Displaying items by tag: America's cup
First Women's and Youth America's Cup Invitations are Issued
Two of the primary events of AC37 in Barcelona are the Women's & Youth America's Cup Regattas, which place a strong emphasis on the upcoming generation of America's Cup sailors. The most prestigious prize in sailing is the ultimate platform for tomorrow's household names and superstars. After the Notice of Race was issued on November 1, 2022, formal invitations to yacht clubs worldwide began to be handed out on February 1, 2023.
To date, expressions of interest have been strong, with yacht clubs from some thirteen different countries enquiring, some with established pools of Women's and Youth talent, others with start-up teams looking to step up into the big time in one or both of the events.
As Afloat previously reported, Ireland has ambitions to be in the mix with the Royal St George Yacht Club of Dun Laoghaire Harbour, aiming to produce an entry through its foiling programme. This programme aims to create a world-class team to ultimately challenge for the Youth America's Cup in Barcelona 2024. If successful, this will be the first time an Irish Team will have been involved in the America's Cup in its 170-year history.
With the six confirmed teams competing in the America's Cup sealing the first six places in the Women's & Youth events, the organisers have offered six remaining places in each event. Initial invitations are being sent to three teams that have registered interest for both regattas with strong and experienced challenges: Those entries are the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club of Canada with AC40 Team Canada as their team; a joint entry from the Royal Netherlands Yacht Club and the Royal Maas Yacht Club of the Netherlands with their team DutchSail; and the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona of Spain, the host country of AC37, with Sail Team BCN.
That will leave three slots in the Youth America's Cup and three in the Women's America's Cup. Further invitations will be issued once an analysis of the remaining Expressions of Interest is complete.
The America's Cup and Quietly Accepting Ireland’s Sensible Place in the Sailing World
Be careful what you wish for - it might just come to happen. This was the feeling that emerged in much of the rest of Ireland’s sailing community a year or so back, when “America’s Cup Venue Mania” was taking over in Cork. Anyone Irish who questioned the wisdom, true cost and longterm benefit of hoping to accommodate a supra-national yet somehow ephemeral event, a happening renowned for the complete and utter self-interest of its main players, was accused (mostly by a select group of Cork folk) of being unpatriotic.
For sure, “little New Zealand” made itself the focus of world sailing attention way above its weight during its years of closest direct contact with the actual AC contest on the water. But now that the circus has for the time being moved on to Barcelona, a recent gloomy account of the abandoned feeling on the Auckland waterfront had emerged.
MARITIME XANADU?
The reporter moseyed around some of the former focal scenes of the America’s Cup action, and despite it being the height of the New Zealand summer, suggested that longterm facilities viability, with profitable alternative uses emerging after the Cup has left town, has proven to be largely a pipe dream. “A maritime Xanadu” may be over-stating it, but you get the drift.
And even when it was the hub of the action, those of us who previously had cherished an image of New Zealand sailors as being a self-reliant, no-nonsense and practical people - sailors who got on with the enthusiastic sailing of their own largely self-maintained and unpretentious boats - found it difficult to reconcile that time-honoured and attractive perception with this new bling-laden image of a razmatazz-dominated display of conspicuous expenditure and kow-towing to the super-rich.
NOT A PEOPLE’S SPORT
For far from manifesting a sport of and for the people, the America’s Cup 2021 was instead an overpowering projection of ludicrously high-tech sailing machines funded by luxury international brands, oil-financed airlines and global chemical conglomerates. And though they were being sailed by admittedly exceptionally gifted people, in many cases the super-star sailors’ sense of patriotism, as shown in some cases by changed national identity, was clearly to their talent first, and their home country a very long way second.
Now admittedly if an exceptional human talent emerges, it’s part of what we are to claim that it and they belong to all humanity, with suggestions of some narrow national “ownership” being seen as a frustration of the fulfillment of that talent. While Brazil may have claimed Pele, the world felt it owned him.
And in international sailing, 120 years ago Americans reckoned Charlie Barr was their greatest talent. Yet originally he was Scottish to his finger-tips, and it was only when he delivered a new Fife racing cutter across the Atlantic that he realised the American can-do approach offered much better scope for his talents than the rigid class-laden structure which dominated the top levels of sailing on his childhood waters of the Clyde.
INDIVIDUAL TALENT IS RUTHLESSLY GLOBAL
So real talent is arguably letting itself down if it is anything other than global in its outlook. And a supra-national pinnacle happening like the America’s Cup must move its venue from time to time if it is to re-charge its batteries. But while the venue and its focus may move on, the location where it has been concentrated for some stagings of the series is left utterly behind, a place of history, stuck with itself. The dogs may bark, the tumbleweed may blow through the streets, but the caravan has moved on.
Inevitably, some places can benefit much more than others from having been part of the America’s Cup experience. But while the Cork advocates may have been convinced that their wonderful harbour and its environs would be one of the notable longterm beneficiaries in America’s Cup history, the rest of us weren’t at all convinced, with our concerns beginning with the most basic factor of all – the weather.
