Final Day, 2018 Congressional Cup, Long Beach, April 22, 2018 - photo © Bronny Daniels
Dear [recipient name]
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for April 24, 2018
The 2021 America's Cup got away off Long Beach, Calif., last Thursday with long-time Emirates Team New Zealand skipper, Dean Barker in the hot seat again for his new team, American Magic.
That's the new moniker of the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup team, with Barker tipped to be its skipper for the 36th America's Cup.
Barker and his American Magic crew got off to a flying start the week before with a very convincing win in the Ficker Cup - his first real foray into Match Racing (outside the America's Cup) for 12 years.
For the first three days of the Congressional Cup, Barker was again dominant, dropping few races. But Taylor Cranfield was able to counter that on the final day, taking the most prestigious regatta in Match Racing, by turning the tables on Barker and winning in straight races.
Quite what happened is not clear, but certainly, there will be a post-mortem, by the would-be Challengers from NYYC. From their point of view, the near win is perhaps a good thing - in that they have something to analyse and work through - giving the team some focus and gets the working relationships running under pressure.
The good news, too is that there is a second USA team capable of footing it with Barker - which gives the also USA another helming option if NYYC decides to sign-up the four-times Congressional Cup winner.
That battle for the blazer aside, the Congressional Cup was a huge success, as is always the case. The first ever match racing regatta, the Con Cup is volunteer-run and has been in and out of the World Match Racing Tour.
That is because they will join the WMRT only if the Tour will accommodate the Con Cup and preserve its character. Otherwise, it is it is "thanks, but no thanks" and the Con Cup stays just as it is, thank you.
That approach could well be taken by World Sailing in its largely self-created dilemma, triggered by the International Olympic Committee - where the world sailing body will try and consider some 68 Submissions, mostly on the 2024 Olympics and the classes and events.
The problem is that many of the submissions are near identical and seem to have been put in several times over by the one individual, class or member national authority.
It is complete nonsense that individuals could be so indecisive that they cannot compile a single submission reflecting their thinking. Or they are just gaming the meeting and trying to set up a situation where they have two (one Committee Chair has six) submissions running in the race, and one of them is sure to stick, isn't it?
We have given the subject a lot of airplay, and the argument as to whether World Sailing should reviewing and potentially dropping five events (and three boats/classes) from Paris 2014.
So far it's the sailors, who have the most skin in the game financially, have been notable for their silence.
Usually, Sailing has agonised over the dropping of one class per Olympics, and more often than not there has been no change.
So slating five events and three classes for potential change is a big move for World Sailing and a real gamble tor the competitors.
While the prospect of change may be politically interesting to the administrators and bureaucrats, it is the sailors who will wake up one morning and find their boat has been dropped and is now largely worthless in a flooded second-hand market.
And with an Olympic class, some sailors (or their parents) own up to four boats plus the sails and gear - it is a significant personal investment.
For the sailors, doing nothing at this stage could be a very expensive silence.
Same with the coaches who have got a substantial asset in each class with their knowledge and expertise, which is portable, but maybe not that portable.
Both groups need to get organised and make their views know and publicised through the sailing media
The Volvo Ocean Race is now underway on Leg 8 from Itajai to Newport RI. But not after some very emotional scenes when SHK Scallywag arrived in Itajai just four days before the leg start.
We have coverage of those moments in this edition including a couple of addresses given by skipper David Witt.
While the SHK Scallywag crew have eulogised John Fisher, the whole Volvo OR family came together with the teams helping Scallywag get their boat fully serviced after her Southern Ocean drama in just a couple of days.
Stay tuned for all the updates and developments in these key stories and events.
Follow all the racing and developments in major and local events on Sail-World.com/nz
Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
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