The 37th America’s Cup Is Right Around the Corner. Will You Be Watching?
Here’s a question that we seriously contemplated when we wrote about the America’s Cup in the August issue’s Sightings: Does the Latitude audience know that the 37th America’s Cup is about to begin? Does our audience care?
Here’s what we know our audience says almost any time we post a story (especially on social media) about the Cup (these are actual quotes): “The America’s Cup is lame now. Sorry. Bring back the Js, the 12-Meters or the IACC boats.” “It’s almost like NASCAR now, watching people go around in circles until someone crashes.” That last comment was actually about SailGP, but plenty of people have called both events NASCAR-esque. We don’t entirely disagree — we too have a little foiling fatigue. (If you’ve seen one boat rip around the water at 50 knots, you’ve kind of seen them all.)
Here’s the goal of this particular story: We want to raise the level of discourse beyond these knee-jerk reactions about the Cup. Let’s do better than “the old days were better” or “the new days are better,” and dig deep into our memories, desires for what the Cup should be, and our notions that have been challenged.
The 37th America’s Cup kicks off with a preliminary regatta — and the debut of this event’s AC75 foiling monohulls — from August 20 to 25. The Louis Vuitton Cup round robin begins on August 29 and goes into early October; the America’s Cup Finals are in mid-October. Defending champions Emirates Team New Zealand took the Cup to the highest bidder in Spain. Five teams will compete to challenge the Kiwis for the Cup, including the US with the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic, the United Kingdom’s INEOS Britannia, Switzerland’s Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and France’s Orient Express Racing Team.
Here is a defense of the modern America’s Cup: There are more lead changes than in the displacement era, where whoever won the start went on to win the race some 85% of the time. The graphics nowadays are absolutely amazing, and the onboard cameras capture every moment. Here are critiques of all those attributes: The graphics separate the event from their natural setting and conditions — which, as sailors, we can all hopefully agree are the main characters. Neither the Cup nor SailGP races in particularly sporty conditions, so the race track itself is flat in both wave action and personality.
Lead changes or no, the Cup Finals have always been a bit one-sided. Of the 37 America’s Cups over nearly two centuries, only three Matches have not been blowouts: In 1920, Resolute beat Shamrock IV three races to two. Dennis Conner and Liberty lost to Australia II 3-4 in 1983. In 2013, right here on San Francisco Bay, Oracle Team USA came back from 1-8 down to beat Emirates Team New Zealand 9-8 in one of the most exciting sporting events we’ve ever seen. Every other America’s Cup Final has seen one team dominate the other, the race likely won years before on the computer and in the boatyard, rather than on the water.
Though there are exceptions, there is a scripted nature to America’s Cup that makes it all feel a bit perfunctory. While the speed is phenomenal and a feat of technology and innovation, it blurs together, creating monotony. (To be fair, all professional sports have a monotonous quality if you watch long enough.)
We are incredibly excited to see the debut of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup from September 28 to October 13, where 12 teams will compete in foiling AC40s in both fleet and match racing. Maybe it’s the newness of the event or the stacked field, but we’re looking forward to seeing something a bit off script.
What are you looking forward to seeing at this year’s America’s Cup? Are you anti-foiling but pro-sailing? (Or vice versa?) Are you glad that the Cup is no longer sailing in “lead mines?” Do you appreciate that in the foiling era, more people are watching sailing? Have you been converted from the old school to the new?
Please comment below or email us here, and please strive to raise the level of debate.
After attending the last monohull race in Valencia Spain, I have paid less than less attention each time. There’s no way for me to relate to the new style of boats so the connection is not there. Bring back boats that people can understand, relate to and use that venue to make enhancements that every day boaters can appreciate.
My thoughts exactly! There is nothing to compare to your awareness of how the boat moves through the water. Man learns to sail the boat and move her through the sea in unison.
If you don’t change sails at the corners it’s not a sailboat race!
In 1851 the schooner America was innovative. It sailed faster. The boats today do the same, to an eye-popping degree. Why should they not? I still have fun on my Santana 22. It’s all good.
Not actually sail boats but actually wind powered vehicles. If you can’t luff and need a crane to change the “sail” it ain’t a boat. Plus the cost of entry is so great that the field ends up tiny and the tech so advanced that is not relatable to most people. Could there be a “retro” non planing cloth sails class run in parallel?
Lose the foils and get back to monohulls and sail changes that the everyday sailor can appreciate. I agree that the ‘87 America’s Cup was the best; didn’t the U.S. and New Zealand boats trade some incredible number of tacks on a single upwind leg of their third race in the challenger finals? The mental jiujitsu between the two crews was exhilarating.
It’s something to watch while we wait for the Aussie 18 season to start.
I dislike the non-traditional foiling boats now used in the America’s Cup vessels. I cannot relate to foiling boats and would like the America’s Cup races to return to traditional sailboats.
I love sailing, but honestly as the upper tier of the sport has become more professionalized over the last decade or so, I’ve paid less and less attention. I’ve never watched a SailGP race, though I’ve glanced at a few re-runs on YouTube. I haven’t paid any attention to the last two or three America’s Cups. I used to be an avid singlehander, but my heroes were the guys in the ’60’s and 70’s who did it without multimillion dollar budgets.
There’s nothing wrong with professionalism in sailing. It’s a market-driven sport. If there’s an audience, or if promoters THINK there’s an audience and they can sell advertising, then fine. Go for it. If the audience doesn’t exist and promoters don’t make money, it will collapse. I won’t care either way, personally.
In the 80’s and 90’s the budgets for the Cup were extreme but at least the equipment and techniques were understandable by “regular” sailors. I thought the move from 12 meters to IACC boats was a good one. Now, foiling monohulls that can’t be on the course when the waves are bigger than 18 inches (or whatever it is) and the wind blows more than 12 knots…well….it’s just not really the same thing that I do on Saturday afternoons, only at a higher level.
I drive a car to work and school, right? But I don’t watch formula one racing. It’s the same thing.
I miss the old Cup matches but, am embracing the new. I do enjoy the on screen, technical graphics most of the time.
Apparently the media doesn’t think much of this event. We pay a lot of money for our Directv subscription, and they aren’t going to have this on any of their channels. Same goes for network TV. If we want to see it in real time, we’ll have to pay for a subscription to stream it. Boo!