The latest episode of the World Sailing show goes behind the scenes to look at the first weeks of testing ahead of the 2024 America’s Cup in Barcelona. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s LEQ12 test boat is currently in Cagliari as they get used to the systems and controls while familiarising themselves with tactical moves to prepare for the main event.

There is a special look at this year’s Rolex Middle Sea Race and a rundown of recent events, including the 470 Worlds, 52 Super Series, Route du Rhum, Women’s Match Racing Tour, and Yacht Racing Forum in Malta.

There is also an in-depth look at the GKA Kite World Tour in Taiba, Brazil, where 2022 Freestyle World Champions were crowned, and Frenchman Charles Brodel made history by landing the first contra loop front roll board off and back roll kite loop board-offs on a hydrofoil in a competition.

Elsewhere in the show, we look at the only team - so far - to lift the SailGP trophy, newly-crowned World Sailing Team of the Year, Team Australia SailGP skippered by two-time Rolex World Sailor of the Year Tom Slingsby as their quest for a third consecutive title continues.

Produced by Sunset+Vine and released every month, the World Sailing Show shares the latest news, events and captivating stories from across the sport with audiences around the world. Each episode is available to watch for free on the World Sailing YouTube channel and the World Sailing website.

With two years left until the 37th America’s Cup takes place in Barcelona, organisers have confirmed further details of the event format, including the agreed race area and 2024 dates.

The racing area for both the Challenger Selection Series and the America’s Cup Match itself has now been agreed with Barcelona’s Capitán Marítimo. Both are set to the south of the city along Barcelona’s beachfront, meaning spectators can line up along the coastline to view the action.

There will be a permanent exclusion zone for the duration of the racing, designed to ensure safety for competitors and the daily armada of spectator boats trying to get an up-close look at the AC75s and AC40s.

Americas Cup 2024 race area

Those watching onshore could — depending on conditions — see the action taking place just a few hundred metres off the beach at times.

Also confirmed is the date for the Women’s America’s Cup Regatta Final, which takes place straight after Race 5 on Wednesday, 16 October 2024.

Racing in the America’s Cup Match itself, which will be a best-of-13 (first to seven) format, will commence on Saturday, 12 October, with two races scheduled, followed by a further two races on Sunday, 13 October 2024.

Racing will then pause for two days, however, at the discretion of the Regatta Director and after consultation with both the Defender and the Challenger, and depending on conditions, both of these days could be used to complete two races a day.

The schedule as it stands, without the use of the Monday or Tuesday, would recommence on Wednesday, 16 October 2024 for one race (race 5) in the Match followed by the Women’s America’s Cup Regatta Final.

Thursday, 17 October, is officially not scheduled for racing but could be allocated for two further races depending on conditions. Friday, 18 October 2024, is officially marked as a ‘Spare Day’ for up to two more races. Two races per day are also scheduled for Saturday, 19 October and Sunday, 20 October 2024, if required.

Racing should be concluded over the weekend of 19-20 October 2024. However, the schedule does allow for racing to continue into the following week, from the 21 October 2024 through to the 27 October 2024, on reserve days if required.

“We are excited to confirm the dates determining the match racing period,” says Grant Dalton, CEO of America’s Cup Events. “This is a significant event to plan for, with safety concerns at the top of the list for both spectators and competitors. I think the result is going to be something pretty spectacular, with racing taking place in front of the beach, along the coast from the main port entrance right along the coast, past the Port Olímpic and out further east, offering a fantastic viewing opportunity for the public to see these remarkable boats at full pace.”

Americas Cup 2024 match dates

Barcelona was announced as the host of AC37 in March, after a long and controversial selection process that included Cork Harbour as a front runner. The Spanish city will become the first venue in the world to host both an Olympic Games and an America’s Cup event.

Preparations are now well underway in the battle for the Auld Mug. Defender Emirates Team New Zealand recently suffered damage to the bow of its AC40 after an early start testing on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf in some top-end conditions.

Late In August 2022, Alinghi Red Bull Racing capsized its AC75 Boat Zero after its first sail in Barcelona. The AC75 Boat Zero was hit by a violent rain squall, which developed over the city of Barcelona.

America's Cup Emirates Team New Zealand have suffered damage to the bow of their AC40 today after an early start testing on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf in some top-end conditions.

In recent weeks the Emirates Team New Zealand AC40 has been taken out of its one design configuration, and testing stepped up in its development and data collection towards the design of its AC75.

