[Source: Oracle Racing] Three-time America’s Cup winner Grant Simmer has joined the America’s Cup champion team ORACLE TEAM USA as General Manager.

His role gives him day-to-day operational responsibility for the American team that is currently designing and building the race boats to defend the America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013.

CEO Russell Coutts, four-time winner of the America’s Cup, remains in overall strategic charge of the team whilst also fulfilling his role of ensuring that the 2013 America’s Cup is the most successful in the 161-year history of the most iconic event in sport.

The careers of both men have coincided before. Simmer was brought into the Swiss team Alinghi by Coutts for the 2003 America’s Cup and acted as consultant to Ben Ainslie Racing, which will be entering the 2012/13 America’s Cup World Series in August. Ainslie, the British Olympic quadruple medalist, is also an ORACLE TEAM USA sailing squad member for the 2013 America’s Cup.

“From navigating the challenger in 1983 that was the first ever to win the America’s Cup in 132 years to his current role, Grant’s capital of experience is unmatched,” said Coutts. “Few sports I can think of test a team’s talent, skills, knowledge, commitment and management as the America’s Cup.”

“Having won the America’s Cup with and without Russell, and then having been beaten by his team in 2010, I think we have healthy respect of each other’s abilities and what it is required to win,” said Simmer. “It’s good to be working together again.”

Starting this month Luca Devoti becomes a contributor to both Farevela.net and FareVela, Italy’s biggest sailing media. The Italian Olympic sailor, silver medalist in the Finn in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, skipper of +39 in the 2007 America’s Cup, founder of the Devoti Sailing boatyard that builds Finn, Melges 24 and D-One, and current coach of the Italian Sailing Federation at theFinn class, will talk about various topics related to competitive sailing, fruit of his long experience and his wide network of international contacts at all levels. A well-informed person of the facts, as well as a careful observer of what is taking place in the sport of sailing.

In this first installment, Devoti gives a critical view on the current America’s Cup and, in particular, the AC72 yacht which he considers to be an example of the “complete lack of practicality” that, in his opinion, marks the 34th America’s Cup. Devoti has first-hand experience on the issue, having been the Sports Director of Green Comm Racing, the now defunct challenger for the 34th America’s Cup:

AC72 … a triple leap of faith

The problem with the AC72 wings is mainly logistical, the ability to manage and handle a piece of equipment that weighs many kilos in order to make it operate in the best way possible within the complexity of configurations that will provide the aerodynamic advantages for the best performance. All teams have positioned themselves towards a three-element wing, with three modules and a central part, the same path the Little America’s Cup had already taken. The difficulty lies in making it work and turn, by changing its shape while using the least energy possible. We must, therefore, understand how the wing works. In the AC45 the key lies in the use of the winch that is connected to the wing and serves as sheet and runner, making the windward hull fly at an ideal height, neither too low nor too high. This is in fact obtained, especially when the wind is unstable in intensity and direction, by continuously trimming the wing in and out. On the AC45 this is done with a load that is manageable by one person with a winch, although with great difficulty. We have seen that the ideal wing trimmer is a great sailor but is also in great physical condition, especially when the wind picks up.

The load on the AC72 wing, in this sense, will be much greater, I don’t want to be wrong but I think it will be around 1,500 kg, and will, therefore, involve different sizes and approaches. We must see whether we succeed. If you remember this was the problem of the challenge of the two monsters in 2010, that is the advantage of Oracle USA 17 over Alinghi 5. Alinghi struggled to stay high and with a certain angle, it was not a problem of quality of the helmsman as much as the difficulty with a conventional sail to keep this ideal setup. The wing has therefore only a lateral load and still very low compared to the load on the sheet, and in a conventional sail when you ease or tense the sheet, it opens, twists more or closes. This type of work, especially when made with an engine, was perfect … one got there … and inside-outside, inside-outside you trimmed. On the other hand, with a conventional sail, even with the help of an engine, it was very difficult. Therefore, perhaps, we might see wing configurations that don’t seek maximum efficiency, but maximum ease of use.

Given the race course and the venue (the windy bay of San Francisco) a lot of unknowns open up in this project. The wing is so high and in San Francisco with 25 knots of wind and steep and short waves, its dimension becomes critical. It works in theory, when the boat is at speed, because the appendices that will go on the AC72 will not be linear but curved, they will not be at a fixed angle any more but move in and out and could also change the angle of attack. The balance, therefore, is given by the dynamic lift, given by the shape of the bows and the angle of the front foil, however it is clear that if, for any reason, there is no speed, the dynamic element will be missing and the possibility to pitchpole will increase exponentially.

I spoke with Paul Cayard in Valencia, I talked to others and they are all worried because they do not know exactly what will happen. The forces compensate each other in theory but it is a dynamic equilibrium, not a static equilibrium, and the fact that it is a dynamic equilibrium will require helming the yacht very carefully. It was seen in Naples as well, where Artemis bore away without speed and pitchpoled. Imagine if they had two more meters of wing, it would have been even worse, so this leads us to a no territory, an unknown territory… You might need to slow down in order to avoid t-boning somebody and then what do you do?

The approach we mentioned earlier will be with the grinders and a wing built in such a way that will allow the easiest possible trimming. There are various ideas on the table and we will see which one is the most efficient. Another problem is the combination of the wing with the soft headsails, the gennaker and the spinnaker. In that case, sizing will be decisive. For example, Artemis that stepped an AC72 wing on their test trimaran, after finding the usual loophole, have a hoisting time of their gennaker, in light breeze, of 30 seconds. This, obviously, will not be the hoisting time with 25 knots of wind when the boat is doing 25 or with an apparent wind of 40 knots…

There we will have to see how long it takes to hoist it and it will have to be hoisted on a rail because otherwise it would be flapping all over the place, breaking everything… so, there is a series of very important management issues. In addition, when there is a capsize, we will need to limit the damage and therefore be very careful with the engineering and the construction of the wing, in order not to destroy everything or cause structural damage to the yacht when she’s up-righted… So, it’s a triple leap of faith in a complex and fascinating world.

The first-ever AC72 wing built was of Artemis Racing, Challenger of Record for the 34th America's Cup, Valencia, 13 March 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

If there is one criticism to be made regarding this America’s Cup it’s the complete lack of practicality. The wing is hardly a sailor’s device, it is dangerous and if a gust of 40 knots suddenly comes, I think that the only solution would be to jump off and let it be destroyed… you can’t lower the sails, you have this wing 45 meters high and I think that you would capsize even if you were head to wind. Let’s make it clear though, all that is enormously exciting as well. However, the estimated cost of such a boat, of those dimensions, including the wing and the foils, is over 11 million euros. The truth has to be told, the costs are crazy and this forms part of the lack of practicality we mentioned before. We have very few teams, enormous management difficulties and costs that soared, in a financial period like this. An old ACC cost 3 million euros, this one costs 11 million and breaks much more easily. That’s what created the problems the teams are currently trying to address.

Of course, when you’re onboard it’s fantastic, even on the AC45′s it is really fun and demanding. You have to change completely your way of thinking: the boat is sailing from the moment the wing comes out of the shed because the wing can fly away at any moment. From that moment you must handle it in a certain way, with many people, you must look at the wind in order to know when to lower it or when to lift it. You must leave the boat with the rudders set in a certain way to ensure that she is oriented according to the wind when there is nobody onboard, at least until the wing can once again be removed and stored in the closed shed, which is the time when sailing ends. All that is very stressful, it is an object that requires a lot of quality people. As I mentioned it is a leap of faith for all, since there isn’t any expert on winged catamarans of this size. We will have to see, shortly, if all this works …

Calling Katusha consistent over the four days of fleet racing in the RC44 Cascais Cup would certainly be an understatement. With two victories in 11 races and a ninth being their worst score, the Russian team deservedly took victory this week in Portugal. Even under pressure, after being early over the line in today’s first race, they kept their cool and weaved their way through the fleet.

