cup, we couldn’t ask for a better venue.”

Is he disappointed not to be returning to Auckland? “We really enjoyed racing in New Zealand, particularly through such a di cult time that we all faced in Covid and we give massive thanks to the Kiwi public for their welcoming hospitality, they were brilliant hosts. The decision has been taken by the Defender to take the America’s Cup to Barcelona and that is now our focus, it will no doubt be an incredible event in 2024.”

Would he play things di erently and impose a home nation host rule if, when, he wins the Cup? “That’s a great question but one we can answer when we win it, and all our concentration is on winning it first!” he says.

For now, with the venue finally revealed, Ainslie says that, “A majority of our training and testing will be held in Barcelona,” but that final commitments to a schedule have yet to be made. However, he confirms that as a team they will be looking to finalise

operational plans “in the very near future”.

“The venue has a huge impact on our team strategy and planning timeline,” he explains. “For us, the venue choice and timeline aligns quite well with our original strategy so we are fine tuning our strategy to adapt to the new timeline. For the whole team, it is hugely motivating to have that final timeline and know what we are working towards.

“We know Barcelona well, we have some great contacts there, as well as a few team members that are local to the area,” he adds.

Time in the venue will of course be crucial to understand and analyse likely sailing conditions. Ainslie confirms this will “have a huge impact on design decisions”.

“In September and October in Barcelona, you can expect varying conditions. It will be a real challenge for the designers and sailors out on the water to adapt to those changing conditions. But I think that should make for a real fascinating event.

“I have competed in a number of events in Barcelona over the years. I have always found it to be a wonderful city to be in and around. The sailing conditions can be challenging, and we expect that there will be varying conditions and sea states which could make it a great challenge for the foiling monohulls.”

Ahead of AC37, there are two preliminary regattas still to be announced that will give teams the chance to race against one another in the new AC40 development class, plus a third that will be held in AC75s in Barcelona, just ahead of the Cup itself in the early autumn in 2024.

Asked where he would like to see these preliminary events go, Ainslie replies: “I think Auckland is such an iconic America’s Cup venue, I think that it would be fantastic to be back there and racing the AC40 class, as well as to be able to give something back to a country that has given so much support to the America’s Cup. I also believe it would be good for the America’s Cup as a sporting brand to race in the United States, that’s important. And of course, as a proud Brit, it would be great to see some racing on the Solent.”

City in the spotlight

A er what has been a long and competitive venue selection process, Dalton says he expects the 37th America’s Cup to be “nothing less than spectacular” – and on paper that certainly looks likely.

As a stage for sailing’s pinnacle event, the Catalonian capital makes perfect sense. It will be the rst city to ever claim the glittering title of host to both an Olympic Games and the America’s Cup. As one of the Med’s largest metropolises, Barcelona is easily accessible to visiting fans, while its CET timezone means live action broadcasts will have maximum global reach; couple this with pioneering data output planned via social media and there’s plenty of potential to push beyond the already-impressive 940 million media audience of AC36.

White sand beaches and chic palm-lined promenades will provide a natural viewing gallery, with racing taking place just o the central Barceloneta Beach, as close as 100 metres from the shore. Together with big screen broadcasts, this will bring the action to the public in a way that the Cup has previously struggled to fully deliver. e race window has been set for September and October 2024, spanning as much as 14 weeks, and coming less than a month a er the 2024 Olympic Sailing events are held just 300 miles away in Marseille, France. At this time of year, average wind speeds of 9-15 knots from a southerly or westerly direction are most likely; though some big breeze can’t be ruled out as winter approaches. With minimal tide and relatively at water, these sorts of conditions seem likely to place more of a premium than ever on boat handling as well as close-quarters tactics – making for exciting viewing.

What’s more, for four of the ve teams entered (to date) this will be the second Cup cycle in the AC75s – the foiling monohulls that featured in Auckland for AC36 – and it seems likely the performance

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Barceloneta Beach and, beyond, the Port of Barcelona area where the team bases will be

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e version 2 AC75s are lighter and teams know how to handle them - expect even closer racing for AC37 gaps will have narrowed. Add in shared reconnaissance that forms a mandatory agreement in this Protocol, and the competition should be extremely close indeed.

It also will help that the AC75 design is being optimised for lighter winds, thanks to bigger foils and an all-up weight that's lighter by around one ton – with the crew reduced from 11 to eight, and the code zero/ bowsprit banished. is means the boats should be able to foil much further down the wind range. Cyclors – as seen in AC35 in Bermuda – look likely to return, to help the grinders generate all the necessary power.

Teams will now be busy feeding wind and sea state data into their own design developments, and we eagerly await the 17 September milestone when existing teams can launch their AC75s – (although they are permitted to build just one, they can also use their AC40 for testing). Ahead of that, all eyes will be on AC75 novice Alinghi Red Bull Racing; having not competed in AC36, this team is permitted to launch their second-hand AC75 (the boat is Te Aihe purchased from ETNZ and now re-named BoatZero) and to bank 20 days of catch-up time on the water as early as 17 July.

