America's Cup - World Yacht Racing Forum

Discussing America's Cup and How to Manage it

October 30, 2009

From World Yacht Racing Forum:

James Boyd (UK), Tatjana Pokorny (GER), Loic Le Bras (FRA) and Emilio Martinelli (ITA) are well respected journalists who have followed the America's Cup closely and know the subject well. They tell us what they think about it.

WYRF: Should ISAF be involved in the Americas Cup? Is it right for a governing body (made up of delegates of its member nations usually not professionals) to deal with the upper & almost budget free end of the sport? If no, what should the solution be?

James Boyd, UK, Editor, The Daily Sail: ISAF is obviously involved with the rules, even though the defender in this case has been allowed carte blanche to change them. Should they be able to arbitrate on the America's Cup rather than the New York Supreme Court? Frankly ISAF is way out of its depth in terms of this. The ISAF is not really the governing body of our sport as a whole. It is the governing body of Olympic sailing from where it derives the majority of its funding. The solution surely, as mooted by Paul Cayard, is to have independent management of the America's Cup with a board comprising experienced representatives from the former Trustees of the America's Cup, a couple of sports marketing professionals, representatives of the defender and challenger of record, etc.

Loic Le Bras (FRA), Voiles & Voiliers: I think that in an exceptional situation such as this one, with two competitors unable to agree on anything, ISAF can play a role in making the duel as equitable as possible. It should be the Federation's role to name the Race Committee, the on-the-water judges and the Jury. Every team should have a right of veto applicable once against a member of this panel. This would guarantee some equity.

Emilio Martinelli (ITA) Yacht Capital: I believe that a foreword is needed: while understanding Alinghi's and ISAF's position, I reckon that the co-operation agreement for the 33rd Americas Cup was poorly managed and left many observers and spectators doubtful. The doubts were fuelled by the evolution, alas only in court, of the challenges. I then strongly believe that ISAF should not be involved in such a peculiar sailing event, which has also a huge financial aspect. If the next defender decides to radically change the format, we could possibly see new opportunities for ISAF to be a major player, i.e. creating a class of professional sailing judges.

Tatjana Pokorny (GER) Sailing correspondent for Deutsche Presse Agentur, Welt and Yacht, author of various AC books: ISAF should not be involved in major decision making processes of the Americas Cup. Historicly ISAF was not meant to be involved and thus hasnt got the right to be involved. Historically the Americas Cup is a friendly competition between Yacht Clubs in their own right. Exceptionally and at the Defenders request (if necessary at the Defender and the Challenger (of Record)s request, general ISAF sailing rules could form the sportive and moral grounds of fair competition depending on the chosen vessel and format. Also on request, ISAF representatives could be involved in discussions about the right way into the future. No more than that.

WYRF: Do you believe that in the world of the Americas Cup everything that isnt forbidden is allowed? What are the limits, who should set them up?

James Boyd: For the 33rd America's Cup this is certainly the case and the result is two of the most ground breaking boats ever launched. Bring it on! Whether this kind of development is good for a multi-challenger event in the future is doubtful. It is costly and would be prohibitively expensive for some of the smaller teams. I am the biggest fan of big multihulls but I don't believe they are good vehicles for providing exciting, boat on boat, close quarters cut and thrust action, which in my opinion is the essence of match racing and therefore of the America's Cup. In a conventional AC the limits are obviously what are decided mutually between the challenger and defender or in 'independent management nirvana' by the board.

Loic Le Bras: Its the same for every Class, all over the world. When the rules don’t define precisely the limits of what is allowed or not, then everything that isn’t forbidden is allowed. It usually leads the designers to find a gap in the rules, turn them inside out and brainstorm. This leads to progress and yacht design benefits from it.

Emilio Martinelli: Definitely yes, as long as the Deed of Gift defines the Cup, everything that is not forbidden is allowed. But even if the Americas Cup rules were re-written I believe it is important not to set any limit to research, experimentation and development as well as to human foolishness!

Tatjana Pokorny: The Americas Cup has always been an event in its own right. Teams have often done things which were not forbidden, but fascinated the sailing world. Almost every edition has had its ups and downs and fair play isnt part of the equation. As long as it was a competition between clubs and rich owners, it was up to the players to decide if they wanted to become part of this very tricky game.

Since corporate money is involved (and warmly welcomed by all involved!) it becomes more and more difficult to justify the huge amounts of money invested for an event on which sponsors & investors have very little control. This leads to a certain need for limits in order to create a somehow reliable playground.

Who should set those limits? In the ideal new world we would have a neutral AC management. But before this becomes possible, the Deed of Gift will need modifications. We don’t need a new Deed of Gift, but some clarification about certain wordings. It would be better for the sport if civilian Courts were kept out of the loop. They have very little idea of the sport and are far too dangerous.

The fundamental question is how to form a neutral governing body without taking away the historical rights from the Defender? It will require more than one wise man or woman to set this all up and make it work! But for the sake of the event, it has to happen.

The World Yacht Racing Forum is being held December 9-10, 2009, in Monaco.
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