World Match Racing Tour welcomes 34th America’s Cup Announcement

by WMRT Media on 14 Sep 2010
The ISAF World Match Racing Tour today welcomed the decision to run the 34th America’s Cup in catamarans, as this confirms the WMRT as the world’s pre-eminent monohull match racing series and creates a tremendous opportunity and responsibility for the Tour to continue to develop match racing worldwide.

The ISAF World Match Racing Tour has long been established as the active pathway for sailors and teams to develop their skills and competitive match racing tactics in preparation for the America’s Cup. This is a history which the Tour is very proud of and it will always look to innovate with the changing times to ensure that it remains the ultimate testing ground for match racing where skill, athleticism, rule knowledge, psychology, teamwork and up-close action prevail.

WMRT Chief Executive Jim O’Toole commented: 'As a Tour that is committed to innovation and development we respect the adventurous approach by 3-times ISAF World Match Racing Tour Champion Russell Coutts in reframing the America’s Cup and will follow these plans closely as they unfold.'

The Tour’s focus will always be to provide the best competition format for pitching the world’s best professional sailors against one another on identical boats, in races where teams are tested under ISAF match racing rules and teams win on merit or sailing skill.

The WMRT would only consider including multihull events into the calendar if there is a clear demand from our key stakeholders which are the ISAF, the sailing teams and the Tour’s event promoters. They are intrinsic to the Tour’s continued development and any decisions on potential changes will always be based on strengthening the Tour’s established successful competition framework and principles.