PACKAGING SUSTAINABILITY
Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand, the official soft drink supplier for the 36th America’s Cup, has opened a unique refreshment and recycling hub in Auckland’s Viaduct Basin.
The bespoke café-style hub uses a converted shipping container with the interior constructed from a range of recycled and sustainable materials.
Coca-Cola Amatil managing director Chris Litchfield says the materials include salvaged railway sleepers, cardboard tubes, old billboard skins, plywood signage, recycled bugle screws and even upcycled Emirates Team New Zealand race sails.
“The Drink Stop aims to raise awareness about the importance of recycling bottles so that they can have another life, again and again. Visitors can enjoy a drink in a bottle made from recycled plastic, dispose of their bottle via a central interactive recycling station and learn more about how plastic bottles are recycled.”
The café will be onsite at the America’s Cup Village until March 31. The hub will then be used in other locations around the country to continue sharing the sustainable packaging story.
LEARNING TO FLY
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GILES MARTIN-RAGET AVAILABLE THROUGH AMAZON
WITH THE 36TH AMERICA’S Cup kicking off in March 2021 with revolutionary foiling monohulls, Learning to Fly is a fascinating insight into how the America’s Cup transitioned from monohulls to multihulls and then back to monohulls again.
Written by well-known American sailing writer and commentator Roger Vaughan, with photography by Giles Martin-Raget, this book tells the story of the 33rd America’s Cup and its lead-up from the perspective of Larry Ellison’s BMW Oracle Racing team.
Sailed off the coast of Valencia, Spain, the 2010 event was the first America’s Cup contested between multihulls, though in a travesty the Cup was defended by a multihull in San Diego in 1988.
The back story of Ellison’s involvement, first in sailing and then in the America’s Cup, and his long and fruitful involvement with New Zealand sailors and boatbuilders is enlightening: Ellison loves Kiwis and hugely admires our sailors.
Because this book is about the America’s Cup, it’s full of intrigue, rule breaking, deal making and legal challenges. The behind the scenes detail is immense.
There are many larger-than-life characters, including Aussies Glen Ashby and Jim Spithill – Ellison is a fan of both – and Kiwis Russell Coutts and Brad Butterworth.
The development of Oracle’s maxi trimaran for the 33rd edition was groundbreaking, aided and abetted by Kiwis, including ex-TNZ, ex-Alinghi super-designer Mike Drummond and US-based Kiwi boat builder Tim Smyth.
As the event got closer there were more legal updates, venue changes, sail, mast and rigging redesigns, the addition of a BMW engine to trim Oracle’s sails, and so much more. This book covers it all.
Rig loads on such a huge multi-hull were immense and failures frequent. Eventually, an expensive wingsail was agreed upon, constructed by Core Builders, then fitted and tested. The match was only months away.
In February 2010 BMW Oracle Racing’s 115-foot trimaran USA 17 faced off against Alinghi’s smaller catamaran in Valencia. Each race is covered in detail in an historic but ultimately one-sided struggle.
The era of super-fast America’s Cup racing had begun.
– John Eichelsheim
YOUTH AC RAMPS UP
RNZYS HAS RECEIVED SIGNIFICANT INTEREST FROM YACHT CLUBS ALL OVER THE WORLD FOR THE REVAMPED 2021 YOUTH AMERICA’S CUP.
By close of play for the initial entry period (29 February), 10 teams had officially entered – and the event is shaping up to be a melting pot of global youth sailing talent. Confirmed entries have been received from New Zealand, China, Australia, Italy, Hong Kong, Switzerland (2), Russia, Argentina and the Netherlands.
While entries remain open past the initial period, those entering between 1 March and 30 September 2020 will incur a late entry fee. More than 40 high quality expressions of interest have been received since the event was announced.
The event will be contested on the new AC9F foiling mono-hulls. These boats have been developed by Yachting Developments with some input from the Emirates Team New Zealand design team. Yachting Developments owner and RNZYS Commodore Ian Cook is thrilled with the progress so far.
“It’s been a big project and taken a lot of work to get the first boat ready, but we are nearly there with the first yacht heading into the paint shop. There is no doubt that these boats are going to be thrilling to watch, and the young sailors who will be racing them are guaranteed to have a lot of fun. But they will also be testing themselves and pushing their sailing ability to the maximum.”
The multi-leg event begins with a fleet racing seeding event in China in November 2020 and then a match racing event in Auckland from February 18-23, 2021, with the finals held between March 8-12, 2021 in the shadow of Auckland’s iconic Harbour Bridge.
In line with the original America’s Cup Deed of Gift, it is designed to be a ‘friendly competition between yacht clubs of all nations’. Unlike previous editions, multiple entries from various countries will be allowed.
Crews must be between 18-24 years of age. To encourage diversity teams will consist of a mixed crew of four sailors on each boat, including two females and two male sailors with a maximum crew weight of 311kg.
AC MATCH CONDITIONS CONFIRMED
Following a successful mediation, the America’s Cup Defender and Challenger of Record have come to an agreement on the Match Conditions for the 2021 36th America’s Cup presented by Prada.
The two sides came to a consensus after engaging in an official mediation process run by the America’s Cup Arbitration panel chairman David Tillett (AUS).
As part of the agreement, the wind range for racing in the America’s Cup Match will be 6.5 to 23 knots.