COMPLETE WEATHER DEPENDENCE
Few if any sports are as reliant as sailing is on the weather. Good weather makes for happy participants and spectators, and good weather with a decent sailing breeze makes for great sailing sport. But let’s be honest with ourselves – how often do we get that happy combination in Ireland?
The fact is that, had Cork Harbour been selected, it would have been the furthest venue from the Equator of any America’s Cup location ever. And if we remove the initial race round the Isle of Wight in 1851 from the listing, Cork Harbour becomes a total high latitude outlier when set up against other previous locations, with their much higher ambient temperatures and reliable sunshine time.
Those of us who like the Irish climate just as it is have learned to accept that we’re probably in a minority. But even in this currently mild winter, we’d be the first to admit that any squad in serious longterm training and boat development towards America’s Cup participation in a Cork-staged finale would make a serious strategic mistake in deciding to have their main preparation base in Cork Harbour.
For sure, you can get delightful off-season winter sailing in Ireland – and particularly on the south coast - on brief but blissful days between October and May. But the idea of being involved through that period in a remorseless week-after-week sailing schedule, reaching towards its peak in March and April in Ireland’s weather, is too much of a gamble on luck with the meteorology.
LACK OF SUSTAINABILITY
Consequently, far from seeing a sustainable longterm re-development of Cork Harbour in the Rushbrook area at the former Verolme dockyard, the reality was likely to have been temporary-seeming alterations of little subsequent value. As to the idea of the boats being berthed each evening in Cork city many increasingly tedious miles from the race area, if it wasn’t floated on April 1st, then it should have been.
The early perception that Cork was simply being used as a stalking horse was proven to be right on target when the mighty resources of Barcelona, with its all-powerful system of Mayoral governance and multiple funds, suddenly came thundering centre-stage and blew every other bid out of the water.
UNIQUE NATURE OF IRISH SAILING SCENE
Yet this display of raw political power and focused economic heft in no way diminishes the uniquely attractive nature of the Irish way of sailing. We have our own way of doing things, and they do quietly develop over the years to maintain and accommodate a national sailing scene which, while not being low key, certainly has no generally-held ambitions for noisy space-consuming in-your-face displays. In a broader context, it would be absurd, for instance, to think that Ireland could provide a realistic and popularly-supported Formula 1 venue.
That said, there’ll always be those who set ludicrous targets and tell us their projects “will finally see Ireland take her rightful place up in lights”. But the recent painful experiences in our neighbouring island of having a leader whose oft-touted ambition was to have everything “world-beating” showed us that, when you’re determined to have everything up in lights, then those lights often prove to have been no more than the means of igniting a crash-and-burn outcome.
PARTICIPANTS NOT SPECTATORS
Yet there are still those who point to Ireland’s long and well-documented history of recreational sailing as being a very eloquent reason for aspiring to host events like the America’s Cup. Against that, it can be argued that the essence of Irish sailing is that it’s a participant and not a spectator sport.
Admittedly in the exciting early days of local railway travel convenience, spectators did travel to audience-friendly locations like the pierheads at Bangor and Dun Laoghaire, and the waterfront at Cobh, to see the big boats race. But that was in a time of conspicuous economic inequality with active sailing participation being for the few, a time moreover before modern stadium sports had started to seriously develop, and long before television.
Yet nowadays, if you were asked to define the essence of Irish sailing, it’s as an active participant sport. Of course we have our stars, and of course there’s a national and international structure of events within which they can shine. And when they succeed they receive our attention and praise, and if they gallantly fail to make the grade, they have our sympathy. But as for actually watching others sail, your true Irish sailor will only be doing so if she or he happens to be racing against them.
America's Cup Teams All at Full Tilt
It has been a very busy lead up to the Christmas break with the America’s Cup teams all at full tilt either on the water or in preparation for what is shaping up to be a very intense New Year. Here’s a brief recap.
Emirates Team New Zealand - Defender
As the defenders of the America’s Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand endured an interrupted end of year session following their nosedive and subsequent bow damage on 21st November. But the mark of this team is that when faced with adversity they double-down on their efforts and come back stronger. The shore team were sublime, working round-the-clock shifts to affect a repair and on the 16th December, ETNZ rolled out the fully restored LEQ12 and barely looked like they had missed a beat. Then came the second AC40, , the following day and immediately the sailors had the boat flying, straight out of the box at warp speed. Make no mistake, the Kiwis are the team who are setting the level in this America’s Cup. A final session on the 22nd December saw 100% tack and gybe foil-to-foil manoeuvres and it’s the standard to match for the challengers. Expect to see two-boat testing of their AC40’s early in the New Year. Impressive.
