Yachting: Era ends for America's Cup boat

The Louis Vuitton Trophy signals the end of the America's Cup Class (ACC) boats. Chris Cameron / ETNZ

For New Zealand sailor Tony Rae, there will be a touch of sadness when the curtain comes down on an era of international yachting this weekend.

The Louis Vuitton Trophy Dubai regatta, which ends on Sunday (NZ time) will be the last event to be raced in America's Cup Class (ACC) boats.

The class was brought in for the 1992 America's Cup in San Diego, replacing the 12-metre yachts that had been used in battles for the Auld Mug since World War 2.

Rae was part of NZL20`s crew when the ACC sloops were introduced and went on to sail in all four subsequent regattas for New Zealand.

"Obviously it's pretty sad," he said of the impending retirement.

"But things move on and technology and design changes throughout the whole yachting community."

In September, American syndicate BMW Oracle, who won the America's Cup in a head-to-head duel with Swiss defenders Alinghi, announced that a new class of catamaran would be used when sailing's most prestigious competition reverts to a multi-challenger format in 2013.

New Zealand have had plenty of success in the five cup regattas in ACC boats, which are 24 metres long and have a crew of 17.

In 1992, in the last campaign led by Sir Michael Fay, they reached the challengers' final where were beaten by Italy's Il Moro di Venezia in a bitter showdown.

Three years later, under the leadership of the late Sir Peter Blake, they went all the way, defeating American defenders Stars and Stripes 5-0 in the cup final.

They successfully defended the Auld Mug in Auckland in 2000 before losing it to Alinghi in 2003.

In 2007, they won the challengers' series in Valencia, earning a return meeting with the Swiss, who prevailed 5-3 in a hard-fought contest.

Rae, who was also part of New Zealand's very first cup challenge with the 12-metre KZ7 in Fremantle in 1986-7, said a feature of the ACC period was how much the boats changed down the years.

"NZL20 was a lightweight version in a way," the Emirates Team New Zealand pitman/runner said.

"It had a smaller sail area and was a skiff-type boat and very wide compared with the canoe-shaped hulls we're sailing now."

Team NZ's afterguard coach, Rod Davis, was also there at the start as NZL20's skipper through most of that campaign.

He, too, would feel a bit of sadness this weekend, but said it was time to turn a new page.

"The boats have served us really well and done their job brilliantly over the years, but the world has moved on," Davis said.

"The 12-metres' use-by date came and went, and it's the same with these boats."

Davis said the switch to a catamaran would mean a big learning curve for all syndicates.

"We'll all start on a relatively equal footing so it's matter of which teams learn the fastest," he said.

"One thing at Team New Zealand is that we're pretty good learners, so we don't feel intimidated by that, but it's a whole new ball game."

The change would also mean the detailed information that Davis had gathered over the years on the ACC yachts would become redundant.

"I've got probably 20 notebooks on these boats that have no use any more," he said.

"They won't go into the shredder. I'll probably put them in the archive."

* Robert Lowe travelled to Dubai courtesy of Emirates Airline.

- NZPA