Protocol for the 37th America’s Cup

[barfy]

Sneak preview on Team New Zealand site.

It may drop on November 17th.

It may come with a venue.

It will certainly generate some fact based discussion.

 

[dg_sailingfan]

Don't expect a Venue together with the Protocol on November 17th! The Protocol though may give us a clue when they will announce the Venue.

I am actually resigned to the fact that we will likely won't know the Venue until next year given what Grant Dalton said recently. He mentioned that Valencia (after Alinghi won in 2003) took almost a year to be confirmed and Bermuda 2017 took 15 months to be confirmed as Venue after OTUSA defended in 2013.

 

[pusslicker]

What a clusterfuck this is. Kiwis have taken all the shitty bits of Larry's vision and added pure incompetence to the mix.

 

[sailman]

What if a Team doesn’t want to spend budget on an AC40?  It has zero to do with the AC racing. 

 

[enigmatically2]

What if a Team doesn’t want to spend budget on an AC40?  It has zero to do with the AC racing. 

Well it does have to do with the youth and womens AC as that's what they wlll race, but I take your point. I do wonder what GD/TNZ will be getting as commission/profit/rights for the AC 40s and whether that therefore is part of the motivation. Would definitely be interesting to know

Does also raise the high potential that there could be more entrants to the women's AC than the men

 

[Chobani Sailor]

Well it does have to do with the youth and womens AC as that's what they wlll race, but I take your point. I do wonder what GD/TNZ will be getting as commission/profit/rights for the AC 40s and whether that therefore is part of the motivation. Would definitely be interesting to know

Does also raise the high potential that there could be more entrants to the women's AC than the men

It will be interesting to see if yacht clubs w/out a AC entry will fund a women's AC team....then we can have all the "equal pay" rhetoric come out of the talking heads.

 

[barfy]

Well it does have to do with the youth and womens AC as that's what they wlll race, but I take your point. I do wonder what GD/TNZ will be getting as commission/profit/rights for the AC 40s and whether that therefore is part of the motivation. Would definitely be interesting to know

Built in NZ, utilizing tnz's new (from last cycle ) yard, tnz's personnel. Nothing but gains for team and country. Who knows, after the document drops it may be used as the last leverage needed with the Gov. $$$$$ in tax pretty easy to quantify.

 

[Fiji Bitter]

That, and a hugely increased  sponsor value from increased exposure and goodwill, for all the teams, including any potential new challenger.

Win-win for all.

 

[dg_sailingfan]

That, and a hugely increased  sponsor value from increased exposure and goodwill, for all the teams, including any potential new challenger.

Win-win for all.

I trend to agree with you here!

 

[Stingray~]

Well it does have to do with the youth and womens AC as that's what they wlll race, but I take your point. I do wonder what GD/TNZ will be getting as commission/profit/rights for the AC 40s and whether that therefore is part of the motivation. Would definitely be interesting to know

Does also raise the high potential that there could be more entrants to the women's AC than the men

Sounds like the AC40's will also be used (by men too) on some kind of ACWS circuit, which could entice some wannabe teams that may or may not get to actually building AC75s.

 

[ChairborneRanger]

Sounds like the AC40's will also be used (by men too) on some kind of ACWS circuit, which could entice some wannabe teams that may or may not get to actually building AC75s.

I'm picking the AC40 will be what we see the most of. With the youth, women's, and likely the ACWS using them, I would expect the bigger teams to run 2 of them, and why not, it's two boat testing at it's best. Early learnings can be incorporated in the AC75 hull design, and any further learnings, especially round foils and sails can be incorporated into the AC75 later on.

 

[Stingray~]

I'm picking the AC40 will be what we see the most of. With the youth, women's, and likely the ACWS using them, I would expect the bigger teams to run 2 of them, and why not, it's two boat testing at it's best. Early learnings can be incorporated in the AC75 hull design, and any further learnings, especially round foils and sails can be incorporated into the AC75 later on.

Agree, very possible. Both LR and BOR ran two AC45's each in the AC34 ACWS, this time most teams may ship just one around each and use the other for foil and rig designs as you say. Could be better than building 'mules' and such. 

Will be interesting to see how much OD they will need to be for ACWS events, could be fun if some competitive variability is allowed. 

They could be a touch pricey but since I'm not paying the bills I'm in favor of the AC40's. 

 

[accnick]

Agree, very possible. Both LR and BOR ran two AC45's each in the AC34 ACWS, this time most teams may ship just one around each and use the other for foil and rig designs as you say. Could be better than building 'mules' and such. 

Will be interesting to see how much OD they will need to be for ACWS events, could be fun if some competitive variability is allowed. 

They could be a touch pricey but since I'm not paying the bills I'm in favor of the AC40's. 

“A touch pricey?” Plus, you want to open them up to development?

That’s a great way to reduce the cost of an AC campaign. (Sarcasm font, in case it wasn’t obvious.)

 

[enigmatically2]

One thing that will be very interesting is what foil development & testing the protocol will allow

Will they will allow non-OD foils to be tested or even used in racing on the AC40s?

How many foils will they allow for the AC75?

Given NZ budget constraints (and the fact that they had the best at AC36 one would assume that they would want to keep it to no and very few.

