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CupExperience News
Issue 114 -  Monday 30 November 2020

In this issue...
  • Details: ACWS and Christmas Race 17-20 December
  • Racing Rules: Interesting Details
  • GRETEL is Looking for a Lover, and...
          President Kennedy's speech at the 1962 America's Cup dinner
  • Fine Silver in the American Magic Special Collection  
  • Key Dates & Facts  
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Hi Russell,

All four teams are now sailing their race boats in Auckland. America's Cup World Series racing begins Thursday 17 December.
   
STAY SAFE!
AC World Series Auckland & Christmas Race
Thursday to Sunday, 17-20 December
AC World Series Auckland
Official practices, with the teams training together, will be held from 1500-1800 Auckland time, on
  • Tuesday 8 December
  • Thursday 10 December
Official practice racing, from 1500-1800 on
  • Friday 11 December
  • Monday 14 December
  • Tuesday 15 December

ACWS Race Format: The first three days will be a double round robin with four races per day, beginning at 1500 Auckland time. Each team races twice per day. On Day 2, teams race the same opponent twice: USA vs ITA and NZL vs GBR. The results of the round robins will determine the seeding in the Christmas Race on Sunday 20 December.

Christmas Race

The teams face off in single elimination "semi-final" races. The winners advance to the one-race "final" and the losers race for third and fourth place.

Races are planned to last approximately 25 minutes. Teams must declare their yacht configuration on Monday 14 December, three days before racing begins.

The race course will be windward-leeward, with an upwind start. The Race Conditions do not specify if the finish will be upwind or downwind. Wind limits are 6.5 - 21 knots.
Racing Rules of Sailing America's Cup Edition (RRSAC36)
The RRSAC36 have now been published - "Version 3.00." Obviously they were the subject of discussion among the teams to get to this version.

The RRSAC36 define the electronic borders around the AC75 yachts:
Platform Border - a diamond shaped polygon around the yacht, including the foils when fully extended - the blue shape in the diagram below.



Keep Clear Border - a diamond shaped polygon two meters outside the Platform Border, the red area in the diagram below. Notice that a yacht who stays just aft of the other yacht's stern media post is outside the Keep Clear Border. This should allow for some pretty dramatic crosses!


The definition of Keep Clear is based on whether or not the Keep Clear Borders of the two yachts intersect.
A few highlights from the RRSAC36
Pre-start:  Upwind start. Yachts enter the starting box from the upwind side, from opposite ends.
  • A yacht may be under tow, e.g. to get up on the foils, until the Warning Signal.
  • Warning Signal 3 minutes before the Start.
  • Preparatory Signal (prestart entry) 2 minutes before the Start.
  • Port entry yacht may enter the starting box 10 seconds before Preparatory Signal; starboard may enter at the Preparatory Signal.
  • Yachts must enter the prestart box by 1 minute before the Start.


Capsizes: A yacht that capsizes is not disqualified. If the crew can right the yacht without assistance, they may continue racing. This is different from RRSAC for AC34 (San Francisco, 2013) and AC35 (Bermuda, 2017) - a capsized yacht was immediately disqualified, so that all attention could focus on the safety of the capsized yacht's crew.

Penalties: Roughly, the rules call for the penalized yacht to drop 50 meters behind the other yacht if they are on the same leg of the course and to lose 50 meters if they are on different legs.

Mark-Room: (Rule 18) Very different from the the rule for Mark-Room in the standard RRS and somewhat similar to Rule 18 in RRSAC for AC34 (San Francisco, 2013) and AC35 (Bermuda, 2017). Basically, if the yachts are overlapped when the first yacht reaches the Zone, the inside yacht gets mark-room, regardless of which yacht reached the zone first or whether one of them has right-of-way. I'll provide more details in the next newsletter.

The Zone is defined as the area:
  • within 70 meters of the signal mast on a Mark
  • within 90 meters of a course Boundary
  • within 70 meters of an Obstruction

Mark with antenna.
I'll have more info about the racing rules next week.
GRETEL is Looking for a Lover
GRETEL to leeward of WEATHERLY in the 1962 America's Cup Match

GRETEL was the first 12-metre yacht designed and built in Australia, and Australia's first challenger for the America's Cup.

The Gretel Campaign was bankrolled by an ambitious Sir Frank Packer, after an Australian challenge become possible when New York Yacht Club changed its rules to allow an entry from an international 12-metre yacht that could be shipped, rather than sailed to the venue.