Second place overall went to Team Aqua, not a surprise given Chris Bake’s track record in the RC44 class. However, the team that clearly showed the biggest progress, by far, was Synergy. The Russians finished third overall in Cascais, the first ever podium place in a regatta since they joined the RC44 class two years ago.

Race 1
Katusha and Team Aqua went into the event’s last day holding, respectively, first and second position in the overall score table. The Russians standing at the top with 29 points while Chris Bake’s boat was 14 points behind at 43 and with two scheduled races the overall leadership was wide open. All it could take was two mediocre races by Katusha and Chris Bake would be back in the hunt.

When the first race started after a two-hour delay, it initially seemed that the first of these major snafus had just taken place. Katusha, together with Nika, AFX Capital and No Way Back were early over the line and rounded the first weather mark 13th. However, a good second beat, gave them the opportunity to move four places to 9th while Chris Bake’s Team Aqua finished sixth, paying the price of a left call in the first beat.

The race’s clear winners were RUS7. The Russian boat had a very good start, picked the right side in the first beat and led until the finish, rounding each mark in the lead. It was the Russian team’s first victory in the event but also in the 2012 season

Start of the day's first race. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Start of the day's first race. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

AFX Capital were early over the line but didn't come back to cross again and got an OCS. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

The Russians are leading. RUS7 and Synergy round the first top mark in first and second place. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

RUS7 round the first top mark in first place and will never look back. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Katusha round the first weather mark in 13th place. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

RUS7 lead the fleet at the bottom gate. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Chris Bake's Team Aqua round the leeward gate in the middle of the pack, seriously reducing their chances for overall leadership. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

RUS7 lead the fleet at the second weather mark. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Katusha had climbed to 9th place at the second weather mark. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

The RC44 fleet sailing in the last run of the race. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

The RC44 fleet sailing in the last run of the race. Cascais, 1 April 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

If you had the chance to talk to just one person about the America’s Cup, it would undoubtedly be Russell Coutts, not only because the Kiwi skipper is the most successful one in the 160-history of the event with four wins but, most importantly, because he’s the CEO of Oracle Racing, the current Defender. VSail caught up with Coutts in Cascais, right after a tough, long but successful day on the waters of the Portuguese city. Katusha, the Russian boat where Coutts is calling tactics, is leading the RC44 fleet races with 24 points, 14 points ahead of second-placed Team Aqua:

VSail.info: Two years have passed since you won the America’s Cup in Valencia and we are now more or less a year and a half before the next match in San Francisco. The top management of the America’s Cup Event authority went recently through a major change. Why do you change one organization roughly halfway through its mandate? Does it mean they failed in their job?
Russell Coutts: No, not at all. Richard Worth is now focusing on television and venue deals which is actually what he was doing prior to San Diego. Most of the broadcast deals are for the AC Word Series so far, with the exception of NBC in the US and, I think, TV New Zealand and one or two others that include the America’s Cup. All the others are just for the AC World Series. He now has to go and work on the deals for the America’s Cup.

I think that side of things is in a really good position right know. You must have read we announced the deal with Mediaset in Italy. Those channels, like Mediaset in Italy or Sky Sports in the UK are now taking live programming. Ten hours of live programming for an AC World Series event is a fantastic achievement, considering we have being going on for less than twelve months. The goal from the start was to create a better television product and I think there will be another broadcast arrangement, fairly major, pretty soon. This is a big step for the sport and broadcasters are now agreeing they are prepared to cover the sport live. This has been a major achievement but Richard has now to go back and finish those broadcast contracts.

It was a good strategy actually not to give them the rights right through to the America’s Cup because now everyone agrees the product is worth a rights fee. We can now start negotiating television deals appropriate for the coverage because the quality of the coverage is very good.

VSail.info: So, right now, would you state you are satisfied with the current situation of the America’s Cup?
Russell Coutts: There are, obviously, parts I’m happy with and parts I’m still unhappy with.

VSail.info: Such as?
Russell Coutts: The big focus right now is to bring more commercial partners. We have some excellent partners right now. Louis Vuitton has been a fantastic partner for years now and still continues to be. Obviously, Puma is a great achievement and we expect to have more to announce soon. We had a very good offer recently in one of the key categories but I can’t say more than that at this stage. Things are starting to move now but there is still a lot of work to do.

VSail.info: Is Larry Ellison happy with the current situation of the America’s Cup?
Russell Coutts: Yes and no. He’s very happy with the television product and he considers it a major step forward. He would have liked us to have had more commercial support today but you know, in a way, perhaps the time line was a little optimistic from day one because we didn’t have a television product. If you haven’t got a television product it’s hard to sell the event to commercial sponsors. Now that we have that and we have real numbers in terms of valuation and so forth we are in a much better position today than we were six or seven months ago.

VSail.info: If you had a magic time machine and you could go back to Valencia the day after you won the 33rd America’s Cup would you have done something differently?
Russell Coutts: Yes, a few things. I think, probably, we underestimated how good the television pictures would be for the AC45. If we had known that then, I think, we could have got away with a smaller America’s Cup boat which would have been cheaper. In hindsight that’s definitely something we probably do differently. In a way, lots of us, me included for sure, thought we needed a boat the size of the AC72 to really provide some scale and significance. However, you have to admit that looking at the television footage from the AC45′s that it’s actually pretty compelling, even if they’re smaller boats. That was a discovery this time and that’s definitely something to think about for the future and now that four teams have already their AC72′s under construction whoever wins can review that.

However, the AC72′s will be absolutely spectacular and at that time the value equations versus expenses might be better balanced in any way. I also think that you could do things such as making some elements of the boat one-design. I wouldn’t suggest making it all one-design but in order to save costs you could make some aspects of the boat one-design.

Russell Coutts helms Katusha on the opening day of the RC44 Cascais Cup. Cascais, 28 March 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

VSail.info: Since you mention the cost of the AC72 boat, this is the fourth or fifth RC44 event I attend and I have to admit I become more enthusiastic about the RC44 yacht. Wouldn’t it have been easier for the America’s Cup or even you to create an RC90, considering the fact it’s your very own creation?
Russell Coutts: It was considered but, frankly, if you sit down with the broadcasters today they would have a different opinion. Let me give you the example of La Sete, the Italian network that covered the 2007 America’s Cup in Valencia. They analyzed the figures from Valencia and decided it didn’t work for them. As good as we, sailors, think Valencia was, frankly, from a broadcast proposition it simply didn’t work well enough. It wasn’t the only thing that turned broadcasters off though, the legal problems for two and a half years didn’t help that.

However, it was the same description we received from major broadcasters in the USA. They simply told us, “Look, the sport as it is isn’t compelling enough for TV”. So we had a choice. We either kept it the same or experimented and made changes. The fact broadcasters are taking now live TV is a pretty good indication that it has a really good chance of working. In addition, don’t forget that an RC90 would also be very big and very expensive.

VSail.info: Maybe but I used the number 90 just to give an example. Why couldn’t it be an RC80 or an RC70?
Russell Coutts: Then you have the problem with the keel depth and you can’t go to a lot of harbors in the world. The multihull packs up pretty well and you can disassemble the hulls and pack them in a 40-foot container. Event the AC722 can be pulled apart and packaged. The logistics are a lot simpler and if you go to an AC World Series event you see there are only two cranes that lift the boats. It’s probably a lot more difficult lifting a bigger and heavier yacht. It’s much more complex, plus removing the keels is more problematic. Frankly, it’s hard to get a monohull that’s actually as visibly exciting across a range of conditions. The AC72′s will be flying a hull in probably less than six knots of wind. You can have a really good race with boats that move fast.

