The Super 12s Are Coming
About a year ago, when ex-America’s Cup employee Tom Ehman introduced his pipe dream of staging a 12-Meter racing renaissance on San Francisco Bay — in reaction to the astronomical costs of foiling-era A-Cup campaigning — the idea drew a mixed reaction. But today, momentum is building, with several nations showing strong interest, a summer 2017 race date announced, and this week the first renderings released for this new sexy one-design class.
Farr Yacht Design embraced the challenge of drawing an elegant-looking sloop reminiscent of the classic 12-Meters (used in Cup competition prior to 1987) above the waterline, yet with ultra-modern underbodies.
As reported earlier, the new event, dubbed the San Francisco Racing Challenge, would take place annually here on the Bay, and would be focused on match racing among teams that would have strict crew nationality requirements — including participation of female sailors, and crew under 30 and over 65. Only a bare minimum of modern electronic gadgetry would be allowed
Because boats would be identical (apart from sail inventories), boat construction cost would be $2- to $3 million — ‘affordable’, at least by recent A-Cup standards — and would be used for a decade or more of racing. According to Ehman, the strongest interest thus far has been from an Italian team, with additional interest by teams from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Thailand, and Spain, in addition to three US teams.
The first event’s date? July 21, 2017 — shortly after the conclusion of America’s Cup 35. Skeptics be warned. This is one pipe dream that might actually come to fruition.