British confirmed as Challenger of Record for 38th America’s Cup: but what next for the Cup?

The Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, Great Britain, was yesterday confirmed as the yacht club that will be Challenger of Record for the 38th America’s Cup – plus we take a look at what might be next for the oldest trophy in sport?

It was one of the less well kept secrets in sailing, but yesterday it was confirmed that – fresh from their biggest success in the event in 90 years – Britain will again compete in the next America’s Cup.

As the victorious Emirates Team New Zealand team began their media rounds, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Shoebridge confirmed that a challenge had been accepted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

“We’ve accepted a Challenge this afternoon but we’ll leave that for a separate announcement,” he said initially.

However, shortly afterwards INEOS Britannia skipper and team boss Ben Ainslie confirmed that the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, had indeed challenged for the 38th America’s Cup and their Challenge had been accepted. The British are now Challenger of Record for the second consecutive event.

Grant Dalton congratulates INEOS Britannia backer Sir Jim Ratcliffe on winning the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. Both teams’ yacht clubs, the RNZYS and RYS, will be represented in the 38th America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

“Yeah, well, the Royal Yacht Squadron have signed up again to be the challenger of Record for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron,” he told the waiting press.

“We had a great partnership through this last Cup. I think you saw with the Protocol – such a progressive protocol this time around, particularly with the Women’s America’s Cup.

“And there’s so much more we can do with the event. I think this has been a huge success, but there’s so much more potential in the America’s Cup. So it’s on us now to work with the Kiwis and try and help them as a Defender to promote that.”

Bertie Bicket, chairman of Royal Yacht Squadron Racing, being interviewed as the Royal Yacht Squadron is confirmed as Challenger of Record for the 38th America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Host venue for the 38th America’s Cup?

As ever, due to the unique structure of the America’s Cup, there are now many questions about what the event’s future might look like.

While the decision makers are all in Barcelona, the question of host venue is among the most pressing.

The Spanish city created a genuine spectacle for the final of the America’s Cup, with phenomenal crowds – including a truly impressive number of black shirted Emirates Team New Zealand supporters – lining Port Vell, a fleet of superyachts racked half a dozen deep and sparking sunshine yesterday setting up an event finale that will last long in the memory.

Superyachts and spectator boats accompany Emirates Team New Zealand, the winners of the 37th America’s Cup, back into Barcelona port. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

As a location, Barcelona also delivered handsomely with the team bases set around the port alongside comprehensive superyacht infrastructure (plus Palma is just a short hop away). Onshore multiple event villages – all free to enter – generated a real sporting atmosphere, and the Mediterranean climate and ‘promenade’ tradition guaranteed good footfall. Though there were also protests at the event’s presence in the city, part of a wider discontent with Barcelona’s very high tourism numbers.

The acknowledged negative of Barcelona as a venue – primarily the light, unpredictable winds at the close of season, combined with a challenging sea state – proved to be not as much of a problem as anticipated.

The spectator support for the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona has been impressive. Photo: Ana Ponce / America’s Cup

The AC75 rule changes, which were designed to ensure the boats could foil in lighter breezes, meant that we saw far fewer races decided by boats crawling along in painful displacement mode than in AC36. For much of the competition race days the breeze was, in fact, actually stronger than the worst case scenarios modelled by teams meteorologists.

There’s certainly been no confirmation that it will be Barcelona once again – though there are lots of positive noises being made about the venue.

When asked whether Barcelona would play a part in the event’s future, Kevin Shoebridge said “As a venue? I hope so, but no decisions about that stage. Hopefully in the next week or two we’ll put out a timetable when decisions like that will get made.”

Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand wouldn’t immediately be drawn on whether the event would return to Barcelona for the 38th America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Potential other venues for AC38?

Other venues which have been variously rumoured include Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which would be a fundamental change of tone for the event, but would likely come with significant financial support for the event.

And, of course, the Defenders could choose to take it home.

Auckland, home of the 36th America’s Cup, still has the infrastructure to support a return of the Cup, though it would be unlikely to generate the same level funding that the notoriously parsimonious Kiwi team would need to lodge a fourth successful campaign.

