Editorial- The Perfect Storm hits America's Cup?

by Richard Gladwell on 16 Jul 2007
Welcome to Sail-World.Com/NZ’s Monday newsletter.

The America’s Cup turbulence continues with the not unexpected announcement by Louis Vuitton, that they have decided not to continue with their sponsorship of the Challenger Selection Series, more commonly known as the Louis Vuitton Cup.

So ends one of the great sponsorships of sailing, which took Bruno Trouble ten minutes to sell in 1980 and has lasted for 27 years.

At Sail-World.com we would like to say a very big thank you to Louis Vuitton and all who have been associated with them and their America's Cup/Louis Vuitton Cup coverage over the years. It has never ceased to amaze this scribe, just how much they have put into the sport and event - all with a big smile, perfect timing and exceptional generosity. Certainly Louis Vuitton make their events very easy to cover, and they have been a pleasure to work with over the Cups we have been associated with since 1987. You couldn't get a better sponsor, and they leave a very big pair of shoes to be filled - if indeed they can be filled at all.

We’ll peel the America’s Cup onion in a separate story, however the present situation is serious, and well beyond the legendary shenanigans of the New York Yacht Club. Sail-World foreshadowed the current situation back in an editorial in early May, and it would seem that that particular Eagle has well and truly landed.

The only way out of the impasse is for key Challengers and Trustees of the America’s Cup to get off their hands and make a public stand on the issues. Doing nothing is effectively taking a position in the current situation. Courts are not the place to resolve these matters – if in fact they will accept jurisdiction.

If the reconstruction of the contest for the premier trophy in sailing is indeed required, then the buy-in of all involved is essential. Benign dictatorships sometimes work – but only with the consent of those being led. The current impasse is not one of those situations, and the adopted approach will bring a great event to its knees, if not its end.

The ISAF Youth Worlds have got underway off Kingston and are currently into their second day. So far, New Zealand sailors are doing well with the Boys 29er crew of Paul Snow-Hansen and Blair Tuke in a comfortable second overall. In six of the seven classes, New Zealand crews are in the top ten overall, Josh Junior is in fourth overall in the Boys Laser and in both of the RS:X classes there are a few points covering six or so competitors from third place overall. The Hobie crew of Tim Coltman and Ben Goodwin are in fifth place overall or fourth equal on points.

In Cascais, the 2007 ISAF World Championships have completed with New Zealand sailors winning two medals and qualifying for the 2008 sailing Olympics in eight of the 11 events.

This achievement is very significant for Yachting New Zealand’s Olympic plan, as it enables focus to be put on winning medals in Qingdao 12 months out from the event, and for the sailors to prepare accordingly.

Conditions at Cascais were expected to be difficult, and did not work the way of sailors who had reduced bodyweight and geared training and tuning programs towards the light airs and currents expected in China. All eyes will now be on the Pre-Olympic results in Qingdao, we believe New Zealand will be competing in seven of the 11 Olympic classes, with just one entry allowed per class, as per the 2008 Olympic format.

We have had several enquiries for an explanation of the penalty in the final race of the 2007 America’s Cup, later in the week, we'll present an initial draft of our understanding of the applicable rules and options. Stay tuned!

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

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