America's Cup bust-ups in NZ and UK, SailGP calls a time-out
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 15 Apr 23:45 AEST
12 April 2025
Is the Cup leaving Auckland? © Richard Gladwell - AI
It has been a tumultuous few weeks on the NZ sailing scene and internationally. A few situations that have been on the build for a while all came to a head within the same week.
At the beginning of March, it was confirmed that Auckland was in the bidding for the 2027 America's Cup Hosting. Three weeks later, it was announced that negotiations had broken down - and it seems the Cup is headed for an offshore venue again.
The date, April 1, 2025, on top of the Emirates Team NZ media release, was poignant. But its contents were no April Fool's joke.
The refusal of the NZ Government to invest in the 2027 America's Cup is sad for Auckland. The lines about not having the money available are a tired excuse, particularly when Wellington can announce an increase of $9 billion in defence spending a few days later.
The lack of Major Events coming to New Zealand in the next few years is well-known and oft-commented but low in priority. As a Major Event, the 2027 America's Cup hosting was the lowest-hanging fruit waiting to be plucked, was within NZ's own orchard, and close to a billion viewers had watched the each of last two America's Cups. What better shop window can you get for a country of 5.3million?
The private investors in Auckland's Cup hosting were good to go, we are told. The Auckland Council were enthusiastic - their funding depended on the Coalition Government getting off their backsides and at least committing to passing a Bed Tax or coming up with an alternative that would get Major Events into NZ.
Their silence was deafening. Their action was dismissive.
Rather than considering the America's Cup effort and hosting, it is fairer to compare the Cup and the technology with the assistance invested in the film/video industry. Both are high-tech, with a New Zealand based infrastructure that lasts beyond the production and contributes revenue. In the 2014 to 2022 period the Film industry attracted $1.15billon of rebates - thats's $128million a year - and $40million for an America's Cup is unaffordable?
Despite knowing that it directly clashed with the America's Cup, NZ Major Events - part of the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment signed up The Ocean Race 2027 for the site earmarked for the America's Cup bases in the March 2027 window. That announcement came on March 19, and the writing was on the wall for the Cup hosting.
The America's Cup would have pumped money into the Auckland economy and the marine industry for nearly 12 months - particularly downtown Auckland, which suffered 180 days of Covid Lockdowns of level 3 or higher. By comparison, Wellington was shut down for just 38 days.
No statement was issued by MBIE on the America's Cup hosting, just one from Emirates Team NZ saying the deal was dead. That was followed by the usual muddled accounting so beloved of MBIE trying to defend the indefensible and avoid explaining why they can't do something positive to boost Auckland's hospitality industry, New Zealand's tourism industry, and the New Zealand marine industry.
Wellington was very quick to slam in the Covid checkpoints but never had a plan then or now to rectify the damage they caused.
Surprisingly Auckland has two big facilities coming online in 2026 ahich would have worked in well with an America's Cup in 2027.
The $6billion Inner City Rail Link is due to come into full operation, and is expected to greatly enhance tourism transportantion around the City of Sails.
The Sky City Conference centre, having been rebuilt after the construction fire, is also coming online in 2026 - offering a great opportunity for conferences and international networking technology shows and functions to embrace an America's theme. Sky City was a sponsor of the America's Cup in 2021 - lifting its profile by providing a great accomodation centre for the teams.
Sir Jim jumps ship
Mid last week - on April 10- the Jim Ratcliffe-backed INEOS Britannia America's Cup team announced that they would not enter the 2027 America's Cup. That left Ben Ainslie's Athena Racing as the Royal Yacht Squadron's only option as a Challenger.
Earlier, the RYS had amended their website doing a name switch from INEOS Britannia to Athena Racing. But that was just rectifying a website typo error that had been present for some time, since October and was not the major switcheroo in the team seen by some pundits.
Athena was always going to be the team of the RYS. The withdrawal of INEOS Britannia has deprived the Brits of the opportunity to have two teams in the Challenger Selection Series and, ultimately, the Challenger Final. Funding, boats and putting a design team together remain as the unanswered questions for Athena Racing.
SailGP takes a time out
A day earlier, on April 9, the news leaked out via the mainstream media in Brazil that the SailGP event planned for early May had been cancelled.
The fleet of 12 F50s has been diverted to a shipyard at an undisclosed location for check and repair. The next regatta in Season 5 - SailGP Brazil, was called off.
The San Francisco incident is the seventh involving wingsail damage in just over two years, starting when the Black Foils were hit by lightning in Singapore in Jan 2023.
The check process becomes longer if it is extended to the whole of a very complex boat, including cross beams, hydraulic and electrical control systems, and daggerboard cases. While the League hopes to make New York, if there are widespread issues, Portsmouth, UK, may be the next event in Season 5.
SailGP owns and is responsible for the support and maintenance of the F50 fleet, and one suspects that insurance and organiser liability may have been a factor in the decision to ground the fleet. That is how it should be. As top offshore racer, Syd Fischer would say: "Trust is fine. Checking is better."
Peter Burling's options
Last Friday morning, April 11, at 10.00 am, Emirates Team New Zealand sent a media release confirming that they had parted company with Peter Burling, their helmsman and skipper of the past decade and winning helmsman of the last three America's Cups.
No one is indispensable, but it is a big call to part company with someone of Peter Burling's talent and experience. However, the Kiwi team has been characterised for making big calls in the team composition as well as radical design innovation.
We have not heard Peter Burling's side of his departure. We can but guess at his options - of which there were three or four.
