Next Week. Newport!

Red Bull Youth America's Cup Gives You Wings!

They say that Red Bull "gives you wings". No one knows that more than Oracle Racing's Mark Turner, who for over an hour with the help of his crew, kept the new Red Bull Youth America's Cup AC 45 tethered (lassoed) and pointed into the wind by continually moving the catamaran around to adjust to the shifting breezes in San Francisco's Union Square. The long awaited and eagerly anticipated announcement of the plans of what would become a Youth America’s Cup came with the news that the energy drink company Red Bull would provide sponsorship of a two week championship regatta here on San Francisco Bay in August of 2013. Echoing an earlier event that day in Venice, Italy where the AC 45’s were sailing in an America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) regatta as the new generation “turbocharged” cats terrorized the Renaissance city’s ancient canals. In a simulcast video feed Oracle Racing Slipper Jimmy Spithill announced that; “this is one of the most exciting developments in the America’s Cup in a very long time!” “I am really excited about this pathway,” said Spithill, who at the extraordinary young age of 19 skippered an ACC boat Young Australia for an America’s Cup challenge for Syd Fischer in 2000. “The two are now bridged together (Red Bull and the Youth America’s Cup)” spoke Spithill. “Breaking into the America’s Cup is hard. I was fortunate to get a break which allowed me to get into the game and get noticed.” After his introductory experience in 2000 in Auckland, New Zealand Spithill went on to skipper One World in 2003, Luna Rossa in 2007 and then went on to re-invent himself in the world of high speed multi-hull racing to steer BMW Oracle’s radical winged sail trimaran to an America’s Cup victory in Valencia, Spain in February of 2010. The day’s event in Union Square was unique with an appearance of a six story fixed wing AC 45 in the middle of the city, on what was a very bright, breezy morning filled with sunshine! Turner and company had their hands full “tacking” the Red Bull Youth boat that was perched on its own skateboard with wheels as it “sailed” around its small perimeter of cobblestone in the courtyard. Emcee of this event was Tom Ehman, who is a spokesman for Oracle Racing and the Vice Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) the current home of the America’s Cup. Ehman started the proceedings by exclaiming that he “hoped that no-one here was skipping school today,” lamenting the fact that this “was an auspicious moment” in America’s Cup history. This will “bring all walks of life into sailing for yachting’s big enchilada!” The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup will take place next year over a two week span when hopefully up to 10 teams from around the world will train and compete for the championship. Red Bull has sponsored many high profile, youth charged adrenaline events like the X Games, Formula One and IndyCar racing, as well as providing sponsorship for Sweden’s Victory Challenge for the America’s Cup in 2007. With several college age sailors in attendance, as well as some children’s groups from a local school the focus and voice for the younger generations was laid upon Kite Board champion Johnny Heineken and 2012 Olympian Molly Vandemoer. “This is an amazing opportunity for young Bay Area sailors,” said Heineken. “Not only will there be a Team USA, but also a Team San Francisco Bay, I just wish I was a year younger!” The Red Bull Youth America’s Cup will allow one team per country, save San Francisco; subscribing to stricter nationality rules than the current America’s Cup and will be open to six crewmen per boat for ages 19 to 23. “I never thought I’d want to be 19 again, but this will inspire every young sailor,” said Vandemoer. “It’s just awesome that the Bay Area also will get a team. I help coach the sailing team at Stanford and I know they will all be excited for the opportunity.” On this day, America’s Cup royalty was represented with an appearance of the majestic Luck Jewitt of San Francisco. Mrs Jewitt, along with her late husband Fritz have supported many ‘Cup campaigns over the years and were instrumental in backing Dennis Conner in 1987 when he won back the Auld Mug from the Australians. She has worked very hard here in the yachting community to help raise the visibility, awareness and some of the funds necessary for a successful defense of the America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013. The whole specter and grandeur of this event is made better by her efforts! With the original pronouncement in 2010 of a Youth America’s Cup and its emphasis towards bringing the America’s Cup to the Facebook /You Tube generation, anticipation has been building as to what type of format and structure this type of event would have. Oracle Racing CEO & legendary America’s Cup Skipper Russell Coutts has largely kept to his vision, after making the dramatic and radical transition to a multi-hulled formula for 161 year old event. Sailing for the America’s Cup is the longest continuous sporting event on the planet! This announcement also answers the question on what