Passports, Protocols and AC35—Sailing news from North America & beyond

by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 6 Sep 2016 As a journalist who is active in both print and online media, I’m constantly pulled between two publishing realities. In the print-media world, writers and journalists operate three months ahead of the actual calendar in order to make their deadlines to their editors, and-vis-à-vis-the printer, whereas online journalists have the luxury of writing about the here and now. These worlds recently collided as my summer of writing about the Rio 2016 Olympics gave way to an upcoming fall and winter of writing about the America’s Cup.

In the span of an hour-long phone call, one of my print-publication editors pulled my head from a summer reality that was focused on Olympic medals to the exciting, here-we-go-right-now reality of an America’s Cup that’s approaching at full foiling speed, especially now that the Olympic medal ceremonies have been furled and stowed for another quadrennial.

For anyone playing catch-up, the 35th America’s Cup will be held from June 17-27, 2017 (provisional dates), in the beautiful and exclusive island nation of Bermuda. Racing will be conducted in 50-foot foiling catamarans that will be capable of jaw-dropping speeds and were designed with foiling fully in mind (unlike the AC72 catamarans that were used to contest “AC34” in San Francisco back in 2013), thus flinging the door wide open to Jedi Master-level sailing maneuvers such as foiling tacks and gybes.

While each team’s hulls and crossbars (AKA their platform) will be identical for AC35, the teams will have more say in designing their wings and foils to box rule constraints in an effort to concentrate design efforts on areas that will pay the highest dividends.

Designers are now deep into their plans for each teams’ Cup boat, but the sailors are currently busying themselves aboard their AC45S (Turbo) catamarans, both to practice and prepare for AC35, and to compete in the ongoing Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series (LVACWS), which includes the upcoming Toulon, France LVACWS regatta (September 10-12).

A glance at the overall LVACWS results to date reveals some usual suspects, with Land Rover BAR currently toping the leaderboard with 367 points, followed by Oracle Team USA with 366 points and Emirates Team New Zealand with 357 points. Just outside of the Top Three is SoftBank Team Japan with 328 points, followed further astern by Artemis Racing (315 points) and Groupama Team France (292 points).

Just recently, the Defender of the 35th America’s Cup, Oracle Team USA, announced that sailing team manager and tactician/helmsman (as well as 2012 Laser gold medalist at the London 2012 Olympics and winner of the 34th America’s Cup) Tom Slingsby will be taking over driving duties from skipper/helmsman Jimmy Spithill, who plans to stay ashore and rehabilitate a nagging elbow injury.

“Tom has been steering and racing our AC45S boat in Bermuda a lot over the summer and I know he’s keen to get out there and show what he can do,” said Spithill, who is a two-time America’s Cup winner. “We have such depth and talent on this team, I am confidant that Tom will deliver a good performance.”

Along with Slingsby, Oracle Team USA’s Toulon, France, contingency will also be joined by Andrew Campbell (USA) who is flying to the Continent as a back-up sailor. Slingsby holds dual Australian and American passports, and bowman/grinder Louis Sinclair holds American, Antiguan, and New Zealand passports, but Campbell is the only full-blooded American sailor who will be with the team in France.

While the winner of each America’s Cup has the privilege of negotiating the Protocol for the next Defense with the Challenger of Record, AC35’s Protocol contains weak nationality rules, meaning that teams are largely free to hire international free agents.

While fully legal and Protocol-compliant, it’s tough to feel any nationalistic allegiance with a Defender that sends a squad of sailors to France with more antipodean accents than Yankee drawls.

Irrespective of whether I’m writing for print publications, with their odd deadline-based calendar warps, or for online outlets with their here-and-now urgency, this is a tough reality to reconcile, especially for anyone who grew up cheering for skippers such as Ted Turner and Dennis Conner, who won the Auld Mug surrounded by their countrymen…

…much like the sailors on Land Rover BAR, Emirates Team New Zealand, SoftBank Team Japan (who sails with three nationals), Artemis Racing and Groupama Team France will be trying to do in AC35.

Hopefully this reality won’t require any reconciliation once the Protocol governing the 36th America’s Cup is published.

May the four winds blow you safely home,