Team Seacats

It’s closer than you think. It’s going to be a legendary battle in and out of the court room if this thing happens. For those who have been living in a vacuum, here it is in a nutshell; After the 2007 America’s Cup, Spain filed with Alinghi as the challenger of record within minutes of the winning Alinghi boat crossing the finish line. According to the rules laid out by the defender (Alinghi) and the Challanger (Spain), the boat is changing to a 90′ monodull with ungodly number of crew and lifting keels, they’ll give everyone details in a few months, and you have until 2009 to build and test for the race. This is not much time and considering the rumour that Alinghi has already been developing theirs, this puts all the challengers at a significant disadvantage. Also in the new agreement, Alinghi has sole control over many of the parameters of the event such as; whether a competitor can actually compete, picking a race committee, picking race management personel, etc. No other competitor would have agreed to such terms as they clearly seem to be tainted toward the defender, Alinghi. Why would the Spanish team agree to these terms? It would appear they might have done so to keep the event in Valencia, Spain.

But WAIT! There are some checks and balances in place in the deed of gift – the document that rules the Americas Cup. It specifically requires certain things for a challenger to qualify as a “challenger” – and for good reason. The Spanish challenging yacht club only filed for yacht club status weeks before the event concluded and their “club” is the warehouse from which their AC campaign was launched. They have no members, no boats, and no regattas…enter USA’s team; Oracle and American billionaire Larry Ellison. They’ve filed legal suit with the New York Court system that the Challenge was not valid and sent their own challenge to Alinghi … with boat parameters that point strongly toward multihulls.

From the Deed of Gift:

“Any organized yacht club of a foreign country, incorporated, patented, or licensed by the legislature, admiralty, or other executive deparment, having for its annual regatta an ocean watercourse on the sea, or an arm of the sea, or on which combines both shall always be entitled to the right of sailing a match for this Cup…”

This is going to boil down to the ancient definition / context of the phrases “organized yacht club” and “having for its annual regatta” – as worded here, does it refer to future tense or past? Comments?

In a twisted piece of unforeseen fate, the AC Deed of Gift has two provisions for racing and the second almost dictates a multihull (realized and exploited by the USA in the legally contested 1988 Cup match); One provision is when the challenger and defender agree on the protocol; they can pretty much define the event anyway they like. The second provision is for when they do not agree; the challenger is required to define the challenging vessel with rig type, max dimensions for waterline, beam, and draught while the defender picks the location. No matter how you draw up these simple parameters outlined in the Deed, a multihull vessel will fit the parameters and be the fastest. It can’t be ruled out by these definitions in the Deed of Gift (our 8.5 foot by 20 foot catamaran obtains very similar speeds as the current 70′ AC yachts). So, if a disagreeable challenge goes to the water in this day and age, a multihull it will be. Also note that the Deed of Gift specifies that in this scenario, the racing will consist of three races; the first and third must be 20 miles to windward and return and the second an equilateral triangle with 13 mile legs the first of which to windward. That’s going to be a bitter, expensive, and exciting three race series!

Oracle has also signed up Russell Coutts (who is becoming a big multihull fan) and rumour has it that even Dean Barker (from Team New Zealand) is negotiating with Oracle for a position at the helm (evidence that Team New Zealand thinks the next AC might be a one on one battle between Oracle and Alinghi since Barker is known to be a strong Kiwi patriot) – Oracle appears to be highly motivated. The more I learn, the more I believe this could actually happen. Can you just imagine the bitterness being brought to the water between these guys on some 90 foot catamaran racing machines? It would probably be a one on one fight to the death on some real honest-to-god sailing speed machines. Who won’t find this exciting? Want to read more? Check this out this link from Scuttlebutt.

Add 30 feet of hull to this 60′ Stars and Stripes 1988 AC test boat and you start to get an idea. Rigid wing sails are not out of the question either (as was also executed in ’88 by the Conner led team).