INEOS Britannia – Challenger of Record
The launch of T6, the INEOS Britannia testing platform was waited on with much anticipation and its angular design saw the rest of the Cup world sit up and take notice. The planned tow-testing at scale with the fitting of a towing mast was eventually outlawed by an AC Rules Committee ruling that changed the course of the early British programme. The shore crew set to work at pace, completing a remarkable transformation of the platform in double-quick time and on the 22nd December, the team led by multi-Olympic Gold medallists Sir Ben Ainslie and Giles Scott had the ‘Silver Arrow’ flying around the Bay of Palma. Meanwhile shoreside, the power group have welcomed a new member of the team in Matt Rossitter and have been training with the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team. There’s much to cheer now for the British supporters and certainly a team that everyone will be watching in 2023.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
After suffering from a crane protocol mis-fire saw the rig crash to the dock and some minor boat damage on the 7th November, it has been all one way traffic, forwards, for the fast-driving Italians. Sessions out in the Bay of Angels off Cagliari have been intense with Jimmy Spithill, Francesco ‘Cecco’ Bruni and Ruggero Tita driving the LEQ12 through all conditions with real style. Technique has been something for all Italian fans to cheer with their upwind windward-heel, super-fast tacks/gybes, and highly consistent flight a marvel to watch. In terms of technology, the team have been hard at work data gathering through their heavily sensored LEQ12 and the programme has been both logical and relentless. This is a team with the burning ambition to go one better than last time and bring the America’s Cup back to Cagliari. On this form, it’s hard to bet against them. 2023 will be a fascinating year for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.
New York Yacht Club American Magic
The team very much of the moment. American Magic have completed a sublime and intense pre-Christmas training session bringing in new recruits in the power group manning the cyclors and bedding-in the superstar talents of Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison. There has been no let-up in the systems development, and this has been equalled by the commitment from the sailors who day after day have been out in Pensacola Bay throwing in huge numbers of tacks and gybes and long, long flight times. ‘Impressive’ doesn’t do the team justice – this is a team that has fully recovered from the travails of AC36 and are busy writing a very entertaining and positive next chapter of the America quest to win back the America’s Cup. With AC40’s coming in the Spring and the design for the new AC75 benefitting from the at-scale testing of Patriot, this is a team that everyone has their eyes on in 2023.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing
Based in Barcelona, the Swiss team enjoyed some late summer training through to the middle of November before taking BoatZero into the shed for some extensive surgery to fit a new self-tacking jib system. With no on-water stories to report, this young team kept themselves very busy in the gym and on the cycle trails around the hills just outside the city centre. They are looking increasingly comfortable as a collective and this was beginning to show in the sailing sessions that were getting more intense under the guidance of Sailing Team Advisers Pietro Sibello and Dean Barker. The New Year will see the team enter the most intensive period of training and testing whilst construction on their new team base has just begun literally a few hundred metres from their existing temporary base at the mouth of the port. The learning curve is steep for the Swiss but as two-time winners of the America’s Cup, you can never count them out. 2023 is very much the year for the Swiss to shine.
More Wind Needed for New Zealand Land Speed Team Record Bid
Hopes were high for an opportunity at a world record run on Saturday for the Land Speed team out on Lake Gairdner in South Australia.
The forecasts did indicate some good opportunities for some 20+ knot breezes, however, those required winds were in disappointingly short supply, explained pilot Glenn Ashby. “Unfortunately, we haven’t quite had enough breeze out there. We had a few tiny puffs come through that were just over 20 knots, but they were super short-lived and basically never had the wind strength to crack into any decent numbers.”
Most of the runs undertaken by Horonuku were in around 17-18 knots of breeze from the NNW, which while short of the required wind speed for any record-breaking runs, did allow Ashby to get a number of runs up to 184km/h allowing him to tweak the balance and control of the craft which he is becoming increasingly comfortable with- at times effortlessly floating the windward pod off the ground while travelling over 180km/h.
Ray Davies who is on the ground as part of the Land Speed team was impressed at the increasing control Ashby is developing after one run, feeding back to Ashby, “That was a really nice run for control, it just looked like you were flying the pod beautifully then.”
The team remains optimistic at another opportunity for increased breeze on Sunday, with the forecast models of the day being favourable for the wind to provide a few more knots of wind speed now out of the SW of possibly between 20-24 knots.
“We are all like coiled springs at the moment and are ready to react at a moment's notice, so will be out on the lake ready to roll in the optimal breeze, which is looking like arriving much later in the day,” said Ashby.
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.
Barcelona America’s Cup Confirms 2024 Match Dates: October 2024
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.
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.”
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.
New Zealand AC40 Suffers Damage During Sailing
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.
America's Cup Reveal New Barcelona AC37 Logo
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.
“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.”
Bid to Eclipse 2009 Wind-Powered World Record Speed of 202.9 km/h in Emirates Team New Zealand’s Land Yacht
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.”
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.
“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.
“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.
America’s Cup in Barcelona Announces Key Roles for Iain Murray and Richard Slater for 37th Edition
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’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.”