Another problem with the broadcasters were the delays we had in Valencia. We really needed a boat that could sail in very light winds but still able to sail in very strong winds.

VSail.info: I see from your answers that, for you, television is a fundamental issue. It seems to me that, in your opinion, we either have good TV or don’t have an America’s Cup altogether.
Russell Coutts: It’s pretty hard to imagine raising commercial sponsorship these days without having a media property that is actually creating value. Don’t you think? That’s why there was a major focus on changing the media value proposition. I think that we have taken the first steps, it’s still the early days but it certainly looks like it’s been accepted by the broadcasters. We had to address several things.

First, we couldn’t afford delays, like we had in the past. We had to narrow the chances of having a delay. Second, we had to have boats that were fast enough but even if we had multihulls without the course boundaries I don’t think the races would be anywhere near as interesting. But when you impose boundaries on the course and, more or less, force the boats to maneuver you can now program the racing to fit in a television time of, let’s say, 35 minutes. You know that by lengthening or shortening the race course by only a small amount you can be very close to that broadcast time. They are all good features.

Frankly, the discovery with the AC45 races is that there is a lot of passing, a lot of excitement, it is just as tactical as the monohulls and, frankly, the same sailors are still winning. It didn’t change the game so much that all of a sudden Dean Barker is not a strong candidate any more or Jimmy Spithill, the old monohull sailors. Quite the contrary. You’ll see that guys like Nathan Outteridge, who joined the Koreans, will be really good. I expect in the future this transition from Olympic sailing as these boats are more like sailing a dinghy, relatively. You’re going to get the top sailors out of the Olympics, like Ben Ainslie, Tom Slingsby or Nathan Outteridge, coming into the Cup and, frankly, they will be the ones to dominate the sport. That’s a good thing. In the old format we, honestly, had a lot of gray hair on the boats.

Russell Coutts helms one of the two Oracle Racing AC45 yachts. Plymouth, 14 September 2011. Photo copyright Guilain Grenier / Oracle Racing

VSail.info: You have gray hair yourself though…
Russell Coutts: Yes, that’s what I mean. I had a great time in the America’s Cup but I think it should be more about young people. I think it needs to be more about the athletes and that was another intentional change, to make the AC72 a very physical boat by reducing the crew number, for cost reasons as well, that does favor a younger sailor. That’s why I think we’ll be seeing those top Olympic sailors coming once they get established in these boats.

VSail.info: Will you consider it a failure or a disappointment if there are only tree challengers next year in San Francisco?
Russell Coutts: We have four teams that are building AC72 boats right now. I think there is a good chance we get some more. There is a good chance we get a team from France and a good chance we’ll get the Koreans and the Chinese. There is still chance they can make it and if they do, it will be fantastic. In reality, I’d love to have 12 teams out there. That is probably the situation the America’s Cup should aim for in the future but right now I don’t think the value proposition has been established right. I think the costs are still too high versus the commercial return and if we can get that better balanced in the next year and a half or two years I’m sure you will see more teams competing in the Cup.

Probably where the Cup needs to go next time is to look at what we think the commercial value of a team is. Let’s say, we might decide it’s 20 million euros, for example, and you are trying to keep the costs under that figure so that the teams can be sustainable. Right now, if the commercial value is lower than the cost it’s clearly not sustainable.

VSail.info: Does that mean you would be in favor of imposing spending caps for the teams?
Russell Coutts: I think the sport needs to look at all sorts of options and there are a lot of lessons from other sports. There are a lot of methods that could be adopted and frankly the sport has a fair way to go to manage itself professionally, like the other sports do. That’s also one of the reasons we took the decision to look for a new CEO because the America’s Cup is in America and there is a significantly different approach in selling the sport in that country.

We can learn a lot of lessons from some of those big sports that have been through some of these processes before. Even the NBA is restructuring itself at the moment. The PGA doesn’t have a Q school any more and even NASCAR is considering shortening their race times in order to have a better format for TV. We have to be open minded and keep working towards getting the sport on a better commercial structure such that the teams can come in and know they can create sponsorship value and hopefully make a profit at the end of the day. That will be a sustainable activity and it’s not the case today.

VSail.info: The new, interim, CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) that has just been nominated is Stephen Barclay who also happens to be the COO of your team, Oracle Racing. However, one of the cornerstones of what you have been promising for the last two years was the independence of the America’s Cup organization. Don’t you think there is a contradiction here? How independent can Barclay be in his new role?
Russell Coutts: The important thing right now is that ACRM, in other words the on-the-water organization in charge of the rules, the regulations, the international jury and all of that, is independent. Everyone accepts that and they truly are. You are absolutely right, the goal in the future should be to have an independent ACEA. However, right now, how is ACEA funded? We are very, very fortunate to have Larry Ellison underwriting this. The money just doesn’t grow on trees, it just doesn’t come out of nowhere! He’s underwriting this and therefore, obviously, if you were the one putting most of the money, you would want to have a fair say as to how that money is managed. In the future we should take the example of the American sports leagues and have the team owners jointly controlling ACEA. That would be, in my opinion, one of the models that should be considered but right now there is one person funding it and you can’t expect him to say, “Alright, I’ll put all the money and I’ll let someone else run it”. That doesn’t make sense.

I’m only referring to the commercial side. Don’t forget ACRM and Iain Murray were elected by the other teams and everyone accepts the fact that Iain Murray is independent and has a team around him that really run the races fairly and independently. From a competitive sense, right now, this is the most important thing. Commercially, let’s be honest, you probably want someone like Larry Ellison driving some of these decision, like the television because he doesn’t have a bad track record commercially. It’s probably the best we could get right now.

Russell Coutts helms one of the two, then, BMW Oracle Racing RC44 yachts during the 'Media Evaluation Trials' held at the start of the 34th America's Cup cycle. Valencia, 22 July 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

VSail.info: Larry Ellison in an interview in the Wall Street Journal two days ago stated he would rather have the AC45′s in the America’s Cup so that there are “more teams and more drama”.
Russell Coutts: Absolutely. Like all of us he looked at the AC45′s and realized the pictures were pretty good while we are still going through the expense of the bigger boats. Maybe we could have got away with, if not the AC45′s, something that is smaller than the AC72 and create a rule around that. That’s another thing about the multihulls. They do look spectacular at that scale and on television, with all due respect, I don’t believe that a product like the RC44, which is the same size as the AC45, would look spectacular on television and make the broadcasters pick it up. Larry is saying the same thing. What we need to do is keep the cost down so that, ultimately, there is a commercial return for the teams.

VSail.info: Enough about the America’s Cup in general, let’s talk about your team. Where is Oracle Racing standing right now in its defense of the Cup?
Russell Coutts: I haven’t spent a lot of time with Oracle Racing lately. I have been really focused on the event for quite some time now.

VSail.info: You are the CEO of the team though, aren’t you?
Russell Coutts: Yes but I just haven’t had much time to actually be the CEO of Oracle Racing. They are progressing well at the moment. Jimmy Spithill is, obviously, leading all the sailing operations and so forth. He’s 33 years old and I think he’s also capable of leading the team now and that’s a good thing. I think it’s a great thing. We want these guys to grow, I certainly want that. I think that it wouldn’t be acceptable, probably, for him to just keep the same role, year after year after year. He has to grow and have more management responsibility and ultimately do what I was doing at Alinghi or Oracle last time. I think it’s great.