The team were testing under manual flight control to the north of Waiheke Island in around 15-20 knots of windspeed and large waves. While sailing downwind at over 40 knots of boat speed, the crew onboard lost control of the ride height which caused the rudder and elevator to come out of the water. This resulted in a high-speed uncontrolled gybe and simultaneous deep nosedive followed by a capsize.

The resulting impact of the water pressure collapsed the foredeck at the bow of the AC40. Significantly the watertight bulkhead aft of where the damage occurred maintained its structural integrity, successfully serving the purpose of controlling water ingress so the boat could be righted and towed back to base.

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton said, “It appears that when the boat nose-dived, which was the best we have done, the high water pressure and side load collapsed the forward section of the deck causing the resulting bow damage. The designers are analysing the load cases of the incident and although it might be too soon to tell, it is likely that we will have some retrofit structure necessary to our boat and throughout the AC40’s fleet. But we will understand this further in the coming days.

The AC40 was towed back to base on its foils after the incident and is back in the shed being assessed for the repair job ahead.

The Official Logo of the 37th America’s Cup was revealed in Barcelona today at the Museu Maritim de Barcelona.

Designed by Pràctica, a Barcelona and New York-based design and identity studio, which was selected from a shortlist of three creative studios.

Anna Berbiela, Partner of Pràctica said “We are obviously hugely honoured to have had our design chosen as the Official Logo of the 37th America’s Cup here in Barcelona. It is an iconic international sporting trophy taking place in an iconic international city, and this was the basis of our thinking behind the creativity of the logotype and the Visual Identity.”

“The design for the 37th America’s Cup proposes having the Auld Mug as the central most important element of the America’s Cup, giving it the full protagonism through a visual language that also suggest Barcelona and everything that makes it so unique.” Said Javier Arizu, also Partner of Pràctica.

At the Museu Maritim de Barcelona, ACE Barcelona CEO Grant Dalton presented the logo to the large audience of stakeholders and local media that included speakers Jaume Collboni (Vice President Diputació Barcelona), Ada Colau (Mayor of Barcelona), Roger Torrent (Minister of Business & Labour - Generalitat Catalunya), Damia Calvet, (President Port de Barcelona), Maria Eugenia Gay (Government Delegate in Catalonia)

“The America’s Cup symbol has been redrawn and synthesized so it can be reproduced in all sizes and media and is aligned with a bold ‘B’ typeface that directly represents Barcelona.”

Emirates Team New Zealand’s land yacht ‘Horonuku’ has had its first day of sailing on Lake Gairdner, in South Australia, with pilot Glenn Ashby behind the wheel in his bid to eclipse the 2009 wind-powered world record speed of 202.9 km/h.

The moment has been a long time coming for the team after a prolonged wait for the lake to dry out. Unprecedented surface water has remained on the lake all year, only just drying out in recent weeks.

The first sail marked the first of many new steps in the team’s bid to set a new benchmark, turning theory into practice, swapping simulations for salt, as the work to build up to the record speed begins in earnest.

“Its pretty surreal to be honest, it is not super windy today. Just an 8-10 knot breeze.” explained Ashby. “We just did a little tow to check in on the craft, to get a feel for the salt versus the last time we were on the runway at Whenuapai. So, to be here and to be into it is a dream come true.”

The Land yacht called ‘Horonuku’ is assembled on the lake and taken for its first sail with pilot Glenn Ashby

Horonuku was last run at Auckland’s Whenuapai Air Base in May, and has since been transported to Australia, then trucked to Lake Gairdner, chosen as the flattest and fastest venue in Australasia suitable for the speeds Ashby will be aiming for.

But the day wasn’t just about getting rolling on the salt, there are significant challenges just to get Horonuku down to the lake surface and to get its 10m rig up in the air before starting to sail.

The first sail on the land yacht marked the first of many new steps in the team’s bid to set a new benchmark, turning theory into practice

“Our goal for our first day is just to put the craft back together again and implement some of the new rigging systems and techniques that have been designed for rigging the craft on the salt itself.” explained Ashby. “In Auckland we had the luxury of forklifts and cranes to get set up but here we have to get the craft down to the lake and the rig in and upright without the use of cranes and forklifts. We wanted to do a test sail and get rolling to get a feel for the surface, and get it commissioned again.”

The isolation of the venue and realities of operating on the harsh salt-lake environment mean taking aim at the record will be no easy feat, but the first day was a momentous occasion in the campaign.

