Game theory | A different tack

The America’s Cup is becoming Formula One on the water

International sport’s oldest competition is getting a much-needed makeover

By G.D.

NOT for nothing is it known as the “Auld Mug”. No international sporting trophy has been contested for as long as the America’s Cup, a prize coveted by yacht clubs around the world. This year’s edition, which begins on June 17th in Bermuda, is the 35th since the ornate silver jug was first awarded in 1851. Seasoned mariners see the venerable competition, which takes place every three or four years, as perhaps the most important in the sport’s calendar. Yet for most of its history the America’s Cup has been a plodding affair unfolding in slow motion, like a tactical chess game, with little appeal for landlubbers. Not any more. This year’s championship is more like the high-octane rush of Formula One (F1) motorsport than a ponderous regatta.

Though its inaugural race was excitingly disruptive—an American crew ventured to Britain and beat 14 of its fastest boats in a one-off—subsequent editions seemed stranded in the past. After 1851 each competition was decided by a series of head-to-head races between two boats, which the New York Yacht Club, its first champion, won 24 times in a row. That is, for 132 years straight. It was only in 1983 that a regular qualifying competition, the Louis Vuitton Cup, was organised to pick the best challenger (replacing the old system, in which the first team to apply generally became “the challenger of record”). Most peculiarly of all, the rules are still governed by a “Deed of Gift” composed in 1851, which promises “a perpetual challenge cup for friendly competition between nations” but is also rather leaky.

The design specifications are remarkably vague: the defending team is able to set some of them, but in 1988 a two-hulled boat entered and won the competition, causing uproar and then a legal challenge which failed to overturn the result. It was only in 2010 that catamarans, which have long been the fastest boats around, were explicitly permitted—after another battle in the courts. Since the winner controls the format and the location of the next event, there have often been extended periods of uncertainty. Raising finance is difficult, teams are disbanded and expensive equipment is discarded.

Little wonder, then, that an event so mottled by barnacles has struggled to interest a wide audience. Yet that is changing, thanks to the modernising touch of Larry Ellison. Apart from being a co-founder of Oracle, one of the world’s largest software firms, Mr Ellison is also a member of the Golden Gate Yacht Club. He helped them win the legal battle of 2010 and the right to compete in that year’s final, in which they triumphed with a 90-foot trimaran. Viewers in 190 countries, many of whom had never watched sailing before, were gripped by Oracle Team USA’s extraordinary comeback in 2013, overturning Emirates Team New Zealand’s seemingly unassailable lead of 8-1 in a first-to-nine-wins series.

Mr Ellison and the race’s organisers have also tried to build a sustainable future with faster boats, more frequent racing and a greater number of teams. All the clubs that took part in this year’s competition, apart from the returning New Zealanders, have signed an agreement that covers the next two editions, in 2019 and 2021. That deal sets out the format and class rules, which in turn give teams a chance to plan ahead and secure funding. The hope is that the stability and reduced design costs will tempt more teams to compete.

The one catch is Kiwi reluctance. Team New Zealand, keen to avenge their spectacular collapse in 2013, have qualified as this year’s challengers by winning the Louis Vuitton Cup. Grant Dalton, their CEO, has said that the new agreement will be “null and void” if they clinch the title. The other franchises remain optimistic that if the New Zealanders triumph they will come round to their consensus. But the competitive advantage available to the winners, allowing them to dictate the future (and scupper all other plans), would be a powerful temptation.

Other reforms are more likely to endure. Since 2011 the entrants have competed in an preliminary “world series” which takes place before the Louis Vuitton Cup and offers bonus points that can be used later. This time the six competing teams were given the opportunity to host world-series events around the globe, emulating the Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) motorsport. They raced in nippy 45-foot catamarans, manned by a crew of five and powered by a wing sail that can lift the boat out of the water on hydrofoils spectacularly, for less drag and greater speed.

Rapid multi-hulled craft are here to stay. Those used in the main event travel at over 50mph—at which speed a collision or capsize can have lasting consequences to a team’s chances, since the race schedule leaves little time to regroup. The crew of six sound more like pilots than salty sea-dogs, barking commands about lift, trim tabs and rake. The principles of hydrodynamics are similar to the aerodynamics of F1, and some of the expertise has been shared. Land Rover BAR, a British sailing team that narrowly missed out on this year’s challenger berth, have pinched Richard Hopkirk (a race engineer for three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton) and Martin Whitmarsh (a former CEO) from McLaren. Shore-based engineers assess data from hundreds of sensors throughout the boat while helmsmen use multi-function steering wheels to fine-tune rudder settings. Much of this technical wizardry is powered hydraulically, thanks to some old-fashioned grunt work. The need for mechanical assistance means that four of the crew will be almost permanently “grinding”. The New Zealanders do theirs on gym-style bikes that are more efficient than conventional arm-powered winches.

The requirements of a good yachtsman are much the same as in 1851: the ability to find the right tack into the wind, the tenacity to outflank your opponent and the stamina to keep all hands on deck. The boats and the regattas, however, are heading for a brave new world.

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