Scott Dargis

Racing in 36th America’s Cup cleared to begin next week

Associated PressMar 5, 2021, 10:40 AM EST

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AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Racing in the 36th match for sailing’s America Cup between defender Team New Zealand and Italian challenger Luna Rossa will begin next Wednesday after the relaxation of COVID-19 lockdown regulations in host city Auckland.

The Cup Match was due to begin Saturday but was pushed back to Wednesday when Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, moved to alert level 3 after a small community outbreak.

The outbreak is now thought contained and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced Auckland will move to alert level 2 from Sunday. That will allow racing to take place in the best-of-13 race Match, albeit without crowds at the Cup village or fan zones ashore.

Two races will be sailed on Wednesday with an off-day Thursday. Racing will continue on the next four days — March 12 to 15 — and continue each day afterwards until one team has won seven races.

America’s Cup organizers, Luna Rossa vie over COVID lockdown

Associated PressFeb 17, 2021, 9:33 AM EST

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Challenger of Record Luna Rossa and America’s Cup organizers are divided over how the regatta should proceed while Auckland remains under limited lockdown because of a small community outbreak of COVID-19.

America’s Cup Events Ltd wants sailing to be postponed until lockdown regulations, which restrict spectator involvement, are lifted.

Luna Rossa said it is prepared to race on Thursday, even if a lockdown remains in force, and is opposed to any delays which would cause racing in the America’s Cup challenger series to go beyond its scheduled final day of Feb. 24.

The Italian team, which holds a 4-0 lead over Team UK in the first-to-seven-win challenger series final, said the team that leads the final on Feb. 24 should be declared the winner.

Luna Rossa said any postponement beyond that date would breach regatta regulations, and plans exist to allow racing to continue during Level 3 or Level 2 lockdown while respecting public health and government guidelines.

“Since teams are authorized to sail and practice under COVID-19 level 3 alert it is hard to understand why racing ‘behind closed doors’ could not be allowed applying the same protocols,” Luna Rossa said in a statement.

But Team UK, siding with the organizers, supported a postponement.

“The result of the Prada Cup final should be won and decided on the water in the agreed format of first to win seven races,” the team said in a statement. “Ineos Team UK fully respect the government’s decision to curtail racing until it is safe to do so and would support a delay in the competition if that is required.”

Team UK said the solution put forward by organizers “is sensible in ensuring both the safety of all in New Zealand and the integrity of the sporting competition.”

Auckland was placed on Level 3 alert level for 72 hours from midnight Sunday after the discovery of three community cases of COVID-19. The scheduled fifth and sixth races of the Prada Cup final on Wednesday did not take place because Level 3 limits gatherings to 10 people and requires public venues to close.

Three more community cases, related to the first three, were reported Wednesday and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the alert level will be move to level 2 from midnight Wednesday.

“As event organizers we have spent a considerable amount of time since Sunday evening looking at all possible scenarios,” ACE chairperson Tina Symmans said. “Like the majority of events around (New Zealand) this weekend, the ramifications of running the remainder of the event need to be considered in an environment which is highly uncertain due to the latest COVID-19 concerns.”

Symmans said after consultation with the New Zealand government and Auckland City Council “one consideration has been to postpone the current schedule of racing and events in the best interests of the public and all stakeholders given the current COVID-19 environment.”

She said if Auckland moved to alert Level 1, at which there are no restrictions on public gatherings, racing could have resumed immediately.

“If the alert level remains at 3 or 2, which obviously entails restrictions in gatherings and difficulties with events, racing and event activations would need to be rescheduled to recommence the Prada Cup Final on Friday, Feb. 26.”

In that circumstance, the start of the America’s Cup match between the winning challenger and defender Team New Zealand will be pushed back from March 6 to March 13. Racing will still be completed by March 21.

Symmans said Luna Rossa has made very clear “their desire to race from (Thursday) despite COVID Alert level 3, to complete the Prada Cup final by Feb. 24.”

Symmans said there is “no guarantee as to what COVID-19 alert level Auckland or New Zealand will be operating under.

“If the event is faced with operating under COVID-19 Level 2 or 3, plans are in place to ensure the continued delivery and conclusion of the 36th America’s Cup … within the scheduled dates.”