VSail.info: Is there a probability or possibility that Spithill will not be helming the defending yacht in San Francisco in September of 2013?
Russell Coutts: I think it’s a low probability, let’s face it. I think that right now most people would agree that he’s one of the best, if not the best, out there. He’s pushing real hard, he’s sailing A-Class cats and all sort of things that would up his skill level for the America’s Cup. We are really very happy with Jimmy but, obviously, in a campaign like this, and he’s the first to accept that, there are two things, particularly when you are defending. First, you need a good training partner and that’s why we brought Ben Ainslie in. I think these boats are ideal for Ben. As I said, as it turned out and probably none of us realized that the format would favor this sort of sailors so much. I’m talking about the Iain Percys and the Ben Ainslies of the world, that sort of guys, none of us probably realized when the concept was being developed that the format was perfect for them.

We need an excellent backup if something happens to Jimmy. It would simply be ridiculous to risk the whole campaign or set the whole campaign on one person and not have a backup. But he also needs competition, he needs to be pushed by guys like Ben Ainslie and Darren Bundock.

VSail.info: Last but not least, when are we going to see the Oracle AC72 launched?
Russell Coutts: At the end of July. We have the wing quite progressed right now. There are four teams that plan on building two AC72′s and if we get a few other teams they will be one-boat programs. It’s a big task, I can tell you, to build two of these boats. You’ve got plenty of work to do.

[Source: Oracle Racing] Workers at the team’s base at Pier 80 in San Francisco, Core Builders Composites in New Zealand and Janicki Industries in the Pacific Northwest are targeting July for the launch of the new class of America’s Cup yacht. America’s Cup rules permit teams to launch their first AC72 yacht after July 1.

“No question the AC72 will be a big step up from the AC45 we are currently racing on the America’s Cup World Series circuit,” says team skipper James Spithill. “The AC45s have proven spectacular; the AC72s will be sensational.”

The AC72 is the new class of America’s Cup yacht that is designed to a box rule, one that sets tight limits on parameters such as length, beam, weight and wingsail area.

The team has split production of its yacht between three sites because each is a center of excellence.

At Pier 80 in the 34th America’s Cup host city, the team builds the basic molds for the hulls and crossbeams of the catamaran. The molds are then shipped to Janicki Industries, north of Seattle, Wash., where the large structures are machined to fine tolerances.

Oracle Racing training with their two AC45 yachts. San Francisco, 21 February 2012. Photo copyright Guillain Grenier / Oracle Racing

In a process in which Janicki is a world leader, high-tech resin is applied to the molds and then machined to its final shape by a five-axis mill to tolerances finer than the thickness of a sheet of paper.

“We’ve worked with Janicki for nearly 10 years because every little fraction of accuracy you achieve accumulates. Greater accuracy means less material and less weight. That means the boat is built precisely as the designers conceived it,” said shore team manager Mark Turner.

ORACLE Racing’s hull molds were refined at Janicki’s plant in the same mill that handles secret work for some of the largest manufacturers of civilian and military aircraft and aero structures in the world.

Once the finished molds are back at Pier 80, a boatbuilding team begins to laminate the high-strength, carbon-fiber cloths with epoxy resin.

Since last year teams have raced the AC45 catamaran in the America’s Cup World Series, a circuit of events in Europe and the US. The AC45 is a one-design yacht, meaning that each is built by a single manufacturer to the same exact specifications. CBC built the fleet of AC45 catamarans that were designed as a means to fast-track teams’ understanding of wingsail technology. The AC45 will continue on the World Series into next year.

The AC72 will feature next summer in the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Series (July 4-Sept. 1, 2013) and America’s Cup Finals (Sept. 7-22, 2013). The step up in performance will be phenomenal.

“In the AC45 class, the boats are the same so the results are often determined by the sailors who made the better decisions and handled their boat better,” said ORACLE Racing CEO Russell Coutts, the all-time America’s Cup winner.

“In the AC72, teams will develop their own design so technology plays a bigger role. Compared to any previous America’s Cup, the design rule is relatively tight. Technology will produce a faster, smarter boat, but not a ‘golden bullet’ design,” Coutts said.

Design comparison

(*Note: The stock wing height for the AC45 is 21.5 m/70.5 feet)

If you are a regular reader of this website, I hardly need to introduce you Ben Ainslie, the 3-time Olympic gold medalist, 5-time Finn World Champion and World Match Racing Champion. We caught up with Britain’s top athlete and talked about his recovery from the recent surgery, the path to the Olympics as well as the recent developments in the America’s Cup. For campaign updates and to watch Ben’s latest behind-the-scenes video join his Facebook page or follow his Twitter

VSail.info: Let’s start with an update on your health. How is the recovery from your recent operation going?
Ben Ainslie: It’s going OK but it has been, obviously, a bit of a frustrating situation to be in as anyone with back issues will tell you. The rehab is going very well, we have a great team within the RYA sailing squad and together with the surgeon and the people I have been working with the process goes well and I expect to be back sailing as soon as possible.

VSail.info: How long do you expect it will take before you are back at 100% of your potential?
Ben Ainslie: Well, we are actually back sailing in March. I think that to be back on the water you need to be close to 100% in order to sail the boat properly, so I think it’s a realistic projection.

VSail.info: Do you think you could still be competitive for the Olympics even if you didn’t have that operation?
Ben Ainslie: It’s a difficult thing to say and then I’m not an expert but if you speak to people that have an issue with the nerve, which is my situation, it can very quickly get out of control. You might be able to struggle through for some time but if you’re unfortunate it can really hit you hard and you wouldn’t be able to sail. That’s why we took the decision to try and fix the problem early rather than letting it progress and potentially get worse. It could put you in a situation where you can’t compete and that would have been terrible.

VSail.info: What is your schedule now until the Olympics?
Ben Ainslie: We start training in Palma at the beginning of March and we will be there until the beginning of April. From the second week of April until the Olympic games I will be training and competing in Weynouth with the exception of the World Championship that we have in Falmouth in May.

VSail.info: Who do you think could be your toughest opponent in the Finn class in the Olympics?
Ben Ainslie: That’s really hard to say and it’s quite a broad fleet in terms of level and on any given day you have ten guys that can go out and win races. Last year we have seen, in particular, Pieter Jan Postma stood out and have some very good results, finishing second in the World Championship. The French, the Danish, the American, anyone of the top-10 guys can go out, sail very well and beat a threat.

VSail.info: Let’s talk briefly about the incident in Perth. I’m more interested in the human factor. What caused you to, literally, go overboard and attack the rib driver and the cameraman?
Ben Ainslie: Although we had a tribunal last week it’s still really hard for me to talk about it too openly because they still have to make a decision on that incident. I think that one of the big things about it was that it wasn’t an isolated incident. This sort of thing has been happening to me all through last year in some of the major regattas from Sail for Gold to the pre-Olympics. So, you start to build up a picture of frustration with these incidents happening, with the same people involved. Therefore it was extremely frustrating and that was really the worst incident in my sailing career that I have ever seen by a long way. When you add that together to what happened over the year and the fact we were racing in a world championship towards the end of the event, at a very high level, you start to see how someone can get to that state of frustration. It’s not something I obviously do every day to jump off to a TV boat, it was just the level of frustration. Obviously, it was something seriously wrong that sparked that off.

VSail.info: Does that incident reflect your competitive character?
Ben Ainslie: When you are racing in that level, you are there to win. If someone or something is affecting your performance and shouldn’t be there, any competitive person would have strong feelings about that, in any sport. It’s unfortunate it happened to me a number of times but in this particular incident it was extreme. It shows the level of my competitive instincts but I think that everybody competing in that level would feel the same.