The agreed racing schedule for the America’s Cup Match has two races per day planned for March 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Additional reserve days have been scheduled but the intention is to complete the event on the weekend of March 13–14, weather permitting. Racing is planned from 4pm onwards each race day. The winner of the America’s Cup Match will be the first team to score seven points.
The parties also agreed on certain conditions in respect of the Prada Cup due to be issued by June 30 2020. The racing will consist of four Round Robin sessions over January 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, and 24, followed by a repêchage round over January 29, 30, 31, and February 2, with the first-to-seven-points Prada Cup Final taking place over February 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22.
The following wind range for racing has been agreed:
Round Robins and Repêchage: 6.5 to 21 knots
Prada Cup Final: 6.5 to 23 knots
In addition the parties also confirmed Course Location Guidelines for the Race Director when selecting the Auckland racecourse locations for all the Auckland events including the Match for the 36th America’s Cup presented by Prada. The first competitive action of the 36th America’s Cup presented by Prada will be in Cagliari, Sardinia from April 23–26 at the first of three ACWS regattas taking place during 2020. Further ACWS events will be held in Portsmouth, England on June 4–7, and in Auckland, New Zealand in December 17–20.
CUP VISITS NORTH SAILS
Not everyone gets to touch the America’s Cup — but the lucky team at North Sails’ Auckland loft recently had the privilege when a group from Emirates Team New Zealand, including the Cup’s own personal ‘bodyguard’, brought the silverware to the Glenfield loft, where the staff were able to hold and be photographed with it.
The visit was a thank you from Emirates Team New Zealand, to welcome North Sails aboard on their journey toward the 2021 America’s Cup. North Sails is the international supplier of choice for not only Team New Zealand, but also the Luna Rossa Challenge, Stars & Stripes Team USA and INEOS Team UK.
Blanks for the new sails will be made at North Sails three-dimensional moulding loft in Minden, Nevada, and finished and detailed to Team New Zealand’s specifications in Auckland. The North Sails Auckland team will work closely with Rob Salthouse from Emirates Team New Zealand, himself a former sailmaker with years of experience in Cup competition.
The Cup made its trip over the Auckland Harbour Bridge in a 3Di fabric case specially designed and built by North Sails for its journey to London jewellers House of Garrard for a check-up last year.
The 2021 event is seeing a return to the use of more ‘traditional’ sails than the hard wingsails used in Bermuda and San Francisco, but the new America’s Cup 75 foiling monohulls will still break new ground with their innovative ‘softwing’ double-skinned mainsails.
Long-time North Sails designer Burns Fallow, who is currently embedded with Emirates Team New Zealand, was a key member of the team developing the AC 75 class rule and was instrumental in developing the new softwing system.
www.northsails.com
PROTECTORS ON PATROL
The agreements could be worth tens of millions of dollars to the local economy, including many large and small New Zealand marine suppliers.
A generous grant to Coastguard New Zealand from the Lottery Fund for community benefit related to the 2021 America’s Cup will see 24 Rayglass Protector RIBs loaned to Emirates Team New Zealand and America’s Cup Ltd.
These will be used as official patrol and support boats for the Prada Cup (the challenger series for the America’s Cup) and then for the America’s Cup Match itself. At the conclusion of the regatta they will be returned to the Royal New Zealand Coastguard.
In addition, Protectors have also been chosen as the support boats for Emirates Team New Zealand and most of the challenging syndicates.
Also choosing Protector are the organisers of the new SailGP competition, an annual global sailing contest planned for Sydney, San Francisco, New York, Cowes and Marseille.
The new competition uses identical F50 catamarans, capable of exceeding 50 knots. Each yacht will be accompanied by a Rayglass 10m Protector centre-console, a first-response RIB capable of keeping up with the catamaran’s’ speed. Each RIB will be transported in a single container between events.
AC UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
On behalf of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Grant Dalton officially named Auckland as the venue for the 36th America’s Cup Match Presented by Prada.
Racing will take place March 6-21, 2021. The Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, will race against the winner of the Prada Cup, the Challenger Selection Series, in a best of 13 (first to seven points) in the America’s Cup Match.
The Racing Area encompasses the wider Hauraki Gulf, running south along the North Shore beaches around North Head, the inner Waitemata Harbour right up to Auckland’s harbour bridge and downtown CBD, across Auckland’s Eastern suburbs and all the way out the Tamaki Strait between Waiheke Island and Maraetai.
This configuration will offer a plethora of race course options, to accommodate a full range of wind directions and conditions.
One of the main objectives in identifying the specific race courses was to bring the racing as close as possible to land-based spectators. From both North Head and Bastion Point, the public will be able to hear the AC75s whistling above the water and see the wind shifts on the water without having to set foot on a boat.
On the water, the Harbour Master and all related agencies are working together to make this America’s Cup the most inclusive and spectator friendly America’s Cup ever, said Dalton.
A tentative race time window of between 4:00pm and 6:00pm local time has been agreed to allow enough time for a typical March sea breeze to reliably establish itself across the Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf race courses.
Race day cancellations due to excessive wind or swell, as was seen in the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco, should be minimal because the course area directly between Eastern Beach and Waiheke Island provides a sheltered, all wind direction race course. This area was the training ground of Emirates Team New Zealand for their successful 35th America’s Cup challenge in Bermuda.
The definitive race distance will depend on the wind speed and selected race course each day, with an anticipated 35-minute race duration, including pre-start, based on a typical windward-leeward configuration, with potential for a dramatic final reaching leg to the finish line.
www.americascup.com
