33rd America's Cup in Valencia

The BMW-Oracle at the start of the first race of the 33rd America's Cup, which has been held in the waters of Valencia. | EFE

Erica LayPalma15/08/2024 15:52
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With the highly anticipated America’s Cup starting just over the road in Barcelona on August 22nd, here in Mallorca we’re seeing some magnificent yachts heading over to join the spectators of one of the most incredible sporting spectacles on the sailing calendar. So, what’s it all about? Last week we covered the origins of the America’s cup which dates back to 1851. This week we’re going to look at the modern story, picking up where we left on in the 1990s.

In 1992, the challenger was Italian – this was the first time we saw a non-English speaking country at this level. Not for long though, as the Americans beat her! In 1995 the Kiwis took the cup back by winning five straight races, evidently, a total thrashing… This year’s event also saw the first mostly female (there was only one man) crew sailing the USA -43, aka “Mighty Mary” in the Challenger Selection Series. Team NZ defeated the Italians in the following Cup in 1999. This was the first cup without Americans competing.

Now since the 1980s it’s worth noting that the original rules where the yacht had to be designed and built almost exclusively in the country it was representing (and crewed by that country’s nationals) had been relaxed. So in 2003 we saw various members of Team NZ taking up residence in Switzerland so they could race on the Swiss challenger. When they won, Swiss yacht Alinghi became the first European (ahem) team to hold the Americas Cup in 152 years and the event was finally held in European waters – Valencia was chosen as obviously Switzerland doesn’t have a sea… it also doesn’t have native kiwis but we’re not here to split hairs.

After another court case involving who had the right to be challenger in the next race (spoiler alert: America won), races continued and in 2010 we saw a new class of boat, the AC72, a wing sailed catamaran. Unfortunately for many teams, the super high costs of developing these incredibly complex new designs were too much to bear, and over the next few years various groups pulled out of competing.

In 2012 Team NZ’s AC72 Aotearoa was seen sailing on hydrofoils – and a technology race in foil development and control began. NZ beat Sweden and Italy to take the spot of challenger, and the race with the US was the longest on record. The final result was a very close call with the US Golden Gate Yacht Club coming from behind to win 9-8.

Despite a minor delay due to Covid, the NZ America’s Cup in March 2021 still went ahead and it was a pretty epic spectacle to behold. The teams had agreed on a new design rule leading to the creation of the AC75 (with various limitations and design regulations to adhere to), and these boats could continuously foil at speeds of over 30 knots. Team NZ successfully defended their cup against the Italians.

Which brings us up to date, the 37th America’s Cup will be hosted by Barcelona this year, starting in August 2024 with the following stipulations:

  • The AC75 class will remain the class of yacht for the next two Cup cycles
  • Each team may only build one AC75 for the next event
  • Cost reduction measures must be enforced in order to open up the competition to more potential teams
  • 100% of the race crew for each competing yacht must either hold a passport for that country, or have been physically present in that country for at least 2 of the 3 years prior. There are a few exceptions here but that’s basically the rule.

The event will be opening on August 22nd, and then we’ll see the final preliminary race and the Louis Vuitton Cup, followed by the Louise Vuitton America’s Cup which officially starts on October 12th 2024. The teams have all been in Barcelona for the past year training in the local waters in preparation for the races.

So who’s racing? The current defender is Emirates Team New Zealand – who got to choose the venue and organise the cup this year. The challenger teams at this stage are British Ineos Britannia, Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Italian Luna Rossa Pirelli Prada Team, American NYYC American Magin, and the French Orient Express Racing Team.

Will you be watching? Who’s your bet on to win the position of challenger? We can’t know at this stage as everything is literally to play for. What we can guarantee is a very exciting event which is taking place very close to our local Mallorcan waters, which can only be a good thing as yachts will no doubt head here before they move across to Barcelona to watch the oldest international competition still going on in any sport. Exciting times!