King Ben and the Team Origin crew sail towards their first World Match Racing Championship. Kuala Terengganu, 5 December 2010. Photo copyright SubZero Images / World Match Racing Tour

VSail.info: Another very important development concerning you this year has been the announcement of your involvement with The America’s Cup, initially with your own team, Ben Ainslie Racing, and then as full-time member of Oracle Racing. Allow me here to quote part of a piece you wrote in your personal blog, on September 9th, 2010. You wrote that “a multihull with a wingmast clearly gives Oracle a massive design advantage”. Back to the future now, and you, the world’s best sailor, join Oracle in order to make that advantage even bigger. Wouldn’t you say this might be seen as contradictory or incoherent?
Ben Ainslie: [Laughs] If you remember, we had that discussion at the Monsoon Cup in 2010 [Note: Here's the interview Ben is referring to]. I have to admit that initially I was skeptical about multihulls and the decision taken. From what I have seen watching the AC45 regattas, talking to my friends that are out there sailing, I’m now excited about it and the racing is great. I’m happy to raise my hand and say that, potentially, I was wrong and that the new format seems to be working. Therefore, with the current situation I think that the best thing for the America’s Cup, now that it’s gone down this new route, is that the investment continues and this will be achieved through Oracle Racing. For me it’s a good thing they invested so much money and time into this project and hopefully they will make it a success both from a racing point of view and commercial point of view.

VSail.info: Again, don’t you think you make Oracle’s advantage even bigger by joining their team?
Ben Ainslie: It’s not up to me to really say why they hired me. I guess you should ask Russell Coutts to give you the reason. I hope I can help strengthen their squad and as I just said, I’m behind Oracle Racing to try to successfully defend the America’s Cup. Through that we will see a continued investment in the America’s Cup and therefore it’s the best overall for the future.

VSail.info: Let’s talk now about Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR). What is your schedule once the Olympics are over?
Ben Ainslie: We will be competing in the 2012-13 America’s Cup World Series, starting with the first event in August. The goal is to compete in all regattas of that series and through that be able to build up the right people, the right contacts, the right commercial partners to then take it to the next level in terms of a team that will challenge for the 35th America’s Cup.

VSail.info: Will you have your own boat?
Ben Ainslie: Yes, we have a boat that is in build at the moment. So, it’s a new boat which will get on line this summer and will be ready to race in the first regatta of the new season in August.

VSail.info: Have you already made a decision regarding the crew of the AC45?
Ben Ainslie: No, not yet. It is important but right now the focus is really on the commercial side, trying to bring in partners that are interested primarily in the World Series and the proper America’s Cup in the future. We will slowly build the sailing team in the next few months.

VSail.info: Has BAR been approached by any potential sponsor?
Ben Ainslie: Yes, we have been talking to a lot of people actually. The response to the launch in London was fantastic in terms of the coverage on the internet, TV and British media. We’ve had a number of great meetings with potential partners, we are happy with the way it’s going but there is still a lot of work to get these discussions into reality and get these partners onboard.

VSail.info: If I understand well, if Oracle Racing are successful in their defense and the current format is held, you will try to mount a British challenge for the 35th America’s Cup.
Ben Ainslie: Yes, absolutely. That’s the idea. I think it’s realistic to build those potential partnerships up through the World Series and give those partners a chance to test the event format, to see what the America’s Cup will be like with the intention to take that to the next level, the 35th America’s Cup.

Ben Ainslie at the helm of the Oracle Racing AC45. San Francisco, 12 December 2011. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget / America's Cup

VSail.info: After the end of the 2012-13 World Series you will become a full-time member of Oracle Racing. Is that correct?
Ben Ainslie: Yes, that’s right.

VSail.info: What will your exact role in the team be?
Ben Ainslie: That’s a good question. We haven’t really defined that. Obviously, I will be coming late after my Olympic commitment, so I will be a member of the afterguard in some form. Russell, Jimmy, John Kostecki and the other guys will have figured out the best way to use my skills in whatever role they want me to work in. My goal is go there and do the best that I could possibly do to help the team be successful.

VSail.info: Oracle Racing will build two AC72 yachts. Is you helming one of the two boats an option?
Ben Ainslie: Yes, potentially it is an option. They obviously, have some great helmsmen already with Russell and Darren Bundock so it depends on what they decide and for me, for the future, it will be great to do some helming on the AC72′s, for the next Cup. We will have to see how those roles develop.

VSail.info: If you prove yourself in training could you even envision helming the AC72 during the actual defense of the Cup, in the America’s Cup match in September 2013?
Ben Ainslie: I don’t know. I’m certainly not going there with the goal to try to take anyone’s jobs or positions. It’s about me doing the best I can possibly do to help the team. It’s up to the team, up to Russell, Jimmy and the rest of the guys to see how I fit in the best. Those teams develop over a long period of time and I’m not going in with any expectation. I will try to do the best job I can possibly do.

VSail.info: Have you already trained with Oracle Racing on their AC45′s?
Ben Ainslie: No, I haven’t. I have just done a short sailing session with Russell in San Francisco last December and it was really good, really nice sail. I’m currently focusing 100% on the Olympics and I will get into that afterwards but it’s always very exciting to have that project.

VSail.info: What was your feeling, your impression of the AC45 as a yacht when you helmed in San Francisco?
Ben Ainslie: I thought it was great. It was much more responsive than an Extreme 40 and the only strange thing was getting used to looking at the wing. It’s so different from a conventional mainsail so there is a process just getting used to the wing setup. Visually it’s different and as a result it takes some time to get used to that.

VSail.info: Since you helmed those yachts allow me again to quote you from the same article back in September 2010. You were saying that there was “a question mark over how good multihulls are for match racing”. What do you think now? Are they good?
Ben Ainslie: I think that even for people doing it now there is a question mark over what is the best course and the best rules for match racing on multihulls. The interesting thing about the AC World Series is that it is giving event organizers the opportunity to try different formats and different rules. We are slowly seeing that racing is getting closer and more effective because of that. It is going to take time because it still is very different from the conventional monohull match racing that we are all used to. Whether it’s better or worse, I guess depends on the individual point of view. Hopefully, by the time they get to the America’s Cup they will have found the right formats for these types of boats to make the racing interesting, exciting and a good challenge for the sailors.

VSail.info: Thanks for your answers and your time. I would like to close on a lighter note. Why is your boat called “Rita”?
Ben Ainslie: I have called all my boats “Rita” since I was a kid. I don’t know why but it seemed as a good name for a boat so I stuck with it and this must be Rita 15 or 20 by now. They seem to be good and fast boats.

VSail.info: So, if Rita 20 is successful in the Olympics in Weymouth will you have Rita 21 for the 2016 Olympics?
Ben Ainslie: Well, I’m still using the same boat I used in the 2004 Olympics. We obviously developed other boats in the meantime but this one was the best we’ve had. Sometimes an old boat can be a fast boat as well.

VSail.info: Are the 2016 Olympics an option for you? Will Rita 21 be a Finn or something different? Do you think you will be too old for a Finn?
Ben Ainslie: I don’t know, probably for the Finn I might be too old by then but I have an option now with the multihull class coming back in. However we will have to wait and see how things develop, how things go this summer, which class and boat are chosen for 2016, what happens with the America’s Cup. There’s quite a few factors to consider.

One might or might not approve the way Russell Coutts is managing the America’s Cup but there is one area, in my opinion, where we must unanimously agree. The RC44 one-design yacht, conceived and created by Coutts, is weathering the crisis very well with a fleet that fluctuates between 14 and 16 boats, a very respectable number. We caught up with Bertrand Favre, the RC44 Class Manager, and talked about the present and future of the class.

VSail.info: We have 14 boats on the starting line here in Puerto Calero, a very respectable number if one takes into consideration the current crisis affecting the world economy in general and the sport of sailing in particular. What, in your opinion, makes the RC44 Class and its championship resilient?
Bertrand Favre: I think that one of aspects that is very important for the boat owners and their teams is the one-design as well as the fact costs are reasonable and controlled.

