The sand in the hourglass is running out on teams in the America’s Cup.
In just over a month, the six syndicates will be on the water of Barcelona for their first taste of proper racing in their new AC75s when the final preliminary regatta begins.
Theregatta unofficially signals the beginning of the end of the campaign. Four days separate the end of the final preliminary event and the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series round robins, with the following two months seeing the teams compete to pry the Auld Mug from Team New Zealand’s grasp.
It’s an event that poses the familiar question around performance and just how much each team will want to show their competitors.
“It’s always the question that never really gets an answer until the end of the event,” Team New Zealand chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge said.
“I don’t expect teams to be sandbagging, they will all want to get a true gauge on their relative performance with each other. But there will be differences between the performance of boats in the preliminary regatta and the last race of the America’s Cup for sure.
“All the teams will have a planned development programme all the way through to the end of the event. So, we can expect all teams to get faster and more refined around the course, probably the team that can develop the most between now and October will win.”
Team New Zealand have been putting their AC75 Taihoro through its paces in Barcelona for the past few weeks, after getting on the water in Spain for the first time in late June. There are rules that prohibit teams from racing during this window, however, with all the teams out for training, there is the inevitable cross if there are multiple boats out at the same time.
The Kiwis were the last of the six teams to be sailing their AC75 in Spain, having to ship it up from New Zealand following a short and sharp commissioning period on home waters in Auckland.
While they were the last team to be on the water in Barcelona, Team New Zealand achieved that milestone a few days ahead of schedule and for the back part of the campaign, Shoebridge expected teams to be focused on their own schedules as they try to peak at the right time.
Ineos Britannia and Emirates Team New Zealand cross during a training session in Barcelona. Photo / Job Vermeulen, America's Cup
“It’s the America’s Cup and anything can happen so confidence needs to be focused in the right direction. It’s always a ticking clock and each team works on their own timelines for their own programmes,” Shoebridge said.
“For Emirates Team New Zealand, obviously the primary focus is on being ready and as prepared as possible for the America’s Cup Match from October 12 until the last race, but in saying that, of course you want to perform well in whatever racing you do. We have to remind ourselves of our end goal, however, the preliminary regatta provides a really good opportunity to line up with the other teams and get a feel for each other as well as some real-life racing and starting practice and course management.”
The conditions in Barcelona could serve up a variable for the teams, both with wind and sea state being something they need to address.
It’s an area Shoebridge believed could be telling as racing progresses, with potential changes in performance from boat to boat based on the conditions.
“From what we have seen so far, all teams look strong. We will be looking at all of the teams closely as they all have some interesting design aspects. It is far too early to make assessments one way or another because all teams will be focused on their own programmes.
“We will wait and see but, obviously, as the intensity and progress of the event increases our specific focus will become a lot more narrowed. We’ll be looking to take as much as possible from across the board in the preliminary regatta ... I am sure it will be a very clear look at where teams are sitting relative to each other.”
America’s Cup key dates
Barcelona Preliminary Regatta: August 22-25
Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robins: August 29-September 8
