ACWS in doubt
COVID-19 fallout hits the America’s Cup World Series.
17 March 2020
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With the first scheduled hit-out of the AC75’s off Sardinia next month postponed indefinitely there is now a very big question mark over the Portsmouth regatta set down for 3-4 June.
Team INEOS UK confirmed on twitter earlier today it was pulling-out of its base in Sardinia and returning to the UK.
In the statement Ben Ainslie said:
“The decision to bring the team home early has not been taken lightly. These are unprecedented times and the health and wellbeing of our team members and their families has to be our top priority.
Sardinia has been a fantastic winter training camp allowing the team to make great developments to our first AC75, Britannia. We would like to thank the island of Sardinia for being wonderful hosts to our team during the past three months.
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All team members returning from Sardinia to the UK will follow the UK Government & World Health Organisation guidelines.
We look forward to having the whole team back together in Portsmouth and training on the Solent in preparation for the 36th America’s Cup next year.”
Significantly, no mention was made of the second regatta in Portsmouth, which the British are supposed to be hosting.
For all teams, including Team New Zealand which at last report had their boat Te Aihe sitting in Singapore, valuable on-water training time is being frittered away.
Also compounding the situation is an all too familiar America’s Cup legal wrangle; this time between Team New Zealand and Challenger of Record Luna Rossa. The Italians apparently want the World Series Cagliari event that was supposed to take place on April 23-26, moved to another date, but the New Zealanders want it cancelled indefinitely. It will be left to Arbitration panel to sort out the spat.
Meanwhile the fourth syndicate due to participate in Auckland in a year’s time, American Magic (USA), must be thinking about, or already unpacking Defiant, which they had ready for transport to Italy from Florida. For their next move, the team had this to say on March 14:
“We have noted the independent statements made by Emirates Team New Zealand and COR36 in recent days, and as a Challenger have nothing further to add at this time. We await an official updated event schedule from the Challenger of Record and the Defender and will revise our plans accordingly once that is made available.”
The next date on the AC calendar after Portsmouth is meant to be a regatta in December in Auckland before the official challenger series starts in the new year with the America’s Cup match timed for March.
It’s been reported none of the Challengers were too keen on the Portsmouth event in the first place. A Protocol Amendment was needed for the Defender to make it happen, but with only one event in Europe, pushing the cancel button would save a lot of time and money for an America’s Cup that would seem to be in need of both.
36th America’s Cup key dates:
February 1, 2020: Boat 2 can be launched (DELAYED)
April 23-26, 2020: First (1/3) America’s Cup World Series event in Cagliari, Sardinia (POSTPONED)
June 4-7, 2020 – Second (2/3) America’s Cup World Series event in Portsmouth, England
December 17-20 – Third (3/3) America’s Cup World Series event in Auckland, New Zealand
January and February 2021: The PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series
March 2021: The America’s Cup Match
americascup.com
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