VSail.info: Why are costs reasonable and how are they controlled?
Bertrand Favre: We have very strict limits on the number of sails we validate each year and a rule that limits the number of professionals onboard. Since it’s a one-design class there are no costs associated to boat development. One season costs approximately 500,000 euros and it’s very difficult to spend more than that unless, of course, you want to fly to the venues in first class and stay in five-star hotels.

VSail.info: How much does an RC44 yacht cost?
Bertrand Favre: A new boat, without any sails, costs 425,000 euros while a boat ready to race with a complete set of sails costs about 520,000 euros. It’s very interesting to point out that a second-hand boat, four years old, sells for approximately 300,000 euros. As you see, thanks to the one-design aspect of the class, the old boats don’t lose their value in such a dramatic way. Obviously, everything devalues but unlike other classes second-hand boats are not worthless. On the contrary, we still have old boats that are very competitive. For example, AFX Capital Racing, the new Italian team, bought the former Mascalzone Latino boat, our seventh boat to be built, and has a very respectable performance in the middle of the fleet and already makes some of the more established teams worry.

VSail.info: Has any owner sold his old boat and built a new one?
Bertrand Favre: The only one to have done it is Chris Bake, owner of Team Aqua. He has a new boat now and the old one has been bought by RUS 7. In fact whether you own the RC44 yacht number 2 or number 20, you will have identical boats, with the obvious differences that the older one has been used more or might have suffered more accidents or breakages.

VSail.info: Has the RC44 yacht changed since her creation?
Bertrand Favre: We have evolved the boat by introducing various modifications but always throughout the entire fleet at the same time. This year we introduced a bigger mainsail, 2.50m2 bigger than the previous one, we added a jib cunningham and a system to adjust the checkstays. Our philosophy is to slowly evolve the boat in a one-design manner.

Part of the fleet racing in the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup. Puerto Calero, 10 February 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

VSail.info: Are there any potential owners knocking on your door?
Bertrand Favre: We have a number of people that are interested and this is a continuous process. We have potential owners with whom we are in discussion and another one that will charter the Polish boat MAG Racing in the Cascais regatta. As you see, this is a continuous process and in Cascais we will have 15 boats.

We are a class that has been conceived with the owners and their teams in mind. The owners pay an annual fee of 15,000 euros, much smaller compared to other classes, and they are provided with a wide range of services. We offer them a service, we have a technical team ready to solve any problem the boats might have during an event, we take care of the shipping and transport. They must pay for the shipping and transport but we take care of it and when you negotiate prices for 35-40 containers you, obviously, get much better prices than you would get for just one or two containers.

We have owners that come and others that go but that’s normal and it happens in all yacht classes and circuits. At the end of each season you have changes.

VSail.info: So, are you a class primarily geared towards wealthy owners? Do any owners try to find sponsors and will sponsors get any return on their investment?
Bertrand Favre: I think that our strongest point is our hospitality program and the onboard guest position. Sponsored boats have the possibility to offer their partners a very good platform. Right now we have five sponsored boats and quite often there exists a privileged relation between the owner and the sponsor but the hospitality side of our circuit is clearly very attractive for all sponsors.

VSail.info: You have also made changes to the race format and match racing forms now a small part of the schedule. What was the logic behind that decision?
Bertrand Favre: Yes, we have taken off one day from the match race part and we don’t do an overall result for each event. The owners like driving their boats and if you had asked me two years ago whether in 2012 we would still be doing match racing I would have said no because the class is evolving towards fleet racing. However, we now have an increasing number of owners that want to steer in match racing because they love it. They want to do it because they like it but also because they see it as a great tool to train and progress. Even young sailors that train for the Olympics do some match racing because it develops their reflexes and skills.

One factor we have to always take into consideration is the time owners can take off their daily business obligations. I think that being outside of their companies five times a year four-five days each time is probably the limit. As a result, we will continue with the current format at least this year. We might make some changes if we have more boats. If you have 18-20 boats you simply can’t have half of the fleet racing while the rest is just sitting there and waiting. We will have to be creative in order to find other solutions. That’s why we have already shortened the prestart down to two minutes. I think we still have a small margin but if the fleet gets much bigger we will definitely have to find other solutions. We might have two separate race areas or we might even have some teams that simply don’t want to match race but desire to have a practice fleet race in another race area. We will see.

VSail.info: While the number of boats is increasing, I see that you are struggling to find new venues and this year you will only have five. Do you encounter difficulties in finding more venues?
Bertrand Favre: No, on the contrary. It’s a decision taken by the owners not to have more than five events per season, for the reason I told you. Six events are just too many for them. I could even claim that now that our circuit is well established and consolidated, I have cities that directly contact me, interested in our project.

Part of the fleet racing in the RC44 Puerto Calero Cup. Puerto Calero, 10 February 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

VSail.info: I also notice that all venues this year are in Europe. You don’t visit the US or the Middle East. Is that as well a wish by the owners that want to concentrate their obligations in a smaller area?
Bertrand Favre: I think there will be surprises in the 2013 calendar. I am now in conversations with various cities and most probably we will go out of Europe once again. I would say that this year it was more of a coincidence the fact we are only in Europe. We appreciate the cities and local organizers, such as Puerto Calero, with whom we have a good relationship. It is also a simple question of timing. The further away you go, the more time you need to move from one venue to another. You have to take those factors into consideration. If it takes you two months to move to the next venue, logistics become very complicated.

VSail.info: Is it expensive for a city to host an RC44 event?
Bertrand Favre: It depends on the infrastructure already in place. We have a host-city fee, a small one in my view, but we are very demanding in what regards the quality of services offered by the city. Let’s take the example of Valencia. It didn’t cost a lot because they already had the media center, the VIP area, the technical area and didn’t need to build anything. On the contrary, in Marstrand they had to build everything so it cost much more.

On average the total cost for a city is around 200,000 – 300,000 euros, including the host-city fee. It’s a reasonable price that reflects the philosophy of our class. It also allows cities to have a good return. Just the amount of money spent by the 16 teams in the local economy is more than that. It’s also the reason very often the cities want to repeat. I discuss with the various potential venues and before I make any binding agreements, I talk with the owners who ponder each venue and tell me what they think.

Nevertheless, our first and foremost consideration in choosing a venue are the wind and sailing conditions. Whether they are small or big cities they have to be sailing venues where the probability of losing racing days is very small. Another major priority is to go to places where the marina is located within walking distance from the hotels, the restaurants and the urban area.

VSail.info: With the exception of Ironbound, all your owners are also European. If I remember well, Frank Pong from Hong Kong took part one year in the circuit. Do you think it’s impossible to have non-European owners that stay longer.
Bertrand Favre: We also had Isao Mita from Japan that participated in two seasons. Even if we want to expand the class outside Europe, the problem for him was that he was spending too much time travelling to the venues. He was spending too much time on the airplane. For that reason, we will return to countries where we think we have a chance to develop the class in the future. We are still in negotiations with potential venues in those areas.

VSail.info: Is Asia a target for the RC44 class?
Bertrand Favre: No, not yet.

VSail.info: Going back to the amateur rule, is there any discussion in allowing more professional sailors in the crew?
Bertrand Favre: No, because it’s one of the key elements of the class. It gives owners the possibility to have friends in the crew. Igor Lah sails together with his son and in a number of teams you have young sailors. It’s also a very good opportunity for young sailors to enter the market and we had a number of them that raced two years as amateurs and then jumped into professional sailing, either here or in other classes. It’s a very good springboard for them.