In the coming days and weeks Ashby and the Emirates Team New Zealand support team will test everything from tyres, trim and traction, then it’s a matter of waiting for Mother Nature

“We have had our first run on Lake Gairdner, it is interesting to understand the conditions we are working in now. But for everyone here today, thumbs up. But plenty of work to go that’s for sure.” said Shore Manager Sean Regan.

In the coming days and weeks Ashby and the Emirates Team New Zealand support team will test everything from tyres, trim and traction, then it’s a matter of waiting for Mother Nature to deliver the perfect conditions for a record attempt- wind, and lots of it, to claim the world record crown.

However, an unwelcome delivery of 11mm of rain and thunderstorms overnight has seen a return of surface water to the lake, a reminder of the volatility of the conditions on the Lake that are not entirely controllable.

Increased temperatures, clear skies, and a change in wind direction should see the water cleared again in the coming days.

In a double announcement by America’s Cup Events Limited (ACE) it is confirmed today that Iain Murray has been appointed as Independent Regatta Director for the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona alongside Richard Slater who continues in the role as Chief Umpire, positions they both occupied for the 36th America’s Cup in Auckland.

Murray’s role will see him take charge of all aspects on the water of the 37th America’s Cup and all AC World Series Events in the lead-up to the regatta’s start in September 2024.

Richard Slater, one of the architects of many of the rules governing high-performance foiling, will be a key figure making the sporting calls in real-time and co-ordinating the Umpire Team and International Jury. The role also requires Richard to continue the development of the America’s Cup edition of the Racing Rules of Sailing, including the World Sailing approval processes

Now in his fourth America’s Cup as Regatta Director, Iain Murray’s career in the Cup stretches all the way back to 1983, where he joined the crew of the 12 Metre Advance before skippering the 1987 Australian ‘Task Force’ defence syndicate.

He was helmsman of Kookaburra II for the 1987 America’s Cup in Fremantle Australia and was ultimately beaten in the Match by Dennis Conner’s Stars ‘n’ Stripes ‘87 having played a lead role in the design (alongside John Swarbrick) of the technically advanced Australian defender. Further Cup campaigns saw Murray as Chief Executive Officer and Lead Designer of Spirit of Australia in 1992 in the first generation of IACC boats before his final sailing campaign with John Bertrand’s One Australia in 1995 that famously broke in two and sank ahead of a race in the semi-finals.

Widely respected throughout the sailing world, Murray was the Australian representative in the Star Class at the 2008 Olympic Games in China and can also count two Etchells World Championships (1984 & 2019) alongside being part of no less than nine, line honours victories in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race aboard Wild Oats XI. Having been appointed in 2010, Iain Murray’s first stint as Regatta Director was for the 34th America’s Cup in 2013 in San Francisco, before repeating the role in Bermuda at the 35th America’s Cup in 2017. At this time, he was also CEO of America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM), a neutral body tasked with logistical and sporting aspects of the America’s Cup World Series held throughout both campaigns.

Richard Slater - Chief Umpire

Richard Slater’s involvement with the America’s Cup goes back to the Young Australia syndicate of 1999 where he acted as Rules Advisor to the team that included a young Jimmy Spithill on the helm. Stints as a respected International Umpire and International Judge ensued across events including the World Match Race Tour, Volvo Ocean Race and as a Rules Advisor to the Australian Team at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. Richard was appointed as Chief Umpire for the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda, a role he repeated for the 36th America’s Cup in Auckland.

Speaking about the appointments, Grant Dalton, CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand commented: “I am delighted to welcome back Iain and Richard to the vital roles of Regatta Director and Chief Umpire for the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona. Both bring vast experience and a deep understanding of this particular brand of high-performance, grand-prix sailing and their knowledge will be invaluable both as the events get underway and in the lead up to the regattas. Both Iain and Richard hold almost unique status in the sport amongst the sailors as massively respected individuals, and I wish them every success in their roles.”

Talking about his new role, Iain Murray offered: “It is a huge honour to take on the role as Regatta Director for the 37th America’s Cup that is building up nicely with very competitive teams forming and the promise of too-close-to-call racing in this second generation of the AC75s. I’m also looking forward to seeing how the format unfolds with both the Youth & Women’s America’s Cup in the AC40s which are vital to the future of our sport by offering opportunity and wide fan engagement as well as being a huge marker of intent by the Defender and Challenger of Record.”

