They want to focus more on the sailing summer in San Francisco. This is the official reason, telegraph-style, why the America's Cup Event Authority cancelled the two America's Cup World Series regattas scheduled for the end of May and beginning of June on the east coast. There is the Louis Vuitton Cup (4 July to 30 August), then the Youth America's Cup (1 to 4 September) and the actual Cup (7 to 21 September). So that's right: summer in San Francisco. A cool and windy affair, as we all know. But when it comes to the multi-million America's Cup, that sounds almost too idyllic to be true. Despite this turbulence, the only ACWS regatta in Europe, in Naples from 16 to 21 April, will go ahead as planned. Nevertheless, there are questions about the future of the competition.
"We have spoken to the Louis Vuitton Cup competitors and they have a good point," ACEA boss Stephen Barclay told YACHT online. "It would only be a month until the LVC starts (after these regattas) and we at the ACEA have been looking more closely at our planning. The last thing we want to do is compromise the summer of sailing in San Francisco. In addition, some teams didn't want to send their A team to New York because of the proximity to the LVC, so we think it would be wiser to save New York for later."
This statement refers specifically to Team New Zealand and the Italians from Luna Rossa, who are training together in Auckland and thus won a points victory after putting pressure on the organisers to schedule the two ACWS regattas on the east coast. The New Zealanders even threatened to send a junior team so as not to interrupt the preparation of the A team with the AC72.
The bar is set high precisely because the ACEA has always presented the ACWS events in the best light in terms of visitor numbers and viewing figures. Is there even an implicit fear that the regattas with the AC45 cats could be better received by the mass public than the America's Cup? Having three challengers sail against each other for more than two months will require a good script if you want to fill the grandstands along the waterfront and the TV couch with spectators. There is also the uncertainty of how evenly matched the gigantic AC72 cats will be.
But it's also about money: it's obvious that New York is struggling with financial problems after the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Sandy and that the ACEA would not pay 5 million dollars for the hosting rights. But there is also rumoured to have been a dispute over money in Venice. Sail World reports that Barclay explained that the Italians paid a lower organiser fee in 2012 and in return should have paid half of the profit, which according to Barclay should amount to more than 10 million euros, to the ACEA. However, as this did not happen, the ACWS regatta planned for April in Venice was cancelled or moved to Naples. This in turn led to a protest (which has since been rejected) from the Italian Luna Rossa team, who would have liked to present themselves and sponsor Prada in front of a large audience at this home regatta.
And somehow it also came in handy that this decision helped Oracle Team USA, which was deprived of five sailing days by the jury on suspicion of espionage and which had severely damaged its first AC72 in a capsize in the autumn. By cancelling the two regattas, the Cup defender will now have the opportunity to sail its new AC72, which is due to be launched in April.
But the real question in this context is: can the extravagantly produced ACWS continue? Barclay emphasises that there are concrete plans to continue the competition. Some sailors have urged the AC Event Authority to confirm ACWS dates immediately after the AC, he said. This wish is shared by sponsors and most teams.
But in the end, the spectacle can only survive if funding is secured. And this may depend on whether Oracle boss Larry Ellison can successfully defend the Auld Mug.