Helmed by Alexander “Jock” Sturrock, GRETEL became the first yacht since the 1930s to beat the Americans in a race.

President John F. Kennedy toasted the crew of GRETEL at a dinner at former Vanderbilt estate, The Breakers, the night before the first race.

The five-race series was a thriller, with GRETEL sensationally winning the second race on September 18 and missing out on the fourth by 26 seconds.

In the end the Americans successfully defended the Cup due to the superior performance of WEATHERLY's crew and skipper Emil “Bus” Mosbacher, regarded as one of the best helmsmen of his time.

Although they lost the series 4-1, GRETEL inspired yachtsmen all across Australia to undertake subsequent challenges, eventually wresting the America’s Cup from the New York Yacht Club in 1983.

This historic yacht is sadly waiting for a lover to restore her to her former beauty, perhaps to join WEATHERLY, still racing in Newport, or to return home to Australia. Last owned a group including America's Cup Hall of Fame inductee, the late Doug Peterson, GRETEL is currently at the Robbe & Berking Classics boatyard in Flensburg, Germany.


Click the red button to get more information about owning GRETEL.

The above text adapted in part from a story in Australia's Newcastle Herald.
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Expert advice on the collection and on custom engraving is available
from Robbe & Berking.

 

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Key Facts

Dates Met

  • 28-Sep'17: 36th America’s Cup Protocol released
  • 30-Nov'17: AC75 Class concepts released to key stakeholders
  • 1-Jan'18: Entries for Challengers open
  • 31-Mar'18: AC75 Class Rule published, important details TBA
  • 30-Jun'18: End of "Challenging Period" (avoid $1M late fee)
  • 30-Jun'18: Last day Defender and COR can change AC75 Rule; after this date, changes require unanimous agreement from all competitors
  • 29-Jun'18: Specs for AC75 Foil Cant System (FCS)
  • 31-Aug'18: Venue of the America’s Cup Match and The PRADA Cup confirmed 26-Mar'18
  • 31-Aug'18: Drawings & Specs for AC75 one design mast
  • 31-Aug'18: Specific race course area confirmed
  • 30-Nov'18: Late entries deadline ($1M late fee)
  • 31-Mar'19: Boat 1 can be launched Delayed to Sept-Oct 2019.
  • 31Mar'19: Venues (and dates) of 2019 AC World Series  Cancelled.
  • 1-July'19: Late Challengers must confirm (and pay fees?) or withdraw.
    DutchSail and Malta Altus withdrew
    Stars+Stripes "confirmed" their challenge but did not pay fees or order the supplied equipment Foil Cant System and Foil Arms.
      
  • 30-Nov'19: Foil Cant System usage restrictions frozen.  No news.
  • 30-Nov'19: Venues (and dates) of 2020 AC World Series
  • 20-Dec'19: Match Conditions: Notice of Race and Conditions for Racing - announced 5 February 2020 after mediation
  • 1-Feb'20: Boat 2 can be launched. All four teams have launched Boat 2.
  • 30-Jun'20: Challenger Selection Series (Prada Cup) Conditions
  • 31-Aug'20: Foil Cant System updates frozen


Future Dates
Some of these dates can be found in the Protocol. Others were added in the AC75 Class Rule v1.1, e.g. setting the dates for freezing restrictions on how the FCS can be used (30-Nov'19) and for modifications to the FCS by ETNZ/Luna Rossa
  • One event has been announced for Cagliari (ITA) in October.
    One more event remains to be announced.
  • 2nd half of 2019: 1 x America’s Cup World Series Preliminary Events
    (Unlikely to be held)

  • 22-26 April'20:  ACWS Cagliari  Cancelled
  • 3-7 June'20:  ACWS Portsmouth Cancelled
  • 1-Nov'20:   Sailing Instructions for AC Match and CSS  (not yet posted)
  • November 2020:  Youth AC Qualifiers in China Cancelled
  • 17-20 December 2020: ACWS Auckland and
       America’s Cup Christmas Race

  • Jan-Feb 2021: PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series (CSS)
                               
    Round Robin 9 Jan - 1 Feb
                               Final 13-24 Feb
                              Youth AC Elimination Round 18-23 Feb
                              Superyacht Regatta
    24-26 Feb
  • March 2021: The America’s Cup Match 6-21 March
                          Youth AC Finals 8-12 March
                          J Class Regatta 1-5 March
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