will happen to the AC 45 Class after next May’s final ACWS race in Naples, Italy. With AC 72’s scheduled for launch next month, and once racing for the Louis Vuitton Cup commenced in July of 2013 the AC45 figured to go the way of the Dodo. Currently the AC45’s provide an opportunity to train AC crews in the art of fixed wing catamaran sailing and also foster images towards a buildup of excitement for the 34th America’s Cup which will use the much larger and more powerful AC72 platforms to compete for the most prestigious trophy in sports! All of which brings us back to the working class heroics of New Zealander Mark Turner and his crew. Turner, brings a lot of experience to the task after being charged with a similar responsibility in Valencia, Spain in 2010 of making sure that BMW Oracle's giant tri-maran with its jumbo jet sized 235 ft. wing sail didn't fly away in the middle of the night when it wasn't racing. Babysitting that monstrosity was a 24/7 job that lasted for more than an entire month once the behemoth multihull’s wing sail was in place, assembled and geared to go. Similar responsibilities will be tasked next summer when the AC72's will be in San Francisco for the 34th America's Cup. Oracle will utilize its Pier 80 base of operations for its AC 72 which is scheduled to be launched next month in San Francisco. Training days are severely limited by the protocol arrangement and the new mega-cat will probably only be testing the waters of San Francisco Bay for a few short weeks before be shipped down to its winter base of operations in New Zealand. Where it will shadow train against Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa. In a move that would that means a lot to all of us who remember Tom Blackaller, Team Artemis has recently leased facilities in an old hangar at the Alameda Naval Air Station. Alameda was Tom’s old stomping grounds and home base to his North Sails loft. Artemis CEO is Paul Cayard, Tom’s co-skipper of the Bay Area’s Golden Gate Challenge in 1987. Other teams are scouting locations in the Bay Area as we speak. Oracle Racing has established a winter (NZ summer) training facility at Marsden Point in Northport, Whangarei. It is a deep water harbor that served as the home of Chris Dickson's 1995 America’s Cup Team “Tag Heuer”. The ACC yacht was a bit radical for its day and later was re-christened “The Spirit of Rhode Island” for the New York Yacht Club’s Young America Challenge in 2000. Dickson challenged out of the Tutukaka South Pacific Yacht Club. Turner was the builder of Tag Heuer in 1995 and the watch company is one of Oracle Racing’s associate sponsors. The Bruce Farr designed ACC boat harkened back a bit to the days of the original Intrepid US 22 by keeping much of the boat’s crew underneath the wind line and below deck. The ultra-thin (for its day) yacht was a harbinger of what was to come. PACT 2000 eventually sold the boat to Dawn Riley’s America True and by 2007 it ended up in German hands as a training boat for United Internet Team Germany. Oracle Racing is currently building the components for its massive wing-sail at Core Builders Composites in nearby Warkworth. Under the liberal terms for the “constructed in country” clause for the 34th Protocol only the hulls for the most part are regulated to the home country as most the critical parts of the new generation AC 72’s are allowed to be built elsewhere. Hulls for the AC 72’s will probably become as interchangeable as tires on an IndyCar next year as accidents and “pitch poling” are bound to be frequent occurrences on volital San Francisco Bay where winds routinely reach into the 30’s and the infamous ebb-tides can bring a submarining hull to a screeching halt. Under terms of the Protocol AC 72 boats must be able to be disassembled within a 24 hour period, though during the racing season the wings are likely to be attached 24/7 leading back to the expertise of men like Turner and their crews who will be charged with keeping the “bulls” in the corral when not on the water. This allows Oracle Racing specifically to maintain its massive multihull advantage going into the 34th America’s Cup. Original terms were signed (away) with the Club Nautico di Roma as COR in 2010. The Vincenzo Onorato Mascalzone Latino’s paper (pauper) challenge has long ago gone the way of the Dodo giving way to Paul Cayard’s Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet Yacht Club in Sweden. America’s Cup teams are only allowed 30 days of sailing with their first generation AC 72’s prior to January 31, 2013. They are allowed an additional 45 days with the launch of a second boat up until April 31. All teams are expected to be training full time on San Francisco Bay by May of 2013. The Louis Vuitton Challenger Series begins on July 1st and the America’s Cup finals begin on September 7, 2013. An informal regatta is in the planning stages between the 3 teams. A toothless Challenger of Record (COR) Artemis Racing finds itself powerless to prevent this valuable training opportunity unless it takes on the added expense to ship its new catamaran downunder to New Zealand this winter as well. Regardless, we are all in for incredible cat show next year!