Team New Zealand’s fear paralyzing the America’s Cup.

It is gray clouds that are gathering over the skies of the 37th America’s Cup and at the moment they do not yet want to clear. Chaos. Perhaps it is fair to call it that since the conclusion of Issue 36, six months have passed and little or nothing is known about the future of the Trophy. But at the end of the day for a sports team like Team New Zealand, one of the most successful in sailing history but short of money, there is also the right to be afraid. Fear of reliving the traumatic 2003 challenge, with Coutts and other team senators passed to Alinghi and a boat that was, literally, treading water in the finals. Fear of not having enough money to organize an event that lives up to expectations and an adequately competitive team. Fear, too, of ending up at the mercy of a paperon for whom the America’s Cup becomes a whim of the moment to play with a bit.

THE INDECENT PROPOSAL TO GET THE AMERICA CUP

Indeed, the “proposal with strings attached” made by New Zealand oil industry multimillionaire Mark Dunphy, who said he was ready to finance the team and organization but at the cost of blowing off the head of big boss Grant Dalton, who was too cumbersome with his decision-making presence, has made noise. An affront to both the young and the “old” inside Team New Zealand, since Dalton, despite some shadows and a path with bitter defeats, managed to resurrect the Kiwis’ fortunes after the “tragic” Cup in Auckland in 2003. The team’s response was glacial with an edgy statement, “…In our opinion, Mr. Dunphy has publicly offended our team. He also denigrated the absolute dedication and commitment that Dalts has shown relentlessly since 2003, when he took over management of what were the ashes of a defeated team to rebuild it to become the most successful America’s Cup team in modern history with our proud yacht club, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron” reads one of the most significant passages. Proposal returned to sender. Where and when will the 37th America’s Cup be held then?

WHERE THE AMERICA CUP GOES

In a further mouthed statement Dalton Team New Zealand clarifies that there is currently a foreign venue, in a shortlist with several candidates, that appears favored, and that the idea of a Cup in Auckland has not gone away but the chances remain slim. Venues could be Valencia in Spain, Cowes in England, Dubai in the Emirates, but there are less verified rumors that take the Cup as far as Cork in Ireland, or Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The top three probably remain in pole position, with England and the Emirates possibly having the advantage. Because while it is true that Valencia is a strong bid and has sufficient infrastructure, having already hosted the Cup, it is also true that the local and national Spanish polity has not seemed united on the issue. The city still “mourns” a few too many debts financially for the investments made for the 2009 edition, and another major outlay would not be well digested by taxpayers.

From the game at the moment, any Italian cities seem to have shied away. The enthusiasm for a Cup in Italy would be immoderate, but the estimated investment to convince the New Zealanders to take it abroad would be more than 200 million euros. Luna Rossa for its part seems decidedly more intent, barring any sensational twists and turns, on trying to bring the Cup to Italy as a winner rather than favoring some sort of onerous “rental” by one of our seaside cities. The Kiwis have indicated that the decision on venue and dates will be announced by fall.

WHAT TEAMS DO

From Luna Rossa everything is silent or almost silent. No particular activity is reported at the Cagliari base; the two boats have been arriving now for a few months from New Zealand, they still remain packed up waiting to see what will happen. However, statements from the protagonists and team members all point in the same direction, which is that Luna Rossa at the next Cup will be there, no doubt about it. In fact, Patrizio Bertelli and Max Sirena quietly and under the radar have already been working to reconfirm part of the team and make some grafts in different areas, including design. Maneuvers remain covered for now, but something has moved.

More energetic was the communication from American Magic, which announced a new design coordinator, Scott Ferguson, two America’s Cup wins with Oracle Team USA and with a background in Luna Rossa. An important step by the American team, which in the past edition showed some cracks and discrepancies between design work and the real possibility of putting a boat on the water that was as fast as it was controllable.

In Ineos Ben Ainslie and Giles Scott divide their time between the Olympics (Scott added a gold to his trophy case) and SailGp. However, Ainslie made it clear that we should expect important updates from the team regarding the challenge to the Cup, of which we recall Ineos is Challenge of Record and thus has the right to establish the new Protocol with the Kiwis.

Mauro Giuffrè

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