The America's Cup and the unknown of the future: Valencia's suggestion to help reconstruction
3' min read
3' min read
The America's Cup protagonists are finally making themselves heard to say something about the future, which, it seems clear, will change little. The biggest unknown, namely 'where and when' the next edition will be held, remains a question mark, even though radio quayside speaks with some insistence of edition number 38 in Valencia in three years. Or rather, the agreements were ready to be signed before the flood and, of course, the process came to a halt. On the one hand the Cup could be part of the reconstruction process, on the other there are all the political and practical unknowns of such a decision.
The odds of going to Saudi Arabia in Jeddah drop a lot, only one event remains very likely, as was the case last year. A possibility of a return to Auckland reopens, although this seems more like a ballon d'essai to test the local government and not lose fans than a real possibility, because everyone liked Europe.
Defender Emirates Team New Zealand and Challenger of Record Ineos Britannia announce that this decision will be made within eight months. The basic rules that governed the Barcelona edition do not change much. The rules on the nationality of the crews remain rather restrictive, and this will force Alinghi Red Bull Racing in particular to think about it; it will not be possible to sail with the current boats in training for at least a year except for preliminary events; it will not be possible to build LEQ12 boats in this year, like the "small" Luna Rossa that was built to test many elements in the design phase. In practice, the situation is 'frozen' for a year at the end of this October. In this way, the equipped teams have little to do, they cannot evolve their projects except to a very small extent.
The crews go wild with the Sail GP circuit which as usual in the year after the Cup has its moment of success. The circuit is the one wanted by Russell Coutts and Larry Ellison after the 2017 Cup defeat in Bermuda, the same boats made one-design are used and in the next edition there will be twelve teams. Racing starts at the end of November in Dubai, where the crews are already training.
For the first time there will be an Italian team, managed by James Spithill, an expert but also Larry Ellison's trusted man for whom he was helmsman in 2010 and 2013, winning the Cup twice. The Italian team will have many Luna Rossa men on board: the big news is Ruggero "Ruggi" Tita at the helm, at his debut in an important event in a non-Olympic class. In a way, after complying with team orders in Barcelona he was looking forward to putting his experience in catamaran foiling to good use. He and Caterina Banti were recently honoured in Singapore by World Sailing, the international sailing governing body, as the best crew of 2014. With Ruggi other lunatics, it is said Andrea Tesei, Umberto Molineris, Enrico Voltolini with also the girls Margherita Porro and maybe Giulia Conti. It is known that the sponsor is a well-known name in the sailing world, but not yet announced. Francesco Checco Bruni will coach the Canadian team, Jacopo Plazzi the Swiss team. And Luna Rossa? A fair amount of rest, before starting intensive work again from January, in the areas of design above all.