I wonder if Ineos has tank tested some already before the protocol and limits come into effect. I would also expect the Mercedes tie up to include a lot of simulation. Whilst the models would be different from F1 because of the speed & viscosity differences etc, the expertise will be much the same so I would expect them to take a leap forward.

ETA for 4's benefit: I hope Ineos do stake a big step forward with Mercedes because I am British and support the Ineos GB team. I did cheer for them last time, and will cheer for them in AC 37. Clear enough?

 

[shanghaisailor]

“A touch pricey?” Plus, you want to open them up to development?

That’s a great way to reduce the cost of an AC campaign. (Sarcasm font, in case it wasn’t obvious.)

The point clearly being missed is that economics has two sides. It isn't about costs at all, it is about affordability.

The inclusion of a class of boat that brings in two more separate demographic groups, namely women exclusively and youth below a certain age. This is an initiative ETNZ, RNZYS and CSI started in advance of AC36 with the Youth America's Cup which was unfortunately kyboshed by COVID and the New Zealand shutdown.

Before COVID crushed the event there were 18 entries for the Youth AC, that's 500% plus of the main event, many from countries or clubs (obviously) with no team in the main event 

Bringing a class into the mix that is attractive to two distinct AND NEW demographic groups dramatically increases the sponsorship opportunities for the various teams sponsorship sales force to target. 

Broadening the appeal to the other 50% of the world's population with a bonus of the sailing world's youth is not such a dumb ass move as many appear to think.

One only has to walk into virtually any mall in the world to see that, for example, retail outlets specifically targeting women dramatically outnumber those which target men whether it is clothing, cosmetics, jewellery and even much of the household goods (if not most) are selected by the lady of the house, not the man.

We might even see a change in the balance of female staff members (sales people and directors) actually hunting the sponsors. That wouldn't be difficult considering they are currently conspicuous by their absence.

All we need are teams with the imagination or vision to see (and understand) the new opportunities for funding that the new boat brings to the mix

It isn't an entirely new initiative, the VOR have had female teams before, SCA being the latest and they got huge attention at the stopovers, the 2 female crew members on each boat in the last event and the upcoming Ocean Race, whenever that is cleared to go has the VO65 as the youth and development class so it's not only ETNZ that seems to think involving female and youth sailors in the event and doing so in a class specific to those two groups.

I am sure not everyone will agree with the above but in the real world expanding one's market is a standard way to increase revenue potential. 

 

[accnick]

The point clearly being missed is that economics has two sides. It isn't about costs at all, it is about affordability.

The inclusion of a class of boat that brings in two more separate demographic groups, namely women exclusively and youth below a certain age. This is an initiative ETNZ, RNZYS and CSI started in advance of AC36 with the Youth America's Cup which was unfortunately kyboshed by COVID and the New Zealand shutdown.

Before COVID crushed the event there were 18 entries for the Youth AC, that's 500% plus of the main event, many from countries or clubs (obviously) with no team in the main event 

Bringing a class into the mix that is attractive to two distinct AND NEW demographic groups dramatically increases the sponsorship opportunities for the various teams sponsorship sales force to target. 

Broadening the appeal to the other 50% of the world's population with a bonus of the sailing world's youth is not such a dumb ass move as many appear to think.

One only has to walk into virtually any mall in the world to see that, for example, retail outlets specifically targeting women dramatically outnumber those which target men whether it is clothing, cosmetics, jewellery and even much of the household goods (if not most) are selected by the lady of the house, not the man.

We might even see a change in the balance of female staff members (sales people and directors) actually hunting the sponsors. That wouldn't be difficult considering they are currently conspicuous by their absence.

All we need are teams with the imagination or vision to see (and understand) the new opportunities for funding that the new boat brings to the mix

It isn't an entirely new initiative, the VOR have had female teams before, SCA being the latest and they got huge attention at the stopovers, the 2 female crew members on each boat in the last event and the upcoming Ocean Race, whenever that is cleared to go has the VO65 as the youth and development class so it's not only ETNZ that seems to think involving female and youth sailors in the event and doing so in a class specific to those two groups.

I am sure not everyone will agree with the above but in the real world expanding one's market is a standard way to increase revenue potential. 

I hope you are right. At a time when at least one key AC team seems to be struggling financially, the question is how easy it will be to open the money spigot for this expanded AC-related event.

The whole concept is appealing, but it also had a lot in common with the SailGP approach, which still depends for survival on the financial largess of a single individual, at least to this point.

it is very expensive to run events of this type. Ask Russell Coutts.

 

[barfy]

One piece of the puzzle

America's Cup teams forced to open doors

Although the term reality show is cringeworthy, behind the scenes will be fascinating. Probably modeled after the huge interest on this very forum, I heard they will feature a "from the cellar"segment highlighting the goss of the day from SA.

 

[Fiji Bitter]

I heard they will feature a "from the cellar"segment highlighting the goss of the day from SA.

A kind of a TE show then, narrated by Spinray.

 

[ChairborneRanger]

One piece of the puzzle

America's Cup teams forced to open doors

Although the term reality show is cringeworthy, behind the scenes will be fascinating. Probably modeled after the huge interest on this very forum, I heard they will feature a "from the cellar"segment highlighting the goss of the day from SA.

Yes, but it's called "from the gutter"