The pressures should not be underestimated on a professional sailor trying to span an America's Cup and SailGP campaigns - each who completely lacks any understanding of the other. Grant Dalton commented on Friday, that he expected his skipper to have his first and only priority on the America's Cup. Clearly ETNZ are moving into a new level of integration between all design, development, sailing and engineering teams in test sailing and racing. The time pressure in the next America's Cup will go up another level again, with the already announced restriction on sailing days. All the performance data will have to be generated using the full racing crew, not the stand-ins.
In the January 17 Media Conference in Auckland, SailGP CEO Russell Coutts spoke of expanding the league from 14 events in 2025 to 16 in the following year and 18 in 2027. Try working that program in with the committments of an America's Cup year.
This decision had been looming for a year. Maybe Peter Burling made a decision. Maybe Grant Dalton made it for him.
But looking in from the outside, never underestimate the time commitment involved in one professional sailing campaign, let alone two - and doing justice to both.
If you want to know the truth, the most basic adage for journalists covering the America's Cup is to follow the money. It isn't disputed that Peter Burling thought his value to ETNZ was greater than Grant Dalton was prepared to pay. Usually, there is a stand-off; each party reflects on their position, and a deal is made. The worst but most frequent one is to split the difference equally.
Splitting the difference probably wouldn't have worked for Burling because his availability was the key issue, and if the Cup Hosting moved overseas, then a scarce commodity became more scarce.
Don't forget that Burling's Backfoils SailGP program (along with Spain) is one of those still funded by the League. For the League to get the franchise sold (maybe a buyer is lined up), they need Peter Burling to be committed to racing with the SailGP team - not off running some test program for a Kiwi America's Cup team. It is not known what percentage of the franchise Peter Burling and Blair Tuke own, but on current prices - said by Coutts to be US$50 million (NZ$84million) for a franchise - the Kiwi pair are in for a big payday, in maybe the not too distant future.
From someone who should know, we hear that SailGP sailor pay rates are higher than the America's Cup.
So Peter Burling's analysis probably looked like this:
(i) The best option is to do the Cup and SailGP if the Cup is being hosted in NZ, and the AC team will accommodate his absences while sailing on the SailGP circuit. This is the richest in terms of a paycheck and gets him home most nights. This option disappeared on April 1.
(ii) Do SailGP for the BlackFoils and coach/consult for another America's Cup team. This generates a bigger pay packet, and Burling controls his time and is not mission-critical to a highly focused and demanding America's Cup team. The SailGP also offers substantial prizemony, which the America's Cup does not. This would be a massive signing for another America's Cup team. Emirates Team New Zealand will probably try and sell Te Rehutai, 2021 their America's Cup winner which was upgraded for 2024. Buying Peter Burling's services and insights would be a great add-on for a new team.
(iii) Do SailGP only and enjoy being a dad rather than a key cog in two professional sailing programs. The SaiilGP pay may be better than just AC, and there's the likelihood of prizemoney, too. And, of course, this option improves the value of the BlackFoil's SailGP franchise.
(iv) While attempting to be the most winning skipper in America's Cup history may have others getting their rocks off, the time cost is huge - and the risk was that Peter Burling's ego was writing cheques that he couldn't meet mentally or physically. There's no fun in that. Financially, this is the worst of all options.
(v) Sailing for another AC team is not an option - it's banned in the Protocol. Dong another Round the World Race is also unlikely - unless there was a lot of money on the table. Doing another Olympic campaign is unlikely.
It is said that the America's Cup consists of three years of meetings followed by a yacht race. Having done this routine for 10 years and three America's Cup campaigns, extending this to a 13 year stretch, probably wasn't a great option - despite being one for which most mortals would have sold their grandmothers.
What does it all mean?
In all four incidences, it is unlikely that we are being told the whole truth - as is typical of most PR releases - they're designed to get clear of the issues and move on, but the most noticeable bubbles in their wake are the questions they have chosen not to answer.
Despite being under attack in the UK media for months, Sir Jim Ratcliffe's announcement that INEOS Britannia has exited the 2027 America's Cup still came as a surprise. Like Emirates Team New Zealand's decision to part with their skipper, the INEOS team management said they had grown tired of protracted negotiations, which had stalemated.
After that amount of time, in both cases six months, it boils down to whether you want to work with the other party or not. The time for vacillation and tidying up legal fine points has passed. Both teams came to the conclusion they needed to move forward.
The still unanswered question in the War of the Roses was who owned the assets of the former INEOS Britannia challenge. It will be in a few months, at the end of September to be precise, when the America's Cup teams are permitted to resume sailing.
That September 30 date gives an inkling that Team New Zealand had realised that it had run out of time over the selection of not so much a co-helmsman but a skipper and leader of the sailing team. The clock is running down fast on what will be a three-year America's Cup cycle. The Kiwis have to get under way this summer - having been off the water for a year.
It was clear from ETNZ's CEO Grant Dalton's comments that he regarded the skipper/co-helmsman's first and only focus was on the America's Cup program. With Peter Burling's split focus on SailGP and the America's Cup, the difference in Dalton's view and Burling's commitments is as wide as the Hauraki Gulf.
Maybe Grant Dalton and Sir Jim Ratcliffe shared the same view on that topic when Sir Jim announced on January 23 that his team INEOS Britannia was splitting with its skipper. The Brit's indecision and need to move on has a similar ring to the Kiwi situation.
The second announcement last week on April 9, from Ratcliffe's team that they were pulling out altogether points to a protracted negotiation over the split of the assets and design IP over which Ainslie had threatened legal action back in late January - the same media release where he claimed he was astounded by Ratcliffe's move to dispense with his services as skipper.
Yeah, right.
Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor