Big improvements on Kawau Island in time for summer

Right: A close-up of the new format recording the date and venue, the challenging and defending teams and yachts clubs and the result. Far right: The team responsible for looking after the Cup, Cooper Hopman, Richard Wingfield and security man Norm Newton are reunited with the amended trophy.

Clearing space to record more Cup results on the Auld Mug

By Ivor Wilkins Over its 170-year history, the America’s Cup trophy has accumulated its own share of stories and dramas, quite separate from the long-running and ongoing saga of the fierce competitions waged in its quest.

New Zealand’s stewardship of the famous icon has introduced a number of changes in its architecture, the most recent of which came after this year’s successful defence in Auckland.

Since the Cup was first contested in 1851 tradition has seen successive match results recorded on the outer contours and valleys of the trophy. As the years and contests mounted up, additional tiers had to be added to the base to accommodate the growing ledger of wins and losses.

The most recent of these new tiers was introduced after the 2003 Match in Auckland, won by the Swiss Challenger, Alinghi. However, a combination of a larger typeface and much longer contests, meant the new base quickly ran out of real estate.

Following Emirates Team New Zealand’s victory in Bermuda, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron initiated some major changes. Working with Garrards, the London jewellers who originally crafted the trophy in 1848, the RNZYS had a new base built to replace the 2003 version.

All the engravings recording the 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013 results were redone in a smaller, standardised typeface and the 2017 scores were added. The thinking was that this would create enough space to accommodate two or three more Cup cycles.

However, following the 2021 regatta, it was clear a new format would be required. Instead of following the tradition of recording all the races of the Match, it would be more spaceefficient to simply record the overall result.

Over the years, Cup regattas have become longer and longer. Following the initial 1851 fleet race at Cowes in the south of England, the format changed to match racing. Early contests were best-of-three, rising to best-offive, then best-of-seven and steadily growing to the marathon best-of-17 contest of 2013 in San Francisco. In Bermuda and Auckland, the format changed again, reducing to best-of-13 (first to win 7).

“If we had added the results of all 10 races in the 7-3 ETNZ victory earlier this year, we would have been out of space once again,” explains RNZYS Committee member Richard Wingfield.

“We had to come up with a way of futureproofing the Cup without adding more and more base layers. We decided we no longer needed to reflect every race. We could just record the names of the yacht clubs and yachts competing in the final Match and the outcome.”

Instead of building yet another new base, this time Auckland jeweller Dave Worrall polished out the records of the previous five regattas back to 2003 and re-engraved them in the new reduced format, along with the 2021 result.

“In this way, if successive Cup holders follow the same template, we will have space for 15 more regattas,” says Wingfield. “That should be good for the next 60 years.”

Simply adding more and more bases poses practical and aesthetic problems. The proportions, which currently neatly balance the base tiers and the original 1848 ewer, would begin to lose their symmetry.

From a more practical standpoint, the transportation of the Cup would become unwieldy. In its present form, the Cup in its case, fits neatly into the first class lockers of most international airlines. A larger case would start to present serious logistical and security problems in moving the priceless trophy around the world.

As the refashioned trophy returned from the jewellers under the watchful attention of security guard Norm Newton, Wingfield and Facilities Manager Cooper Hopman prepared to re-install it to its pre-eminent position at the RNZYS trophy collection.

“We are pretty pleased with the outcome,” said Wingfield.

Big improvements at Kawau Island in time for summer

With the possibility of cruising restrictions this summer, boaties are likely to head to the Hauraki Gulf islands and, in particular, Kawau, where Squadron members will find their loyalties and hopes divided.

On the one hand, they will be hoping for settled weather and long days of sunshine. On the other, they will be like anxious farmers scanning the skies for signs of rain to keep the 4,500 newly-planted trees at Kawau alive.

Covid restrictions interrupted the early spring planting programme, which means some of the treelings which were delayed might be vulnerable. “Unfortunately, we have no capacity to water the trees if it turns out to be a very hot, dry summer,” says Facilities Manager Cooper Hopman, who has overseen the planting programme and the upgrading of facilities at Lidgard House since May.

The work at Kawau has been a legacy project as part of the RNZYS 150th Anniversary Programme.

It originally began with groups of members volunteering to spend weekend days out at the island planting native trees on the slopes behind Lidgard House, which were first cleared and stripped back. Although a good start was made, regrettably, the August Covid lockdown meant calling a halt to proceedings for five weeks, until the move to Level 3 allowed for limited access.

However, with help from Corporate Member Ecology NZ, RNZYS CEO Hayden Porter and from RNZYS Food & Beverage staff, the target of completing the planting of all 4,500 trees was achieved.

For three of the Ecology NZ experts, this involved an exhausting day abseiling down the very steep slope between Lidgard House and the Kawau Boating Club. “They began at 8am and worked non-stop until 5pm, roping up and down the slope to get 250 trees planted on that very challenging terrain,” says Hopman. “By the time they left, they were pretty much wiped out.

“The Food & Beverage people came over for a day at a time and helped with planting and painting around the house,” he adds. “They all enjoyed a break from the boredom of lockdown and had a good experience, especially as most of them had not been to Kawau before.”

Since lockdown eased, Hayden Porter has also made at least one