We Swear This Is the Last America’s Cup Story

Like a fun, loud and slightly annoying friend who’s overstayed their welcome, the America’s Cup just never seems to go away — even though it came to a decisive conclusion a week ago, which we analyzed at length in the July issue.

But we wanted to take this chance to share some of your feedback about the modern Cup. We promise, this will be the last America’s Cup story . . . until the next one, as Team Emirates New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton promised news in the coming weeks about the much-anticipated format of the 36th Match.

But we get it. The Cup seems to suck the sailing headlines dry. As Curt Simpson wrote: "Time to look forward to two years of no AC press." We’ll do our best, and look forward to getting back to some local sailing. As always, we’d like to thank all of you who wrote in to our editorial email and on Facebook. We can’t get to all your comments, but here are a few highlights: 

Tom LeDuc wrote one of our favorite responses, which both summarizes the majority of comments we heard (where most people liked the new format as well as the old) and offered what we thought was an ingenious suggestion for a new hybird-format: 

"I’m not thrilled that the race was held in Bermuda. In San Francisco, or almost any other location they have used, it was possible to go there for a day, visit the Cup Village, and watch the races from shore. Now it’s on a small island with zero opportunity for a casual, spontaneous visit. 

"As far as the boats, I do like the high tech, go fast multihulls, but understand the draw and ‘soul’ of the more classic boats. We had a chance to go for a sail on the replica of the America when it visited Monterey, and that gives me an idea:

"What I would like to see, but have no illusions of it happening, is a combination of the two. Run the Cup races in whatever zoomy new type they choose, but have at least one race in the finals sailed in replicas of the schooner America that started all this. Same helmsman and crew as they use in the other races in the final. I think they could build two replicas for much less than they spend on one of the foiling cats (Ellison could write that check from petty cash). Same size, shape and sail plan as the original America, but allow modern materials; Fiberglass or other composite hull, modern cordage for rigging but no winches that weren’t on the original, no sail material newer than Dacron. Fun to imagine, right?"

David Turpin wrote: "I think the boats are technological masterpieces, but the human element of sailing the boat has almost disappeared. There are some tactical decisions to be made at the start and on the course, and the wings and foresail are trimmed manually, but mostly everybody except the skipper just grinds/pedals the whole way around the course and might as well be replaced by machinery. The absence of downwind sails requiring sail changes takes out the element of coordinated crew work that is the essence of all other forms of racing."

Jonathan Ogle said that "the America’s Cup is supposed to be a match race between a defending yacht club representing its country and the best of the challenging countries. The boats have changed over the years and the foiling cats are OK (but have no elegance or much difference between upwind and downwind sailing), but it is a mistake to run the races all over the world year in and year out with whatever sailors money can buy and pretend it is the America’s Cup. The America’s Cup became coveted because it was only the best sailors, limited to nations (not corporations or billionaire individuals) so that a country’s population could get behind it, and occur infrequently, like the Olympics. The Grand Prix foiling cat circuit may be a good idea, but keep it separate from the America’s Cup." 

Mike Wilcox was one of the few pure fans on the modern Cup: "I love the format and the boats. I’m a monohull sailor, of course, but the venue, the boats and the format are great. The sailors (not the grinders) are the best sailboat racers in the world, with numerous AC veterans and Olympic champions in the mix. If they hadn’t pushed the technology the way they did, thanks to Russell Coutts and others, we would be watching an old men’s weekend sport instead of the spectacle we are being treated to this month.

"The coverage is fantastic — Ken Read, AC skipper extraordinaire and excellent sportscaster, brings on an assortment of assembled experts. He had Paul Cayard fielding questions from the press boat during the race. Cayard is my hero since I raced against him in San Francisco (mostly a losing effort, BTW).

"I can’t get over the on-the-water views during the races. Those boats have at least a dozen cameras on each one. When Nathan Outteridge — helmsman of Artemis — fell in the water, we got to see it from three different angles (he ended up wet every time). During the races we can hear the running commentary between Outteridge and Iain Percy, the tactician. They even show the heart rate monitors for every crew in real time and make fun of which skipper is the most excited."

Thanks again for all your comments, everyone. Signing off from all things AC for now, until there’s something worthy to report on — hopefully not a lawsuit.