Cup news, Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, Golden Globe Race 2018
by David Schmidt 18 Dec 2018 10:00 PST
December 18, 2018
The 30 year legacy of Stars & Stripes will continue with the newest America's Cup Challenger © Sergio Dionisio
If you're like me, the non-stop sound of Christmas music sends you running for the marina, which isn't necessarily a place of refuge for North American sailors given this particular holiday's calendar date and the continent's latitude and longitude (Southern California and Florida-based sailors will pay a stiff Karmic penalty in their next life). Fortunately, the sailing world has been generating plenty of attention-grabbing news that (at least so far this holiday season) has helped to insulate my consciousness from seasick-inducing jingles about Frosty, Rudolph and even Grandma, who every year seems to find the underside of Rudolph's hooves.
For starters, the November 30 deadline for entry in the 36th America's Cup, which will be held on the waters off of Auckland, New Zealand, from March 6-21, 2021, saw eight late-hour entries, two of which have now been accepted.
As we discussed last week, the Defender (the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron) and the Challenger of Record (the Circolo Della Vela Sicilia) have accepted the Royal Malta Yacht Club's unconditional challenge, but last week word became public of a second, West Coast-based American challenger whose entry was also accepted sans conditions.
Any sailor with a pulse will well remember Dennis Conner's 1987 Stars & Stripes challenge, which traveled down under to reclaim a prize that Dennis personally lost in 1983. Conner's Stars & Stripes team was of course victorious, beating the Aussies on their own windblown western Australian waters and returning home to a ticker-tape parade in New York City.
Now, this prestigious moniker will be making the jump to twenty-first-century foiling monohulls. Word broke last week that Stars & Stripes Team USA, flying the colors of the Long Beach Yacht Club, in Long Beach, California, has been accepted by the Defender and the Challenger of Record to compete in "AC36", bringing the total number of accepted challengers up to five, with two of these teams flying Old Glory's proud colors.
"Our name is a nod to Dennis Conner's 'Stars & Stripes' campaigns that defined all-American, America's Cup racing for decades. We are the next generation," said Stars & Stripes Team USA co-founder Mike Buckley (USA; 35), who has been working on this project with his fellow co-founder, top-flight match racing skipper, and four-time Congressional Cup winner Taylor Canfield (USA; 29), in an official team release on the America's Cup website.
"We have begun assembling our sailing roster and will announce more details soon," said Canfield in the same release. "It's been my professional goal to compete in the America's Cup my whole life and I'm confident we will be very competitive come 2021 in Auckland."
While many questions remain, some important answers have surfaced, including the news that the team has purchased a design and technology package from Emirates Team New Zealand, and they have also made the wise decision to hire JB Braun, a veteran of Oracle Team USA's 2013 and 2017 campaigns (as well as a heck of a nice guy), as head of their design team. Additionally, they announced that construction of their AC75 has already begun in Michigan.
Also in AC news, American Magic, the other American-flagged team that's campaigning for AC36, announced that their team, their scaled-down foiling monohull (dubbed "the Mule"), and their training focus are headed to Florida for the winter.
"Pensacola brings a lot to the table for our team," said Terry Hutchinson, American Magic's skipper and executive director, in an official team press release. "Pensacola will give us consistently good sailing weather, a large and protected flat water training venue, efficient logistics and a welcoming community. The Port of Pensacola has been very accommodating as we set up our base, and really stepped up to create an ideal facility for an America's Cup team."
Meanwhile, in offshore sailing news, attention is turning to Sydney, Australia, where the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race will start on December 26. As of this writing there are three American-flagged boats entered, namely Joy Ride, Privateer and Prospector. Stay tuned later this week for an interview with John Murkowski, skipper of the Seattle-based Joy Ride team.
Also offshore-related, sailors competing in the Golden Globe Race 2018 continue to make progress towards the Les Sables d'Olonne, France, finishing line, with second-placed Mark Slats (NED) taking a sizeable, 150+ nautical mile bite out of frontrunner Jean-Luc Van Den Heede's (FRA) enviable lead. It's important to remember, however, that Van Den Heede is nursing a damaged rig.
Still, all is not roses aboard Slats' boat, as word recently broke that the Dutchman has been suffering from bad stomach troubles thanks to some rotten milk. As of this writing, Van Den Heede has some 4,223 miles separating his bow from the finishing line, while Slats is still some 793 miles astern of the Frenchman. But, with over 4,000 nautical miles remaining and a stronger, more capable rig standing aboard Slats' Ohpen Maverick, this one could boil down to a game of (relative) inches played out on a global racecourse.
And finally, British GGR 2018 skipper Susie Goodall, who suffered a boat-destroying pitchpole some 2,000 miles west of Cape Horn, has signaled that she has no interest in croquet or gardening after surviving a harrowing at-sea rescue.
"If you asked me if I would do this again, now knowing what it's really like, I would say yes in a heartbeat!" said Goodall in an official GGR 2018 press release. "You may ask why?! Some people just live for adventure it's human nature. And for me, the sea is where my adventure lies. Having grown up admiring Tracy Edwards and Ellen MacArthur, I just knew that one day I needed to try to do this too. Every seafarer understands the risks involved but that's what makes us stronger and able to overcome other challenges in life."
So as we pass the winter solstice this coming Friday and finally start waxing some daylight onto our stingy-short winter days, remember that there's great relief from holiday jingles (not to mention from visiting in-laws, invigorated carolers and, worst of all, the post-Christmas return lines) in the sailing news, especially as we move towards much more interesting phases of AC36, the GGR 2018, and of course, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.
May the four winds blow you safely home.
David Schmidt
Sail-World.com North American Editor