American Magic CEO Terry Hutchinson. Photo / Photosport
American Magic CEO Terry Hutchinson. Photo / Photosport
American Magic boss Terry Hutchinson has welcomed the newly released Protocol for the 37th America's Cup and is adamant his team won't be at a disadvantage despite the re-introduction of "cyclors" for the next regatta.
While the venue for the next America's Cup is still unknown, the Protocol released onWednesday saw several changes from this year's event in Auckland, including onboard crews being reduced from 11 to eight, the return of the controversial "cyclors" and limiting teams to building only one AC75 in a move to make the regatta more accessible for a larger number of teams.
In a wide-ranging interview with NZME after the release of the Protocol, Hutchinson said he had a positive first impression of the announcement and was "excited" by the new class rule.
"We were really happy to get the AC75 class rule and the technical regulations that were released for the protocol, because that's a big deal," Hutchinson said. "This is a design competition and as we all know the fastest boat wins the regatta so, having that security really of the class rule and some of those parameters is critical to designing the boat."
The build of just one full-scale AC75 significantly reduces the costs of the campaign, while new teams will also be able to purchase an existing boat.
It means the bulk of the development process will now fall on the scaled-down, one-design AC40, which will also be used for racing in the Women's and Youth America's Cups, something that will present its own challenges, says Hutchinson.
"I look at it as a glass half full. I'm excited that we have some of the measures that they've put in place to reduce the cost, having just one boat to contend with having less options really with foils. There's enough to develop, and at the same time, there's not too much. Then there's the introduction of the AC40 and how you implement that into the programme. These are meaningful changes into developing your sailing team.
"From an American Magic perspective, one of the things that we highlighted at the end of our last debrief is that our racing skills needed to be better. Having the AC40 could be a good way to upskill your sailing team and upskill your design team."
American Magic's "Patriot" in action earlier this year. Photo / Photosport
However, Hutchinson remained coy on whether the move to reduce costs will be enough to result in a flurry of new entries for AC37.
"I look at American Magic last time where we basically had nothing at the start. So we had to build infrastructure and we, in all sense of the word, were a true start-up. There have been rumours that Alinghi is considering entering. That's not a start-up team and so their entry into AC37 versus a true start-up would be more cost effective.
"I think it's really where you are on that maturity ladder as a team that's going to dictate a lot of the costs, because there's a design cost, there's building, 80,000 man hours into a boat, that's going to be reasonably expensive."
Among the notable changes to AC37 was the return to using "cyclors" – a rule allowing sailors to use their legs rather than arms to power the boat's hydraulic systems – which Team New Zealand perfected in Bermuda. Ineos Britannia also have the benefit of working with the successful British cycling team.
But Hutchinson was adamant it won't put American Magic at a disadvantage.
"We know so much more now than we did four years ago. It's important to acknowledge that by the very nature, the competition is hard to win. And that's a challenge in itself. So, if you're not willing to take that on, then we probably shouldn't be in the game.
"But the competition is incredibly exciting because of the boats [and] the fact that we have so much more knowledge from what we gained out of our failure last time. We have another boat to build and we have a couple of AC40s. We have to make sure that we maximise the lessons that we learned and be creative and make sure that we look at what our competition did, because they were really, really good."
The Protocol also revealed a new deadline for Team NZ to set the location for AC37, with Cork (Ireland), Barcelona (Spain) and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) all thought to be contenders should the event head offshore.
Hutchinson refused to criticise the decision to postpone the hosting announcement, saying "we're going to let their negotiations play out".
The veteran skipper also raised the possibility of the New York Yacht Club backing American Magic, which is still yet to be backed by a yacht club.
The American challenge virtually sunk with its dramatic capsize in the Prada Cup round robin series in Auckland, and the syndicate and NYCC parted company at the end of the Cup cycle.
But Hutchinson intimated it was still possible for the NYYC to be involved in 2024.
"We need to make sure that we have all of our ducks in a row with a club to represent from the United States." Hutchinson said. "Obviously we're all members of the New York Yacht Club. And so that's such a great historical institution in the America's Cup ... let's see if we can re-engage there. But we also have clubs around the country that we've developed relationships with, and we have to cross that bridge before we get to the next one."
