America's Cup: Dalton describes Swiss performance in Barcelona as 'lack-lustre'
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 20 Apr 13:25 AEST
Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Emirates Team NZ - Louis Vuitton Cup, September 1, 2024 - Barcelona © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
Emirates Team NZ's CEO Grant Dalton claims to have been surprised by the withdrawal of the Swiss Challenger Alinghi Red Bull Racing, which was confirmed overnight in a statement from the team.
"It is surprising to hear the news of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, although it has been somewhat obvious for some time that they have been struggling to recover from their lacklustre performance in Barcelona last October and give themselves an 'on water' opportunity to win in AC38," Dalton said in a written statement.
[In Barcelona, the Swiss team finished fourth in the five-boat Louis Vuitton Challenger Selection Series, not progressing beyond the Semi-Finals. In the LVC, they broke two racing masts, one with just 20 minutes of racing, and suffered serious damage to their AC75 after a collision with a UFO during a training session after they had been eliminated.]
"Since the conclusion of AC37, all the teams have been actively involved in trying to form an arrangement which would secure a more open and inclusive running of the America's Cup. Alinghi Red Bull Racing have seemingly been very supportive of the initiative along with all participants."
"There have even been specific concessions in the draft Protocol at Alinghi's request which have been accommodated such as relaxing the nationality rule to allow two non-nationals to help them to bolster their sailing talent on board as well as establishing working groups made up of representatives of all teams to come together on racing formats and TV media broadcast initiatives."
"We feel sympathy today for the dedicated team members that have now lost their jobs as a result of this."
Multi-national sailing teams
Nationality rules have always been a significant issue for Alinghi, who would like a return to the free-engagement rules that applied for the 2003 and 2007 America's Cups, where the teams could hire the best sailing crew that money could buy, cranking overall salary costs - which comprise about 60% of a team budget
The 2024 America's Cup rules required 100% nationality of the sailing crew, with some exceptions around sailors with dual nationality and a second category who were residents of their new team's country at the time of the 2021 Cup in Auckland.
While the so-called "Burling Rule" rule in the draft Protocol restricts 2027 Cup crews to sailing for the teams with who they sailed in 2024, an exception has been allowed for teams to engage up to two non-national sailors who didn't sail in AC37 in Barcelona to join any team they wished. The exception would allow SailGP, Moth and top Olympic sailors to join an America's Cup team to join an America's Cup team of their choosing, regardless of nationality.
All sailors are permitted to sail for a challenger team of which they hold a passport of the club's nation. So American Magic's Tom Slingsby can sail for Australia or the USA.
Right of Veto
While the Defender and Challenger of Record, the Royal Yacht Squadron are consulting with the other teams from the 2024 America's Cup, under the Deed of Gift, the 19th-century document which governs the conduct of each America's Cup Match, there is no obligation for them to do so.
The Challenger of Record is not obliged to give up its entry place to the winner of a Challenger Selection Series. In reality, creating the America's Cup Protocol is not a democratic process, and the Defender and Challenger of Record must approve any changes to their original draft and subsequent edition. This right of approval is effectively a right of veto over changes sought by the remaining challenging teams.
If a team is unhappy about the rules of the forthcoming Cup, then their only option is to go along with the prescribed Protocol and enter or walk away as the Swiss team has done.
The Protocol and Venue are expected to be announced in June.
Entries for the teams other than the Defender and Challenger of Record for the 38th America's Cup will open after that date.
The Cup will be sailed at a European venue in June-August 2027.
Emirates Team New Zealand expect to start building their new Defender before Christmas 2025.