Richard Slater was also looking forward to the 37th America’s Cup saying: “To be involved in any America’s Cup is such a privilege as it’s the pinnacle of our sport but I have a feeling that this one is going to be something very special. The format and the boats promise really close action and the appeal is going to be broad. An America’s Cup in Europe is always an engaging experience and I’m looking forward to working with the event and the teams to deliver on the promise.”

 It was up up and away on a very successful maiden sail for Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC40 on the familiar America's Cup waters of the ‘back paddock’ between Auckland’s Waiheke Island and Howick Beachlands.

After a long tow out behind the team’s hydrogen-powered chase boat ‘Chase Zero’, the sails hoisted and sheeted on, it took just a handful of minutes for helmsman Nathan Outteridge to go from a cautious displacement mode to popping the AC40 up onto its foils and off on starboard tack at over 20+ knots in the light 8-10 knots of breeze.

It was Outteridge’s first day sailing a foiling monohull, and it didn’t disappoint, “It was obviously a very successful day, it was an impressive boat to sail for my first time sailing this type of boat. A little unnerving when trying to build speed, but once you get a bit of speed and the foil engages, it goes from about 10 knots to 20 knots in about 5 seconds. So both pretty impressive, the acceleration and the reliability.”

"It was Outteridge’s first day sailing a foiling monohull, and it didn’t disappoint"

Outteridge, Ray Davies, Nick Burridge and Sam Meech onboard throughout the highly productive full day on the water, initially went through a selection of straight line runs before throwing down their first tack, successfully staying up on the foils and carrying on upwind.

“Day one was pretty epic and exciting,” explained Ray Davies.

The speeds of the AC40 were impressive in a relatively light breeze reaching a top speed of over 34 knots downwind and 27 knots upwind in the steady NW breeze

“An amazing team effort to go out there and pull off the first tack as a foiling tack, the first gybe a foiling gybe. The boat is going really well; we have a few tweaks for sure, but awesome to sail with Nath, Sam and Nick. All of the support guys have done an incredible job, out of the box and we were ripping around foiling.”

The autopilot is a key component for the Women’s and Youth America’s Cup regattas and was impressive to the team from the outset explains Dan Bernasconi, “The autopilot on day one has been fantastic, so with a smaller crew and less experienced crew on these boats for the Women’s and Youth racing, the autopilot will be a really important feature.”

“After today, we know this will be just fine for the Youth and Women’s America’s Cup. It will be spectacular racing, super quick, super-efficient and all straight out of the box,” said Davies.

After one long downwind run with a succession of foiling gybes, it seemed like it was the 20th day on the water rather than the first. It is an exciting time ahead with the AC40 fleet.

Fourteen sailors have been selected to join the Alinghi Red Bull Racing crew and represent the Société Nautique de Genève as a Challenger for the 37th America’s Cup. 

The 14 selected are all young, Swiss and talented, with solid experience in foiling, fast boats, rowing and cycling; and will represent Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Switzerland in the next America's Cup - sailing's most prestigious event - to be held in Barcelona in 2024.

With an average age of 30 - 11 years younger than the last crew that took Switzerland to victory in Valencia - this team represents the youth factor. Eight of them will board the AC75 foiling monohull, classified into two groups: the driving group and the power group.

For the sailors in the first group, called afterguard, selection started last summer with interviews, followed by physical and sailing tests.

Pierre-Yves Jorand, co-general manager in charge of sports operations, explained: "It was really a collective effort: we worked with the head trainer Nils Frei and the first sailors selected and made all our decisions together. Character, Attitude and development potential are as important as skills."

The sailors in the driving group gained their experience across a range of elite-level sports, flying boats and the Red Bull Youth America's Cup and personify what is called the 'Alinghi generation'.

The youngest is 2014 Optimist world champion Nicolas Rolaz, 22, who revealed: "It's an honour for me, a dream come true. I started sailing during the previous victory in 2007; Ernesto Bertarelli and his crew had shown that it was possible to reach the top even if you're from a landlocked country like Switzerland."

A high-level training schedule has been set up on the water with renowned coaches to guide these youngsters, who have no experience yet, with these super-powerful AC75 rockets.

Co-general manager in charge of technical operations Silvio Arrivabene, who will supervise the designers and engineers, said: "The boat we're going to deliver will be the result of everyone's joint commitment. We talk daily with the sailors, everyone knows what the others' challenges and needs are."

Besides announcing the new Swiss crew members, Arrivabene presented some of the other key team members, including principal designer Marcelino Botin, who is in charge of hydro and aerodynamics.

Botin added: "These are the people who can make or break a team! The cohesion between the designers and the sailors really illustrates where Alinghi Red Bull Racing's strength lies: numerous synergies and an excellent work atmosphere where ideas come together."

The sailors are divided into the following roles: tactician, helmsman, foil trimmer, sail trimmer, and grinder. The latter three, part of the power group, bring the necessary power to get the boat working.

The Alinghi Red Bull Swiss Racing crew

Design coordinator Adolfo Carrau explained: "The class rules oblige certain systems to function on manual power, especially everything that has to do with sail trimming. It's the strength that these athletes contribute that enables the sail trimmer to do his job… The team members must therefore really be strong, especially since there will only be four of them on board, compared to eight grinders in the previous edition."

To assemble this power group, the recruitment focused on the Swiss cycling and rowing federations, including cyclist Théry Schir as well as rowers Augustin Maillefer and Barnabé Delarze.

Head trainer Nils Frei said: "The track record of these athletes caught our attention; though not experienced in sailing, they excel in top-level sports, winning, and performance despite pressure. Rowers are extremely versatile athletes due to their strength, power, and endurance, but we still had to explain to them what this event represents; it's a career choice, a life choice."

Delarze, who has competed at two Olympics and recently won the UK's iconic Boat Race with Oxford University, is thrilled about this new sporting direction after spending over half his life rowing.

He said: "I've always been attracted to water and sliding sports, and in the end, sailing is not that far removed from rowing! In any event, I've never had a project this big. I hope I can offer them what was my strength in rowing – motivation and the will to work hard to reach my goals, with a lot of discipline."

The last crew member will be introduced soon and, with true Swiss precision, the team have been spot on at the recent start of two 2022 championships: currently leading both the TF35 Trophy and the GC32 Racing Tour, training actively on these two boats while waiting to sail the AC75 and then the AC40.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailing crew

• Maxime Bachelin, 24 – driving group
• Matias Bühler, 39 – driving group
• Arthur Cevey, 26 – power group
• Nicolas Charbonnier, 40 – driving group
• Lucien Cujean, 32 – driving group
• Barnabé Delarze, 27 – power group
• Yves Detrey, 43 – driving group
• Augustin Maillefer, 29 – power group
• Bryan Mettraux, 31 – driving group
• Arnaud Psarofaghis, 33 – driving group
• Nicolas Rolaz, 22 – power group
• Théry Schir, 29 – power group
• Nils Theuninck, 25 – power group
• Florian Trüb, 28 – power group

The Rules Committee for the 37th America’s Cup has been announced today with a trio of highly qualified members who will be in charge of maintaining the rules and regulations in relation to all AC37 race yachts. They are Mark Ellis (UK), Marc Wintermantel (SUI) and Stan Honey (USA).

According to the Protocol of the 37th America’s Cup, the role of the Rules Committee is to be exclusively responsible for the interpretation of the AC75 and AC40 Class Rules and their rulings are final.

The Rules Committee is also responsible for the determination of whether or not any yacht constitutes a Surrogate Yacht, based on information provided by the Measurement Committee; and to resolve any other matter for which it is given jurisdiction under the Protocol and/or the Class Rules.

They are not responsible for the actual measurement of the yachts, this is the role of the Measurement Committee whose work will commence later.

Mark Ellis (UK)

Ellis (pictured top) has recently retired from F1 following a lifelong career in motorsport, culminating in a decade of World championships with Red Bull and latterly as Performance Director at MercedesF1, overseeing the performance programmes, development of simulation technologies, control systems and vehicle dynamics.

Since retiring from F1, Mark has acted as a consultant for a diverse array of industries such as F1, hyper-car constructors and Olympic track cycling.

Marc Wintermantel (SUI)

Marc Wintermantel (SUI)

Wintermantel, holds a Masters and PhD degree in quantum electronics and computational physics, and is currently working as a corporate fellow at ANSYS, a market leader for CAE/multiphysics simulation software. He is an expert in structural engineering with a focus on numerical composite material analysis.

Wintermantel is also co-funder of the company EVEN which established itself prior to the acquisition through ANSYS as a software developer and engineering service provider in F1, MotoGP and America’s Cup racing. While working within EVEN, Wintermantel served as structural engineer for United Internet Team Germany during the 32nd America’s Cup and later became design coordinator for the team.

