America’s Cup: ‘Not much racing’ a disappointing part of America’s Cup campaign, says Brad Butterworth

The six America's Cup teams are currently racing their AC40s in Jeddah. Photo / America's Cup

While the America’s Cup teams have been toiling away for the past couple of years, it won’t be until next August that a true reflection of how they truly match up will be on display.

At that point, the six competing syndicates will have just one regatta to iron out any kinks with their new AC75 before the Challenger Series gets underway just days later.

While there have been two preliminary regattas already – in Vilanova i la Geltru, Spain, in September and now in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this week – those have been contested on the one-design AC40s. The scaled-down foiling monohulls have been used to test the race systems while also displaying just how well each team’s core sailing crew operate together. They will then become the race boats for the Women’s and Youth America’s Cup teams.

The America’s Cup is referred to as a design race for a reason and the different operations won’t sail in identical boats when their AC75s are on the water. They’ll then have a very limited time to get a handle on their vessel in competitive conditions before racing really matters.

It’s a feature of the current campaign that Brad Butterworth, a former Cup holder with Team New Zealand and Alinghi, said could be addressed in future editions of the Cup.

“There’s not much racing,” Butterworth told Newstalk ZB’s D’Arcy Waldegrave. “The first regatta after the last America’s Cup, which was over two years ago, was in Vilanova in Spain a couple of months ago. There are a lot of other regattas going on around the world, but I think for the top end of the sport there should be more regattas and teams should be able to sail against each other a lot more than what is designed this time.”

In the last edition of the Cup, teams were allowed to build two AC75s and the first two preliminary regattas were scheduled to be contested on their first edition boats. However, those two regattas were cancelled as they were scheduled at times that were during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It left the teams with just one regatta before their results counted, with the Christmas Cup in Auckland in late December 2020. The teams had some issues during that, while the light conditions made it tough for the teams to get the most out of the event.

That time, they had a few weeks between the final preliminary regatta and the Challenger Series during which they could address any concerns before racing again. While the exact dates of the final preliminary regatta in Barcelona have not yet been announced, the America’s Cup schedule currently has it sitting between the official opening of the America’s Cup on August 22 and the start of the Challenger Series on the 29th.

“When you challenge you have to take the rules as they come, which is fine, but it’d still be nice to see, for the sport, more racing in the boats,” Butterworth said.

With all eyes turning to Barcelona after things wrap up in Jeddah this weekend, Butterworth also questioned the much-maligned decision by Team New Zealand to have the event in Spain as opposed to hosting it on home waters again.

The decision benefits his Alinghi Red Bull Racing team given its proximity to all the competing Northern Hemisphere teams and Butterworth didn’t criticise Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton for making the decision, however, he shared his disappointment that the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron “didn’t defend the right to have it in Auckland.”

“The prize for the America’s Cup isn’t the cup, it’s the venue,” Butterworth said.

“When you compete for the America’s Cup, if you win you can take it back to your yacht club and your country and use that. Of course, I’ve sailed for Switzerland and still do, they don’t have a sea-based fort so you can take it anywhere you like. For New Zealand, I thought it was not a very smart decision to move it out of the country. It would be a lot better if it was in New Zealand.

“Everybody makes their own decision. He [Dalton] has to run the team as he sees fit but the yacht club was a bit disappointing in the fact that they didn’t defend the right to have it in Auckland. But that’s the decision they’ve made.

“I’m working for and represent another team from overseas, so it’s great that it’s in Barcelona because it’s a lot closer to all these European cities. But as a New Zealander it would’ve been nice to see it again in New Zealand.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.