America's Cup: Oracle 'killing style of Cup'

Since Sir Russell Coutts became CEO, Oracle has lost major sponsors. Photo / Gilles Martin-Raget

Bruno Trouble, America's Cup sailor, hall of famer and architect of the now sadly defunct Louis Vuitton challenger series, has delivered perhaps the most scathing criticism of changes which have seen Italian syndicate Luna Rossa pull out of the Cup and Emirates Team New Zealand's future become unclear.

Trouble, writing in the sailing website Scuttlebutt, said: "Golden Gate Yacht Club, and their Oracle Team USA, are great sailors but hopeless guards of the Myth. They managed to kill the style and elegance which prevailed for decades, those unique aspects of the America's Cup ... They have discouraged high level partners and put an end to the exclusive positioning of THE Cup. They have betrayed the long saga of incredible personalities who made the Cup so special. And they are now organising a one-design catamaran contest with no style and anonymous people beyond the sailing circles.

"What we have now is a vulgar beach event smelling of sunscreen and french fries. This is definitely NOT the Cup."

It now appears clear Oracle's about-turn on the Auckland qualifying series regatta was the only way Oracle sailing CEO Sir Russell Coutts could make savings - by tossing Luna Rossa and Team NZ over the side. America's Cup sources, who asked to be anonymous because of potential backlash, have said they've heard Coutts was ordered by Oracle's billionaire boss Larry Ellison to stop runaway budgets and fading prospects of challengers making it to the start line.

Long a proponent of the Cup becoming commercially self-sustaining, Ellison may have lost patience; the only way Coutts could save money and assure challengers was a smaller boat - not because of boatbuilding costs but the biggest part of any budget, salaries.

Prepare now for news of lay-offs - not from an already lean Team NZ but from the likes of Swedish syndicate Artemis; Luna Rossa have already pulled the plug on their team of about 100 people and the US$20 million ($26.4 million) they have already sunk into the campaign.

There are also signs that Coutts' move may save a French challenge suffering from lack of money; there is talk of a Japan syndicate, perhaps partly funded by Oracle.

Since Coutts took over as sailing CEO, Oracle have lost BMW, a huge sailing sponsor who were apparently offering Oracle about 40 million ($57.5 million) for their 2013 campaign, Louis Vuitton and now Luna Rossa with their connection to fashion house Prada.

"I think he has just stuffed it up," says one source of Coutts' management of the Cup. "He has made a mess of it and we are paying the price; he fixed it by playing off the cost of coming to Auckland against the lower cost of just going to Bermuda."

That meant Team NZ's government finances, needed to keep the team afloat until sponsorship money kicks in, were lost if there was no Auckland qualifying regatta - threatening the team's overall involvement.

So some of the self-serving rhetoric from Oracle about how exciting the new trimmed-down smaller boats are/will be can be taken with a pail of salt. The America's Cup has always been about grandeur, spectacle and a design race where the fastest boat always wins. Promoting a largely one-design class with some open design elements (foils, rudder) is, to use the old Kiwi vernacular, having five bob each way - and the net result looks like it derived from one of several ordinary catamaran classes, not the history and pomp of the America's Cup. It raises the whole question of what the Cup will become in future.

That is the environment to which Team NZ must now decide whether to hitch their mooring ropes even while they seek redress over the Auckland regatta. However, even though the event is looking far less like the America's Cup, it is not yet beyond the New Zealand team.

As another source said this week: "Someone has to take it off Oracle before they make people sail in Moths [a single-handed foiling cat]."

That is, in a nutshell, Team NZ's advantage if they can only take care of their major disadvantage: Money. In Peter Burling, Blair Tuke and Glenn Ashby, they have three of the fastest small catamaran sailors on the planet, although the Team NZ campaign is now well behind that of others.

With no taxpayer money coming in, Team NZ have to find replacement funding fast and a whole new finance model. Somehow, Team NZ boss Grant Dalton has to stop sponsors from leaving, keep those in the camp happy and find new money to replace that lost, as some likely will be given the Bermuda venue and lack of an Auckland regatta. It is what he is best at - even if the supposed savings on smaller boats are not as simple as made out.

If they make it to the start line, they will likely be competitive - even if they then have to negotiate the next hurdle. Oracle, like all defenders, have arranged things to benefit themselves, so will likely have two race boats and up to four test boats. Team NZ, like other challengers, will have only one race boat but can also build test boats.

That will take, you guessed it, money.