AEZ is one of the five sponsored teams of the RC44 fleet. Puerto Calero, 10 February 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

VSail.info: The RC44 class used to have BMW and DHL as sponsors and partners and I now see Beluga as the only partner in 2012.
Bertrand Favre: Yes, Beluga is our partner and they provide us with delicious vodka and some cash. It’s true the class is actively seeking a naming sponsor or at least a major sponsor but, as you very well imagine, the current difficult economic situation makes that more difficult. The entire sport of sailing encounters the same problems but we are lucky to have partner cities and owners that are united in making this a viable and sustainable project without any problems. Obviously, the moment we find that sponsor we will be able to increase the level of what we are doing.

VSail.info: Are you happy AUDI stopped supporting the Medcup circuit?
Bertrand Favre: No, not at all because it’s not a positive development for the sport of sailing. We never considered them as our competitors. In fact, we had good relations with them and we always tried to avoid any overlaps in our calendars, as much as possible. The TP52′s might have less boats but it is always an important class. Another aspect is that the AUDI Medcup was a very different product from ours. It had much bigger budgets, teams that were 100% professional and a very commercial approach. Again, nobody can be happy when a flagship circuit disappears.

Continuing our series of new-year interviews with sailing’s top personalities, we catch up with Paul Cayard, CEO of Artemis Racing, the 34th America’s Cup Challenger of Record. The legendary American sailor gives an update on his team and comments on the latest developments in the America’s Cup, including Ben Ainslie joining Oracle Racing and the important decisions of the Jury that, in his view, deal a serious blow to Emirates Team New Zealand’s alliance with Luna Rossa.

VSail.info: When we talked a little bit more than three months ago, I asked you whether you were contemplating having two AC45 yachts, like Oracle Racing at that stage, and your answer was that your budget didn’t allow you to do that. I now see that you have a second AC45 yacht. What has changed since then?
Paul Cayard: To be honest with you, our owner Torbjorn Tornqvist was always pretty convinced we should have two AC45 yachts. After the San Diego event it was pretty obvious how dominant Oracle Racing was all of a sudden. Before that, Emirates Team New Zealand, Oracle Racing and Artemis Racing were more or less competitive against each other in Plymouth and Cascais. However, in San Diego Oracle was really on a different level and they just came off three weeks of sailing in San Francisco with the other two AC45′s out of four they have. Torbjorn has been on me for a long time to get a second AC45 and after San Diego it became a priority for the team.

The other thing is that there was supposed to be an event in January and when that went away there was, of course, a bigger gap in the schedule which allowed for more training, if you have two boats. If you only have one boat it’s not as good. I didn’t mean to mislead you in any way and I told you at that time we were definitely thinking about it. When these changes came along, we bought the second AC45.

I don’t remember if I had mentioned that in our previous talk but, honestly, another factor was the crash we had with Green Comm in Plymouth. We had a damaged boat and we had to repaint the spare ACRM boat so that her hull matched up with our port hull. When we went to the expense of all that, it would have been money thrown away because we would have been obliged to repaint that hull back to white in order to give it back to ACRM. Instead, we bought that whole boat (Serial number 10) and that actually had the effect of saving Green Comm 20,000 to 30,000 euros because if we had to implement the original solution that would have been another cost on the Green Comm bill.

VSail.info: Now that you have two AC45 yachts what is the schedule for the three months leading to the Naples event? I suppose you will be training here in Valencia.
Paul Cayard: Exactly. As you know, the boats are in Valencia right now, in our Sagunto base, and we will start training on January 27th with both boats. We plan on really focusing on that for three weeks and do a very intensive two-boat program. We will try to raise our game within the AC45 events and we will certainly be aiming at winning one or two of them in 2012. We have won one of the first three, we want to be a front runner and we recognize we need to raise our game a little bit there.

Artemis Racing in full action. San Diego, 17 November 2011. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch / Artemis Racing

VSail.info: One of the boats will, obviously, be helmed by Terry Hutchinson. Who will be at the helm of the second one?
Paul Cayard: It’s going to be Santi Lange. We talked about me doing it as well but I think it’s going to be Santi. We want to make sure that whoever does it can do it for the full three weeks. We don’t want to have any switching around because that would diminish the quality of the sailing.

VSail.info: Have you made any changes to the crew or will it be the same we have seen so far?
Paul Cayard: We are trying one new trimmer, Thierry Fouchet who was with Oracle in the last Cup. He will come to sail with us during that session and we will see how it goes.

VSail.info: What about the modified Orma60 trimaran you have. What’s the current situation?
Paul Cayard: We are not sure whether it’s going to sail again. It was good for us last year but it’s still in working progress. We don’t have a schedule to sail that again.

VSail.info: I might be wrong but I thought you planned to step a wing on that trimaran. Is that correct?
Paul Cayard: It’s a possibility but we don’t have any schedule for when it’s going to happen.

VSail.info: King Marine issued a press release a couple of days ago, stating that the construction of your AC72 yacht started a month ago in Sweden and that it is going along as scheduled. Can you give us an update?
Paul Cayard: It is actually going very well and we are ahead of schedule on building our AC72. As you know, the hulls have to be laminated in Sweden. Our molds were made in Spain, in Cartagena, and then were trucked to Sweden. The whole job of turning on the facility in Sweden and having builders there working and laminating happened during the holidays. The hulls are being laminated now, everything is going well and King Marine is doing a great job.

VSail.info: Will the boat be launched in Sweden?
Paul Cayard: No, our plan is to launch the boat in Valencia, after July 1st obviously, and we are looking at what our options are in regards to where we will spend all the 30 days of sailing. Initially, we will spend in Valencia at least 10 of the 30 days of sailing.

VSail.info: Does Artemis Racing plan to build two AC72 yachts?
Paul Cayard: Yes, our plan is to build two. The main elements of the boat building process will be similar to those of the first yacht but quite likely the final assembly will happen in San Francisco. As I told you, the first boat will be assembled in Sagunto but the second one in San Francisco. At this point the schedule for that boat is quite vague because a lot will depend on the first one. All the teams will have launched theirs, so we will be watching our competitors, trying to learn as much as we can about this new class. Back in 1992, when we had the first America’s Cup on the ACC boats there were huge evolutionary steps from one boat to the next. With il Moro di Venezia we built five boats and we came a long way from the first one to the fifth one.

Each time you have a new class you have the biggest steps from one boat to the next. Ideally, we would like to launch our second boat by May 2013 so that we have sufficient time to be comfortable with it. Obviously, the more you wait the more you learn and maybe the bigger progress you can incorporate in the second boat.

Artemis Racing in full action. San Diego, 17 November 2011. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch / Artemis Racing

VSail.info: I think I’m covered regarding the update on Artemis Racing. Let’s talk now about the whole event and in particular the most recent big news, starting with last Tuesday’s announcement from Ben Ainslie. What do you think of the arrangement he has with Oracle Racing?
Paul Cayard: I talked with Russell about that, he had called me to tell me what was happening. If you take it for face value it’s a good thing for the America’s Cup. They could have just said Ben was joining Oracle Racing as a crew member but instead, having a sailor of the quality of Ben Ainslie, representing another country, Great Britain, in the America’s Cup World Series is a great thing for the event, for the public and I’m sure he will be a formidable competitor.

VSail.info: And a reason for your to sleep less when he joins Oracle Racing next year.
Paul Cayard: For sure that makes me sleep less. He’s a great sailor and I think that Oracle Racing have realized they will have to race their two boats in house against themselves in the summer of 2013 and they are getting ready with plenty of good sailors. In their afterguard they have Spithill, Bundock, Kostecki, Coutts and they now added Ainslie. They have these five afterguard to sail these boats and it didn’t come as a surprise to me.