But one thing was striking in Barcelona this autumn: the narrative from outside New Zealand in recent years might’ve been that public support for America’s Cup at home had waned due to bigger-picture issues. The global cost of living crisis makes sourcing public funding for a multimillionaires’ yacht race challenging in any country, but particularly in a nation as small as New Zealand.

Barcelona’s Port Vell, home of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Yet even the briefest walk around Barcelona revealed the passion and commitment of thousands of Kiwi supporters to back their team – flying tens of thousands of miles to do so. Perhaps there is pressure to honour that loyalty and commitment with a home event – a Preliminary event, if not the Cup Match itself?

In terms of time frame, Emirates Team New Zealand team boss Grant Dalton has dropped heavy hints that he would like to see a quick turnaround for the next Cup – telling New Zealand outlet Stuff back in September that he could “possibly foresee, very likely, a new edition of the Cup in 2026.” The timing would also depend on which hemisphere the Cup is set to be in.

Boat or crew changes for the 38th America’s Cup ?

It’s widely understood that there is an agreement in existence that the AC75s will continue as the class for the future Cup (though, as with all elements of America’s Cup, everything can theoretically be subject to renegotiation. The Cup is certainly no stranger to legal wranglings).

It’s definitely too early to speculate whether that would likely involve a refinement or a more comprehensive overall of the AC75 rule. But there have been some intriguing hints dropped by key players from both the Defender and Challenger of Record.

When asked about the development of the class in the pre-America’s Cup Match press conference INEOS Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie said: “It’s really interesting the technical development of these AC75 yachts, and the automation of how the yachts are sailed. And at what point does automation become too much and the human interface is not as relevant as it should be?

“I think we’re probably getting close to this line, but it’s been a fascinating development.”

Emirates Team New Zealand lead designer Dan Bernasconi – who will be pivotal in any rule change – also said yesterday: “We wouldn’t want to make changes that make the existing boats obsolete.

“We could probably look at the crew configuration again. and look again at the rules around how the controls work.

“There’s a lot of automation on these boats. In some ways that means there’s less need for as many sailors doing sailing roles. Personally I’d be keen to maybe remove a bit of that automation and have a need for more sailors actually sailing the boat.”

Emirates Team New Zealand lead designer Dan Bernasconi speaking after the team won the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Future of women in the America’s Cup?

So, there may be a drive to remove some of the automation of the AC75s, potentially increase the number of sailors on the boat, and to build on the momentum of the Women’s and Youth America’s Cups.

If that’s the case, then one possible avenue would be to create an additional ‘sailor’ role that would mandated as female (and/or youth) crew position within the America’s Cup crews?

“There’s no reason now with these boats not to have women on board,” Stephane Kandler, CEO of Orient Express Team France told me yesterday.

“And if we could put more sailors on board, we should have women on board for sure.

“We talked about it as challengers. And I think everybody’s quite keen, which is a big change.”

The first ever Puig Women’s America’s Cup has been widely heralded as a success, with the all-female crews using matched AC40s. But is there an opportunity to see women onboard the AC75s in the 38th America’s Cup? Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

One solution that’s been mooted would be to replace one of the ‘cyclor’ positions and use more stored power. “In reality, you don’t really need [the cyclors]. If you want, you could put two women on board – as a minimum or whatsoever. I think this would be amazing,” added Kandler.

Co-CEO of Orient Express Team France Bruno Dubois echoed the sentiment, saying: “I really hope there are some rules coming into place for that: on the 75 for Women and Youth. But for youth probably older than 25, so I would say under 30 like the Ocean Race would be better.”

In the interview linked above, however, Dalton has said: “We would never mandate a woman on the (AC75) boat, ever.”

Stephan Kandler of Orient Express Racing Team is among those who believe a women’s position on the AC75 would be a positive move. Photo: Ian Roman

We’ll have an in-depth look at the 37th America’s Cup and the future of the 38th in the next issue of Yachting World magazine, plus follow for all of our 2024 America’s Cup coverage.

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