America’s Cup format, rule changes explained as world’s oldest sporting battle resumes

Coverage gets underway this Thursday at 10pm AEST.

BOATS

The AC75s, an innovative 75-foot foiling monohull first introduced at the 36th America’s Cup in Auckland in 2021, will return this year for their second outing albeit with considerable tweaks and improvement.s.

“When you look at the boat now, the boat that we’re going to be launching soon (compared) to what we had last time, to us, is a big step on,” Emirates Team New Zealand’s chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge said.

“There’s a lot of stuff from the outside that you’ll never see – the control systems and everything, the technique and how you sail the boat – a lot of that stuff you won’t see, but to us there’s been some big steps forward.

“I would expect all the boats are going to be a big step forward, and who knows? What typically happens with these rules is when you go from one iteration to the next, slowly they all start to merge together. So, they may look similar.”

TEAMS

Emirates Team New Zealand (The Defender)

Yacht: Taihoro

Country: New Zealand

CEO: Grant Dalton

Helmsman: Peter Burling

INEOS Britannia

Yacht: Britannia

Country: Britain

CEO: Sir Ben Ainslie

Helmsman: Sir Ben Ainslie

American Magic

Yacht: Patriot

Country: America

CEO: Mike Cazer

President: Terry Hutchinson

Helmsman: Terry Hutchinson

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team

Yacht: Tifosi

Country: Italy

Chairman: Patrizio Bertelli

Helmsmen: Max Sirena, Francesco Bruni, Jimmy Spithill

Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Yacht: BoatOne

Country: Switzerland

Team Principal: Ernesto Bertarelli

Helmsmen: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin, Nicolas Charbonnier

Orient Express Racing Team

Yacht: Orient Express

Country: France

CEOs: Bruno Dubois, Stephan Kandler

Helmsmen: Quentin Delapierre, Kevin Peponnet

RULE CHANGES

There are slight changes to the boat regulations this year, with crew numbers reduced from 11 to eight on the foiling monohulls.

To reduce costs, teams will only be permitted to build one AC75 for the America’s Cup, while national rules have become more strict — 100 per cent of the race crew for each competitor has to be a passport holder of the country of the team’s yacht club, or have been physically present in that country for 18 months between March 2018 and March 2021.

That’s the case for Australian sailing great Tom Slingsby, who will feature as part of the American Magic team having previously hlelped Oracle Team USA to America’s Cup glory.

PAST WINNERS

2021 — Team New Zealand

2017 — Team New Zealand

2013 — Oracle Team USA

2010 — BMW Oracle Racing (United States)

2007 — Alinghi

2003 — Alinghi

2000 — Team New Zealand

1995 — Team New Zealand

1992 — America3 (United States)

1988 — Stars & Stripes ‘89 (United States)

1987 — Stars & Stripes ‘87 (United States)

1983 — Australia II (Australia)

1980 — Freedom (United States)

1977 — Courageous (United States)

1974 — Courageous (United States)

1970 — Intrepid (United States)

1967 — Intrepid (United States)

1964 — Constellation (United States)

1962 — Weatherly (United States)

1958 — Columbia (United States)

1937 — Ranger (United States)

1934 — Rainbow (United States)

1930 — Enterprise (United States)

1920 — Resolute (United States)

1903 — Reliance (United States)

1901 — Columbia (United States)

1899 — Columbia (United States)

1895 — Defender (United States)

1893 — Vigilant (United States)

1887 — Volunteer (United States)

1886 — Mayflower (United States)

1885 — Puritan (United States)

1881 — Mischief (United States)

1876 — Madeleine (United States)

1871 — Columbia/Sappho (United States)

1870 — Magic (United States)

1851 — America (United States)