America’s Cup sinks Admiral's Cup

by Rob Kothe, on 10 Apr 2005 The Admiral's Cup, the famous and long-established yachting event, has been cancelled due to lack of entries.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club yesterday formally announced its decision rather than delaying until entries formally closed on May 3.

By yesterday, only Australia and Britain had formally entered.

Ireland had three teams and boats ready to race, but has not found the sponsor it needs. The chances of other countries fielding three boat teams was clearly very slim.

The Admiral's Cup, created in 1957 and once one of the world's great regattas distinctive in its combination of inshore Solent racing with offshore events in a three-boat, national team format, seems to be now destined to become part of sailing history.

The Cup has been in a long-term decline since its 1970's peak, at a time when there were three series with 19 teams.

The most famous of these culminated in the 1979 Fastnet race which was won by the Australian team in fatal conditions.

Declining interest brought format changes as RORC tried to re-kindle interest. These changes included the removal of the Fastnet race from the series. It seemed the event was in terminal decline with the cancellation of the 2001 Cup.

The less than popular IMS rule and the RORC’s unsuccessful promotion of the IRM handicap rule, has left the yachting scene without a handicap rule that applies worldwide, deterring those who want a custom-designed racer.

One-design racing, such as the Sydney 38, Farr 40, Swan 45 and TP52 have increased around the world, while the Grand Prix racing fleets have generally declined.

One of the further factors that has probably not helped the Admirals Cup is Australia’s strength on the IRC scene.

Royal Prince Alfred’s Yacht Club members Bob Oatley and Colin O’Neill delivered Admirals Cup victory in 2003 to the Australians with Wild Oats and After Shock.

Last year, Oatley built his new Reichel Pugh 66 footer Wild Oats specifically to hold the Cup down under.

It was clear to other potential challengers that a combination of Wild Oats as IRC Big Boat, along with Farr 40 and Mumm 30 World Champion Richard Perini in the Mumm 30 class and an experienced Swan 45 team with Matt Allen and Leslie Green, was going to be very hard to beat.

However the main nail in the coffin has been the European focus on the America’s Cup, which has brought forward a large number of challenging teams and soaked up all available sponsorship euros.

The Spanish, who sailed close to victory in the 2003 Admiral's Cup, have lots to do in Valencia; the Italians are committed with two teams there, the French, the Swiss, the Swedes, the USA, the New Zealanders, even the South Africans are all involved.

It is probably no surprise that three nations not involved in the 32nd America's Cup, Britain, Ireland and Australia, were the only ones interested in the Admiral's Cup.

As Bob and Sandy Oatley commented to the RORC, maybe the next Admiral's Cup should be raced in the tropical waters off Hamilton Island; their Great Barrier Reef resort.

Australia has the venue, the boats and the Cup - all available now.