Dr Enersen gives his prognosis on the Auld Mug

Dick Enersen at Ron Holland’s 60th birthday celebration in Ireland, prior to the start of the Semi-Finals of the LVC Dick Enersen http://dickenersen.smugmug.com

In spite of claims that the ACC V5 Rule was stale, Luna Rossa’s designers certainly came up with something quite different in terms of hull shape - Act 13 2007 Louis Vuitton Series © MCC McCamp

Although only a few of you have asked me directly, mostly at the StFYC bar, I suspect most of you are asking yourselves, ‘What does Dick think about the current America’s Cup situation?’ Since time, yours and mine, is scarce, I will give you the short answer, ‘It’s too bad that it’s come to this.’¨ That said, it is in the nature of the event, pretty much throughout its history, that conflict will exist off the water, as well as on.

The ‘too bad’ part is that the legal action between GGYC and SNG is holding up the ongoing flow of Cup matches which we’ve enjoyed since 1992 and follows on the heels of the most interesting Cup match since 1983. It is perceived as an urination contest between two rich and willful men, a waste of judicial resources and is just another reason why Joe Six-pack doesn’t understand, or care about, our sport.

The Problem

Ernesto Bertarelli, Ed Baird and Fred Meyer (Vice Commodore of SNG), accompanied by America’s Cup (in its custom made Louis Vuitton travel case), appeared at St. Francis last week to present their case for their view of the 33rd match. These are all nice, well spoken and sophisticated guys, whom I have known, and liked, for varying lengths of time, and their conception of an interesting and accessible yacht racing event isn’t all bad; it just can’t be confused with a regatta having to do with America’s Cup.

The analogy which comes to mind is that of an ACC boat turning too quickly. It slows down, the flow separates from the rudder and the yacht stalls out. The changes Ernesto wants to implement are too radical, and too unilateral, to keep the existing AC community, much less ‘fans’¨ of the event (Louis Vuitton, for example), involved in the process.

There are a lot of specific problems, mostly addressed elsewhere, with the protocol. One which hasn’t been discussed, so far as I’ve seen, is the idea of match racing the new, hard to sail, 90 footers which ‘the sailors want’¨ for the next event. Ernesto says it will be ‘like a bigger TP52, a 90 foot sport boat,’¨ which will be much more exciting down wind. I’m sure it will be, but unless the boats are overlapped at the top mark, the separation created will be virtually impossible to close, so the match race will effectively comprise only one leg. Maybe, if the boats are designed to capsize, the entertainment value will increase.

The SNG contingent points to the five declared challengers as validating their view of the future. Really? It seems to me they are just hedging their bets, so as to attract/maintain sponsor-ship and keep momentum for their efforts alive.

BMW Oracle Racing - Act 13 2007 Louis Vuitton Series © MCC McCamp

The Solution

The Achilles heel of the SNG position lies in the fictitious, ad hoc, ‘yacht club’¨ which is currently the Challenger of Record (COR) and has signed off on the new protocol. The first important hearing will be in New York on the 22nd. Cory E. Friedman, whose writing can be found in the Scuttlebutt Archives, has done a wonderful job of analyzing the legal issues and I heartily recommend reading him.

With any luck, GGYC will prevail in court, quickly, there will be no appeal and GGYC will take over as COR. With a good deal more luck, the two clubs will agree to negotiate a new protocol for the 33rd match. If they ask for my advice, I will suggest the following stipulations:

# Sail the next match in Valencia in 2009, using version 6 (give the designers something to do) of the AC Class yacht and the same general parameters as the last event.

# Continue the ‘Acts’¨ in various locations prior to the match, but come up with a better name for them.

# Create a panel of designers & AC sailors to come up with a rule for a new class to be used for the 34th match, as was done in 1988 in the wake of the ‘catamaran debacle.’¨

'# Create a similar panel of interested parties to consider the future of the event, including possible revisions of the Deed of Gift and the transformation, or replacement, of America’s Cup Management into an independent non-profit corporation, as Malin Burnham has suggested.

There’s clearly a lot more to think about, and talk about, but that’s my $ .02 for the moment.