Gladwell's Line - The Week that Was - Defenders 2 Challengers nil

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World on 25 Nov 2017 In a weird way, it has been a good week for Emirates Team New Zealand.

On Tuesday they announced the concept for the next America's Cup Class, with a radical high-performance 75fter.

The hit-you-in-the-face feature of the new boat is the foils. Otherwise, it is a reasonably mainstream boat.

The reaction has been mixed. The new AC75 satisfies those who liked the AC50 and are keen to see a foiling boat of some description - either multihull or monohull.

Most of the potential teams were expecting something less radical and more within their comfort zone.

An upgraded Maxi 72 would have been fine and would have suited the traditionalists who see the America's Cup as being a Match Race first and a Speed Race second. The AC75 spins that equation the other way.

Emirates Team is well positioned for the new boat - probably the best of all the teams, with a strong design group, albeit with most currently on a part-time basis. They have a top sailing team who are young, race sharp, fast learners and good adaptors. The organisation will probably get a bit of a shake-up, but that is not a bad thing and quite healthy.

The most compelling design aspect of the AC75 is the foils, and many get thrown by that. However, the foils are just one part of the overall package. Compared to the AC50/AC72 the hull design is more aligned with mainstream design knowledge. So there should be more available talent in that space.

The AC75 looks like it will be using soft sails - certainly for the jib and Code Zero, and probably some of the mainsail. Again that is back into mainstream sail design - so there should be plenty of design talent available and the arcane days of wingsail design and engineering have probably gone.

Spars will also be closer to the mainstream for design and manufacture.

The overall package does bring the America's Cup closer to mainstream sailing, and on that count alone there should be some trickle down into pro/am sailing - one of Emirates Team New Zealand's objectives for the America's Cup.

'Love Taps' will be something else again in the AC75.

Council drops ball
By any measure Emirates Team New Zealand is leading the sailing stakes for the 36th America's Cup.

The boat announcement dominated the news on Tuesday - with 3 News using it as their opening story on the prime time news that evening. Where else would that happen but in New Zealand?

From a Defence perspective, Emirates Team New Zealand got off to a good start on Thursday afternoon, with the Auckland Council removing the team's preference for base location, listening to the Councils lobbyists rather than its experts.

Auckland Council dropped the ball with the decision to remove the Halsey Street Extension from its options for hosting the 36th America's Cup.

Essentially all that Emirates Team NZ Chairman Stephen Tindall said to the Council was that the selection of the Viaduct Basin option so favoured by the politicians and lobbyists would not trigger a shift to Italy, permitted by Article 4.1 of the Protocol governing the conduct of the 36th America's Cup. The two parties to that Protocol are Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Circolo della Vela Sicilia, not their respective teams.

Technically speaking it is the call of RNZYS as to where the Cup will be defended. CVS is required to organise the Challenger Selection Series, now known as the Prada Cup.

Neither Club spoke at the Council Meeting.

It is not Emirates Team New Zealand's role to stand up for the Challengers. The fact that they have done this is purely one of goodwill and generosity on their part. However, it is now clear that it is wasted effort.

Emirates Team New Zealand are not the losers from the decisions made on Thursday by the Council.

The Challengers are. So too is Auckland City. Maybe also the NZ marine industry.

Emirates Team New Zealand will have the pick of the base locations in Auckland; the others will be allocated to the Challengers in order of entry. Somewhat naively the Council seem to have the view that the goodwill that exists between Emirates Team NZ and Luna Rossa will be carried over into the relationships with the Challengers.

That has never happened before in the America's Cup, which is noted for the Defender stacking the deck in subtle ways to disadvantage the Challengers. But in this instance City Hall, albeit unwittingly, stacked the deck for the home team.

No good turn goes unpunished
Emirates Team New Zealand came out of the Meeting with clean hands - they had gone into bat with the Council to get the best deal for the Challengers for base location and general set up of the venue.

Their good turn has not gone unpunished. And ETNZ can now walk away from the negotiations able to say to the Challengers that they tried their best, but were unsuccessful. The Challengers would be well advised to fight their own battles now.

Getting a good base location is a key item on the shopping list for any Challenger. The Auckland situation is complicated by the fact that some bases are only designed for one boat, others for two. Quite how those get allocated will be interesting to see, but again that is not Emirates Team NZ's problem.

The announced Challengers (and other teams), while not yet entered, should have formed into a group, or a Challengers Committee and then acted in concert to make their views on the base preferences very clear. That would have included being directly represented at Thursday's Council meeting and making their views very plain.

Some sharp words in a heavy Italian accent would have gone a long way on Thursday.

As it stands, the Consents for whatever option is finally passed by the Council will have already been filed by the time entries open on January 1, 2018, or will be lodged a week or two afterwards.

By then it will probably be too late for the Challengers to have a significant input, and their only option will be to appear at the Hearing on the consents and point out the shortcomings of the Council's option. The Challengers should be getting organised now and speaking forcefully in a loud voice.

Two can also play at the lobbying game. And anyone who has a contrary view, or can point out serious shortcomings in the preferred option can appear, on their own behalf, and make their views known to the Environment Court or an earlier Hearing. The problem for the Council is that a decision has been made which flies in the face of expert evidence, and that evidence is contained in various publicly available documents and reports produced by Council staff and organisations. So not a lot of homework is required by anyone wanting to make a stand. Just fire the Council official's fine work back through the Hearing process.