VSail.info: Another recent development in the America’s Cup was a Jury decision regarding the alliance between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa. If I’m not mistaken your team was the first to ask the Jury to rule on that cooperation between the two challengers. I have to admit I’m not aware of the details of that issue or what is at stake. Can you talk about it? Are you satisfied with the Jury’s ruling?
Paul Cayard: Yes, we are satisfied. The Jury ruled in line with our thinking which is that Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand cannot do what they said they would do. You haven’t read a lot about it because, basically, the ruling went against them and Grant Dalton hasn’t been speaking about that one as much as he’s speaking about the ones that go his way. It’s a big knock against them and they can’t sail the two boats against each other. It’s a big knock against their plans but it’s completely logical and it’s what Oracle Racing and we always believed to be the case and now the Jury confirmed that.

VSail.info: But in our previous conversation three months ago you mentioned that Artemis Racing and Oracle Racing would be training together, with their AC72 yachts, during the summer of 2012 in San Francisco. Why would Oracle Racing and Artemis Racing be able to do that while Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand aren’t allowed?
Paul Cayard: Yes, we might be able to do that but we might also be unable to do that. There are some technicalities with that too that could involve what’s known as the Surrogate Rule. In other words, if we were to train with Oracle we may become a surrogate for them and they would become a surrogate for us. There is an interpretation of the Surrogate Rule which would determine whether or not Artemis Racing and Oracle Racing or any two teams could sail against each other.

VSail.info: I still can’t understand why, as you claim, Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand definitely cannot sail against each other while you might be able to do so with another team.
Paul Cayard: The difference is that there are two rules involved. The first one, rule 33.4, prevents a team from making an agreement with another entity, it could be an America’s Cup team or not, such that the other entity would acquire a boat and that the first party, the team, would gain the knowledge and the benefit of the performance data or information from the sailing of that second boat.

The specifics required to be in violation of that rule are, first, to have an agreement between the two parties. Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa, obviously, have such an agreement. The second element is that the agreement has to entail that the second party, Luna Rossa in this case, would build or otherwise acquire a boat. They, obviously, have said that. Finally, the third piece of it is that the first party, Emirates Team New Zealand, would obtain design or performance information from the sailing of the second boat. The Jury ruled that if those three elements are in place, you are in violation of Rule 33.4. Based on Grant Dalton’s public announcements and Emirates Team New Zealand’s submissions to the Jury, they are in breach of 33.4 right now.

So, that’s a different case and you can see the subtleties. If you look at it from a competitive advantage you can see how advantageous it would be for Emirates Team New Zealand to essentially control the design of both of these boats. Then they could sail those two boats together and do a lot more development than Oracle Racing and Artemis Racing might learn by sailing against each other, not knowing the design of each other’s boats. Do you see the difference there? You can develop technically much more if you control the design of both boats.

There are two different rules that apply. It could be that Oracle Racing and Artemis Racing or Energy and Artemis Racing or any two teams may not be able to train together without invoking the surrogate rule. That could be and I would say that this is still being interpreted but the problem Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa have is a different one. It’s specific to Rule 33.4.

Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa, of course, aren’t saying a word about it because it is bad news for them. The truth is they got a haircut. It seriously curtails their dream or plan but it has to be said that Luna Rossa couldn’t even be in the race unless they bought the design from somebody. They could have bought the ACRM package and probably not have this problem. In fact, they wouldn’t have that problem. Had they bought the ACRM design they could have gone ahead probably and do some sailing with Emirates Team New Zealand. Because of the agreement and because they have such a strong collaboration agreement together to produce that second boat they can’t sail the two boats together without violating the protocol.

VSail.info: So, the two AC72 yachts, the Italian and the kiwi one, could be physically next to each other on the dock in Auckland but then they will then have to sail separately.
Paul Cayard: Yes and the truth is, and this will probably be elaborated a little bit more through some questions to the Jury, it could be that they cannot even observe each other. Here’s what Rule 33.4 says: “Any agreement, arrangement or other understanding, whether legally enforceable or not, by one person or entity (in this paragraph “the first person”), whether then a Competitor or not, with any other person or entity (in this paragraph “the second person”) that the second person will directly or indirectly build, acquire or otherwise obtain one or more
yachts of whatever type (in this paragraph “other yachts”) so that the first person can directly or indirectly obtain, in any manner whatever, design or performance information regarding the other yacht or yachts for use in the program of design, development or challenge of the first person, is prohibited.” As I said, the first party is Emirates Team New Zealand and the second one is Luna Rossa. The important part is “..so that the first person can directly or indirectly obtain..”

It says, it “can” obtain and I think they can’t even go on a rib and watch Luna Rossa sail because they could obtain design and performance information about that boat. So, the boats will be in New Zealand and they will have to stay further away from each other than any other competitors will. This is all the fallout now. It has been a very busy holiday season for the legal departments and nobody got a break. The Jury decision was issued on December 28th and now people will start thinking about all the problems this creates. In fact, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa are probably spending a lot of time trying to figure out what they are going to do. The bottom line and the most important point is that with this decision, they can’t do what they said they were going to do. It’s a pretty serious blow to their plan.

VSail.info: Can Emirates Team New Zealand or Luna Rossa appeal or if “appeal” is not the correct word, is there a way for them to overturn that decision?
Paul Cayard: I don’t believe you can really appeal this decision but you could file other requests for interpretation. They could file another action, they could try to see if there is a way to plea their case differently but in this particular case, Case 06, the decision has been issued.

VSail.info: You said earlier that Oracle Racing would need to do their inhouse training with their pair of AC72 yachts. Why would they be allowed to do that? Can anyone do a two-boat training program with AC72 yachts?
Paul Cayard: Yes, but only after February 1st, 2013. In fact, you can’t launch a second boat until February 1st, 2013.

VSail.info: So, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa can always train together after that date.
Paul Cayard: No, they can never train together. As I said it’s a different rule and Rule 33.4 doesn’t have any relativity to a date. You can never have an agreement such that the second party builds a boat so that the first party gains the benefit of the design and performance information. If two teams build only one boat, they could start two-boat training and sharing performance information before February 1st, 2013. They would be fine because they didn’t have an agreement with each other to produce each other’s boat.

Essentially, if you let Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa do what they are doing, you could make the case that Emirates Team New Zealand is launching two boats on July 1st. Basically, it’s like launching two sister ships. So, not only are they in violation of Rule 33.4, someone could even ask for an interpretation about the launch date rule. It states that you can launch one boat on July 1st, 2012 but you can’t launch your second boat before February 1st, 2013. You could make the case that Emirates Team New Zealand is actually launching two boats. I think they really have a problem now.

VSail.info: Another issue I wanted to talk about was the so called “Code of Conduct” that was agreed upon in San Diego. The America’s Cup organizers, in every edition, like to boast it’s the world’s oldest sports trophy. It has survived and prospered since 160 years without such a rule. Do you really think this event, the so-called pinnacle of the sport of sailing, needs censorship?
Paul Cayard: If you have people walking around the dock, going up to people that want to sponsor events, telling them a bunch of bad information with the aim to discourage them from sponsoring an AC World Series event, then my answer is yes, unfortunately, we need to censor them. If you have issues that you don’t like, you don’t air them out publicly. This is a commercial sport, basically a business. It’s like the NFL or the Premier League in England. The teams have a common interest, they are in business, in the entertainment business. They use sports as an entertainment and try to produce exciting matches. Of course they have business issues and they all don’t agree and they don’t all get along but where do they discuss those issues? They discuss them in the proper form, in meetings, just like any other business. Outwardly, to the public, you always tend to project a positive, professional image. The problem we had, unfortunately, was someone chose to air out his unhappiness, his issues, publicly, before trying to resolve them within the business environment of the America’s Cup. That has had the effect of discouraging some corporate partners from being involved with the America’s Cup, an unfortunate situation.