It’s unlikely to take long for the teams to start settling in to their new home, with northern hemisphere teams likely relocating before the end of the year and the Kiwis following as their winter rolls around. Certainly, by summer 2023, all teams should be well established in the venue as the Protocol stipulation that competitors can only sail their AC75s (and AC40s) at the match venue kicks in between June and September; although expect a little nudge back as the race window is slightly later than rst anticipated.

Another bene t of Barcelona as a venue is that much of the infrastructure is already in place, concentrated around the Port of Barcelona. ere are plans to convert an old cinema for use as the Defender's base, while other teams will be situated at various sites around the dock. e oldest part, the Moll de la Fusta quayside, is already a cultural hub and will be the centre of the race village. In total, around 2,500 team and event personnel are expected to in ux the area ahead of summer 2024, with the full event schedule set to be con rmed later this year.

A turbulent wake

Meanwhile, back in Auckland, the AC36 team bases at Wynyard Point are in the process of being deconstructed and re-developed, with local o cials adamant that the area will not be available to stage a future America’s Cup defence.

New Zealand’s Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern was among the rst to comment on the decision to go with Barcelona, calling it “disappointing”.

By taking AC37 far away to Barcelona, Dalton and co have set themselves adri and any lines were once strongly held have well and truly been cast o . It’s the upshot of a battle that’s le an ugly stain on the superb Cup defence that made them national heroes just over 12 months ago. Social media has bristled with resentment from Cup traditionalists, turn-tail ETNZ fans, and those with local economic interests who would have loved to see AC37 in Auckland.

So why isn’t the home team nation hosting AC37? As with so many Cup sagas, it’s a matter of money. Dalton estimates at least $200m is needed to host a successful defence, but without the bene t of an

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Teams must buy a smaller AC40 for testing and also one-design racing, including Women's and Youth events

individual billionaire backer – the likes of INEOS Britannia’s Sir Jim Ratcli e, Alinghi’s Ernesto Bertarelli, or Luna Rossa’s Patrizio Bertelli – the team turned once again to the New Zealand government and Auckland Council, hopeful a er they’d jointly invested over $250m into AC36. But even with some private investment and the promise of gi s-in-kind from a group of Kiwi businessmen led by Mark Dunphy, Dalton deemed that that and the reported $99m the government put on the table would not be enough and so began what many called his sell-out search overseas.

Regardless of opinion, the matter is at least now settled, and Dalton is not letting animosity swirling in the wake of his decision deter him. He may have walked away from the home crowd and lost the support of many fans, but he sees only bene t for the sailors in avoiding both complacency and distractions at home.

In the meantime, he has yet more fundraising to do; with only the event costs and infrastructure in place, funding for the team’s campaign is yet to be found.

Despite the Defender’s attempts to streamline campaign costs for all teams by mandating increased one-design elements and shared recon, and limiting AC75 builds, ultimately the Cup is - as it always has been - a billionaire’s game. at’s not to mention the added dimensions of F1 tech partnerships of INEOS Britannia with MercedesAMG Petronas, and Alinghi with Red Bull Racing. Along with NYYC American Magic and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, the Defender faces an exceptionally strong line-up of Challengers – all of which are experienced Cup campaigners, and all now desperately hungry for that thus-far elusive victory.

In his near two-decade tenure as leader, Dalton has form not only in conjuring up nancial backing, but also in winning against the odds - in Bermuda, and again in Auckland. He is not a man to be underestimated.

Nor can he be faulted for his e orts to future-proof a unique event that - thanks to the Deed of Gi - has, in all

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Auckland, New Zealand was the backdrop for AC36

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Emirates Team New Zealand celebrates AC36 victory in front of home crowds its long history, largely been anything but. Disgruntled Kiwis and Cup traditionalists may be upset, and not without reason, but for the sport as a whole and looking at a much, much bigger picture - from participation to sustainability and technology - there surely can only be positives. Now we have a venue that promises to deliver a showcase to match all that, it’s time to look forward.

What is yet to be revealed about AC37?

The decision as to where two of the three Preliminary Regattas will be held remains wide open. We do know that two of those events will be sailed in the new AC40 class - the first of which should be shipped to ETNZ in mid-July, and a second just five weeks later to INEOS Britannia. The third event will be sailed in the AC75, an exciting warm-up for spectators and sailors alike, that will happen in Barcelona.

Also still to be revealed are details of the Youth and Women’s America’s Cup events, and how they will fit alongside the main event - a decision to be made in consultation with the Challenger of Record before June 2023.

Could we see another Challenger? A French syndicate looks likely, after K-Challenge CEO Stephane Kandler posted via Facebook that “The America’s Cup is my childhood dream… sometimes you have to know how to wait for the right time to go again”. He headed a team known as Areva Challenge in the 2007 Cup with Jochen Schümann as skipper. Dalton has previously left it to individual teams to announce themselves; and with the normal entry period closing on 31 July, we shouldn’t have long to wait.

And what of a Spanish Challenger? The tight timeframe makes it unlikely, though that said, the late entry period runs until May 2023. If they have an eye on AC38, it would make sense at least to field teams in the Women’s and Youth events.