America’s Cup adding female sailors, battery power in ’seismic change’

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New rules for the America’s Cup sailing regatta announced Tuesday have been described as a seismic moment for the historic event and the “boldest change in 174 years of the Cup.”

Crews competing in the 38th Cup regatta in Naples, Italy in July of 2027 will comprise five members, including at least one woman. Under new criteria, at least two members of each crew, including a female, must be nationals of each team’s country of origin.

Each 76-foot America’s Cup boat will also carry a sixth “guest” crew member who could be a celebrity, influencer, media representative or sponsor.

The America’s Cup will now be contested every two years and the protocol or governing document for the event now establishes a system of governance under which all competing teams will have equal responsibility for organizing the event on and off the water and for the control of media and commercial rights.

Most functions of the boats will now be powered by batteries, rather than the brute strength of their crews.

The moves to modernize the Cup have mostly been well received by competitors and key shareholders.

“As the founding Trustee of the America’s Cup, we are completely supportive of the move to modernize the oldest sporting trophy in the world,” said Jay Cross, commodore of the New York Yacht Club.

The NYYC was the first to win the America’s Cup when its schooner America — from which the trophy takes its name — beat 15 yachts representing Britain’s Royal Yacht Squadron in a race around the Isle of Wight in 1851.

The United States held the trophy until 1983, when the challenger Australia II ended the streak. Team New Zealand has dominated the recent regattas.

“As the three-time successive winner and defender of the America’s Cup and along with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron as current Trustee, we feel the responsibility to continue to drive the growth of the America’s Cup event,” Team New Zealand chief executive Grant Dalton said.

“Although the America’s Cup is the oldest trophy in international sport and the pinnacle of sailing, its Achilles heel has always been its lack of continuity,” he said. “So this transformation now gives all teams collective stewardship and we are introducing a new executive management team to be headed up by a new independent CEO.”

In a move to contain costs, a cap of 75 million Euros ($87 million) has been imposed on each team competing in 2027. Teams returning from the last America’s Cup will be required to retain the same hulls while new teams will have to either acquire an AC75 hull or build to the same specifications.

“This is a seismic moment for the America’s Cup,” Athena Racing team principal Ben Ainslie said. Athena Racing is the Challenger of Record which develops the protocol in partnership with the defender.

“The partnership agreement fundamentally reshapes the governance and organization of the event,” Ainslie said. “The teams and yacht clubs share a vision to make the America’s Cup more inclusive, compelling and financially sustainable.

“This new model marks a unified commitment to that vision. I am excited for the future of the sport.”

Tuesday’s announcement follows a fractious development process for the protocol during which Athena Racing and the American and Swiss challengers criticized Team New Zealand’s management of the event.

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