Stan Honey (USA)

Stan Honey (USA)

Honey was a member of the 36th America’s Cup Rules Committee. As professional sailing navigator, he has won the Volvo Ocean Race, set the Jules Verne record for the fastest non-stop circumnavigation of the world, and set multiple 24 hour, Trans-Atlantic, Trans-Pacific, Sydney-Hobart, and Newport-Bermuda sailing records. In 2010, Honey was awarded the US Sailing Yachtsman of the Year Award and was nominated to the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2012.

Honey is a Yale/Stanford electrical engineer, three-time Emmy Winner for Technical Innovations in Sports TV, and an inventor on 30 patents in navigation and graphics. Honey was nominated to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2017 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2018. In earlier navigation related work, Honey co-founded ETAK Inc. in 1983. The company pioneered vehicle navigation systems with digital map databases, heading-up map display, and map-matching navigation.

As the dust settles on the global kerfuffle over the torrid venue selection process for the 37th America’s Cup Series in 2024 with Barcelona taking the prize, it emerges from leaked documents that the final big money agreement includes various very special side-deals. These were only going to be revealed as the world’s sailing public comes to accept this latest location development in the 170-year-long story of the world’s oldest international sporting challenge, but an information security failure has resulted in them coming centre stage today.

Thanks to excessive and very boisterous celebrations in the Catalan capital when the deal was signed - despite it all being done plumb in the middle of Lent - Afloat.ie can reveal some sensational secret proposals which are now being firmed up. They indicate that while the complex agreement was being put together in the greatest secrecy, the putative Barcelona organisers were doing some discreet but detailed research which indicated that in order to achieve the successful level of popularity and profitability which they seek, the 37th staging will have to look very different to the 36th staging completed in 2021 in New Zealand.

THE PUBLIC WANT SPECTACULAR RIGS

An extract from the secret documents reveals much of interest:

“Our research has shown that the casual spectator finds the modern AC75 boats “look rather boring”. They tell that us that from a distance they look like floating versions of Formula 1 cars setting very ordinary standard rigs of mundane appearance, and that unless spectators are very close to the action, they do not get the full impression of the foiling effect on hull behaviour.

Accessible drama – the International 15 Metre Lady Anne (originally built in 1912) thrashing to windward

Thus we have concluded that it is much more important from an ordinary spectator’s point of view to have large, spectacular and complex rigs rather then mere hull speed. And at the moment, the class of boat which best meets this need is the Mediterranean’s fleet of restored classic yachts to the International 15 Metre rule, which are awe-inspiring with their jackyard topsail-setting gaff rigs.

With the limited time available, the 15 Metres – whose hulls are around 75ft in length – offer the best option of having a viable fleet in action for 2024. But if it goes as well as we hope, in time we would expect to upgrade to boats of the International 23 Metre Rule, or to the American rule which produced the famous Reliance in 1903.

The ultimate America’s Cup yacht was the successful 1903 defender Reliance. She set an extremely large suit of perfectly-cut sails, needed a crew of 80 to race her properly, required 19ft of water to float, and had to be dry-docked as much as possible as she was built of an electrolytically-conflicting range of expensive metals, which tended to fizz and deterioriate rapidly when put into salt water.

Sailors tend to overestimate the spectator effect of the supposedly high sailing speed of the AC 75 boat type. It only seems fast to sailors. By comparison with other vehicles, they’re not really going very fast at all. Thus we think that as the America’s Cup beds in at Barcelona over the years, we’ll place much more emphasis on the spectacular appearance of the rig and so forth than we will on the still rather pedestrian absolute speeds.”

Obviously, this is dynamite, and will be regarded as a retrograde step except at Falmouth in Cornwall and Howth in Ireland, the only two places in the world where significant fleets of jackyard topsail setting fleets still race, with Cornwall featuring the Falmouth workboats while Howth race the Howth Seventeens.

The return of jackyard topsails to the America’s Cup will bring added kudos to experience in this rig, as with the Falmouth Workboats seen here……..

…….and the Howth Seventeens. Photo: W M Nixon 

And apparently, even the impressive J Boats which raced for the America’s Cup in the 1930s - and are now revived as a class - have failed to meet the Barcelona requirements. The word is that by comparison with Reliance and her smaller yet similar sisters, as far as the general public is concerned the J Class “are just too boring for words”.

Update: Midday on April 1 - Thank you for reading our April Fool!