U.S. team vows to continue after America’s Cup capsize

Associated PressJan 20, 2021, 10:30 AM EST

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American Magic will miss the next round of racing in the America’s Cup challenger series after its dramatic capsize but the team is determined to be ready for the series semifinals in 11 days.

The New York Yacht Club-backed team faces a huge repair job after a high-speed crash while leading Sunday’s race against Italy’s Luna Rossa left its racing yacht Patriot with a gaping hole in its hull.

Skipper Terry Hutchinson on Monday said the yacht sustained internal and external structural damage, and would need to replace the complex system which controls its foils and almost all of its electronics. The work is likely to take 8 to 10 days, leaving American Magic on a tight deadline to have any race time before the semifinals begin.

Hutchinson feared Patriot might sink but a lengthy salvage effort involving fire officers, Coast Guard and rival teams saved the high-tech 75-foot yacht which was towed back to its base in Auckland, New Zealand late Sunday night.

“Fortunately we didn’t sink this one and we’ll live to fight another day,” Hutchinson said. “While the boat has a bit of damage to her, the crew is safe and at the end of the day that’s really all you can ask for.

“If I insisted we race over the (coming) weekend I’d have to manage the mutiny! In seriousness, it will be a big effort to have the boat go sailing for the semis.”

Hutchinson said American Magic’s rivals, notably the defender Team New Zealand, have offered personnel and facilities to help rebuilt Patriot.

“We’ve had great support from all the teams and everybody has offered up their services to get Patriot back on the water,” he said. “As competitors we sit here and argue with each other about little things about racing sailboats.

“At the end of the day you couldn’t come across more sportsmanship or more generous teams. In all sincerity in the world they’ve extended pretty much all of their facilities to use to rebuild Patriot.”

American Magic lost its first three races in and was heading for its first win of the series when the capsize occurred.

“Our team has an incredible amount of resolve to it,” Hutchinson said. “We’ve battled a lot of different things over the course of this program and the last three days (of racing) really haven’t been the standard that we’re after. Yesterday capped it all off.

“When you walk around and look at everyone in the face and look at everyone in the eyes you get a sense of we’re going to do whatever it takes.”

Hutchinson said team members, sponors and the New York Yacht Club had never wavered from the commitment.

“We’re all in this together. You can walk into our camp and you can see a genuine component of wanting to win this regatta,” he said.

Hutchinson described the experience of the crew as Patriot reared up, then heeled over as “pretty hairball.” Several of the crew were submerged beneath the yacht’s giant mainsail.

“I was trying to eject out of my spot and we ended up with knives out cutting ourselves out,” he said. “The first priority is getting the crew out and fortunately we were all out within a minute. Under the mainsail it’s unnerving to say the least.”

The accident occurred as Patriot approached the top gate powered up at around 45 knots. It tacked to round the left-hand mark and attempted a tricky bear-away tack at speed but sailed into a squall of rain and wind which included a gust of almost 25 knots.

“Forty seconds before we tacked it was blowing 12 1/2 knots of wind and when we tacked to bear away it was blowing 23 knots of wind,” Hutchinson said. “If you look a the wind graph the time from 18 knots to 23 knots was about 3 seconds.

“I have to say there’s a little bit of mother nature biting us. We’ve debriefed it internally, we’ll get better from the situation and work to not make the same mistake twice.”

After the American Magic team confirmed they would not be ready to return to the water this week, America’s Cup race management opted to cancel Friday’s races in Auckland.

INEOS Team UK and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli will wrap up the Prada Cup round robin stage this week with a pair of head-to-head races split between two days, while also participating in “ghost races” to collect the points from their remaining races against American Magic.

The UK and Italian boats will be required to go through pre-start procedures and will only be awarded a point for the race once they cross the start line to begin the race.

U.S.-based sailing fans will be able to watch the final Prada Cup round robin races live this Friday and Saturday night with NBC Sports Gold’s America’s Cup Pass beginning both nights at 9:00 p.m. ET. NBCSN will also air the remaining Prada Cup races live on Friday at 9:00 p.m. ET and on delay this Saturday at 11:00 p.m. ET.

After the American Magic team confirmed they would not be ready to return to the water this week, America’s Cup race management opted to cancel Friday’s races in Auckland.

The UK and Italian boats will be required to go through pre-start procedures and will only be awarded a point for the race once they cross the start line to begin the race.