On the face of Thursday's deal, the New Zealand marine industry will be heavily impacted. Superyacht berths in the preferred Council option drop from 24 to just eight. And the eight will need to be shoe-horned into their allocated berths, given they have bases and team launching opposite with just 170 metres to be shared between the two for berthing and manoeuvring.

It will fall, no doubt to the lot of the Council officers to negotiate some deal for other space and lessees around the Viaduct area to increase the number of superyacht berths.

It must be said that the people in ATEED and Panuku Developments - Council organisations - did an outstanding job in their proposal development, analysis and quick thinking ability to provide solutions in a rapidly moving game.

The fact that people of that calibre are doing the planning and groundwork is very heartening as they try to make the best of the difficult situation they have been handed. However, they get little support from the Council and their lobbyists who are running this show.

The piece de resistance in this session of fuzzy logic came from the Mayor, who argued that in the case of the Mooring Dolphin that extended 95 metres out into the harbour (right to the edge of the navigation channel) to facilitate the ability to berth bigger cruise ships, he was all for it because it was going to generate 800 jobs and that provided opportunities for youth etc. A laudable view. However in the case of the America's Cup which was going to generate 8000 jobs, it was the intrusion of the harbour which was his primary concern. The fact that the plan he voted for reduced superyacht facilities from 24 berths to just 8 - with an accompanying reduction in work opportunities didn't seem to really register.

Time for Team NZ to walk away
But none of that is Emirates Team New Zealand's problem. They have tried. Their efforts were rebuffed. Now they must walk away and get on with the sailing.

There is no obligation on the part of the Defender to make life easy for the Challengers, and indeed in other America's Cups, the Challengers have been left to their own devices. In 1992 and 1995 Challenger representatives had to travel to San Diego - find some suitable yard space and set up from there. San Francisco in 2013 was not much better.

The Host City is the main beneficiary of making life easier for the Challengers. The out-take from Thursday's meeting is that clearly, Auckland Council has little real interest in maximising the benefits of the America's Cup. Of course, they make all the right noises, and fine speeches, but lack the required understanding. It seemed that only one Councillor had been to an America's Cup - Christine Fletcher. She and six other Councillors voted for the Team NZ preferred option to stay for a decision in December; the rest grabbed the opportunity to kill it.

Looking at the war, rather than the current battle, Emirates Team New Zealand's chances of successfully defending the America's Cup got a big boost this week, and for that New Zealand's America's Cup fans should be grateful. The score thus far stands at Defenders 2, Challengers nil.

Still on the table are the issues of a permanent base for Team New Zealand, which figured in the Halsey Street Extension, but not in the preferred option.


Event Fee - How Much?
An Event Fee is also well justified. The Council and government are quick to play up the cost of the infrastructure but not so the rewards they reap. Given that Auckland is believed to be paying $5million for a three week Volvo Ocean Race Stopover in a few weeks, what is an 18month America's Cup worth?

Bermuda paid over NZD$21million as an event fee plus stumped up for another NZD$36million in event sponsorship underwrite. Or maybe ETNZ would be better advised to cut a deal for a percentage of the tax windfall for the government - say 20% of $600million? Plus a similar from the Council from $24million in berthage fees in the period to June 2022?

None of the Economic Impact Reports includes the $100million in Advertising Equivalent Value generated by the America's Cup for Bermuda.

But even with what appears to be a very generous package from Bermuda the whole America's Cup deal including the development of infrastructure of a similar size to the Halsey Street Extension cost Bermuda 'only' NZD$95million - about half the projected cost of the most expensive option at Thursday's meeting. It is not clear why the difference is at that level.

Team New Zealand has been, and still are being conveniently portrayed as being very avaricious in their requests for facilities and funding.

However, the fact is that there is a lot of dollars going to be blown into the Government and Council coffers. The bureaucrats know that the economic impact benefits are easily reconciled between various America's Cups held between 2000 and 2017. Trying to cast dispersions on their accuracy is purely a political ploy. The companies who have compiled those reports are very reputable and are open in their assessments. Those who try to damn the numbers don't put up any evidence to back their dispersions - just fire the cheap shots in the hope of getting a headline.

2015 support pumps lobbyists' egos
Those who backed the various lobby groups, two years ago against Port of Auckland's proposals to extend Bledisloe Wharf 92 metres out into the harbour can rightfully feel completely used by the events of this week. That support for an outrageous proposal in 2015 has been translated across as support for any cause the same self-elected lobby groups now choose to attack.

The Halsey Street Extension proposal was well inside the line of existing wharves and enhanced the use of that awkward patch of water. There is no significant commonality between the two issues. In the previous agenda item in the same meeting, the Council approved the installation of a mooring dolphin 95 metres out into the harbour from the end Queens Wharf.

Back in September, when the Council discussed the America's Cup hosting options, Mayor Phil Goff called for a decision to be made based on the evidence. The evidence supported Emirates Team New Zealand's preference and the one that best served the teams, visitors, Auckland and the event.

But that didn't suit the politicians' ends, so they reverted to type, and ran with the lobbyists - who'd already announced what the decision would be four days previously.