David Leggat: Coutts charting daring course for Cup's future

Sir Russell Coutts. Photo / Natalie Slade

So are you more Facebook or Fred Flintstone?

Amid the pronouncements from Russell Coutts this week as he launched plans for the 2013 America's Cup, it was that sentiment, once all the rest of it was chiselled away, which resonated and cut to the heart of the cup's future direction.

Coutts, in his role as chief executive of holders BMW Oracle, used that term in outlining why 72-foot catamarans with a winged sail will be the vehicle of choice for the 34th edition of sailing's 159-year-old contest.

"It will be racing that meets the expectations of the Facebook generation, not the Flintstones generation," the three-time winner of the cup said.

Certainly it was a cute line.

It could also be interpreted as a sneer at the old, and not so old, salts who like their racing to be of a simpler, more conventional variety. It sounded a case of "move over, Pops, this is our stage now".

Those who reckon any form of sailing is a bore and essentially an exercise in rich men comparing the size of their wallets won't give a hoot if they're chasing the cup in catamarans, monohulls, dinghies or paddleboats.

They might, however, spark up when they hear how much could be eased out of their pockets once the Government is touched up for help.

There is a clutch decision coming up for Team New Zealand.

Only twice before has the cup been contested in anything other than monohulls - 1988 in that nonsense between Dennis Conner's catamaran and Michael Fay's giant monohull; and last February when Oracle's trimaran roared past holder Alinghi's catamaran as if easing out into the fast lane on the motorway.

If Coutts and co have their way the pace of the America's Cup is going to go in only one direction.

Think "Citius, Altius, Fortius". It's the Olympic motto, which translates to "Faster, Higher, Stronger". There's no going back and it has always been thus.

Just as there's no chance of reducing the power of golf's modern drivers, the speed of Formula One cars or the distance a cricket ball can be propelled from a modern bat.

The AC72 class is tipped to whip across the water at 30 knots. The standard sloops of the last couple of decades did their business at about 11 knots upwind, 12-13 knots with the breeze at their back.

Certainly it has the potential to be exhilarating. But the point remains: is this now rushing headlong (as opposed to the steady march of the last few regattas) into a technological event as opposed to a pure sports contest?

Those steeped in America's Cup lore will argue it's never been a simple sporting event contested by gentlemen with a Corinthian philosophy towards sportsmanship.

Chicanery has never been far away. Pushing boundaries is part of the deal.

If Team New Zealand press on, construction must start in eight months. Pre-cup regattas start in 2012. The new class might open up fresh European interest, where there is no shortage of multi-hull specialist sailors. Rome is an early tip to host the regatta.

There could be good competitive spinoffs, but if only, say, four syndicates make the start line, what will that say to the decision-makers about the cups to come. And how much interest will such a narrow field generate?

Does Team New Zealand stay in the contest, at substantial expense, simply because it feels it must; or does it take the view that this is one big-money operation that they can sit out and see what happens post-2013?

That decision is due to be made in about two weeks.

The smart money will be on those competitive juices which flow through the operation figuring that watching one campaign from afar is to risk slipping right off the pace.