![\"The](\"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/thedowsizers.jpg\")
<\/a>The downsizers<\/p><\/div>\n
The America\u2019s Cup teams have agreed to make changes aimed at significantly reducing costs for the 2017 America\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n
Central to these changes is the introduction of an exciting new America\u2019s Cup Class – a wing-sailed, foiling catamaran between 45 and 50 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe move to the new America’s Cup Class is a major step forward for the America\u2019s Cup,\u201d said Commercial Commissioner Harvey Schiller, following the vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cCollectively, the teams have agreed current costs are neither justified, nor sustainable, and a majority have together taken a sensible course of action to cut costs. I believe this puts the America\u2019s Cup on a firm foundation for today and for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crucially, the new class will cost much less over the life of a campaign, with potential savings across design, build and operations, making it a revolutionary cost-saving measure for the sport in both the short and long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe changes being made are to reduce the current costs and complexity which are barriers to new teams wishing to enter the America\u2019s Cup,\u201d said Iain Percy, the team manager for Artemis Racing.<\/p>\n
A majority of the current teams favored the new class, with the expectation it will be used in the next edition of the America\u2019s Cup as well, in order to lower the barrier to entry – both technological and financial – to new teams.<\/p>\n
Looking towards the future, the new America\u2019s Cup Class will put the event on a path towards economic sustainability. Numerous one-design components will focus the design effort on areas that have an impact on performance, cutting costs significantly, but not diminishing the design challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe America’s Cup – like Formula One – has to be a design race as well as a race on the water,\u201d noted Ben Ainslie, the team principal at Ben Ainslie Racing. \u201cThat has always been part of the Cup\u2019s appeal. That is what attracts some of the world\u2019s best engineers – people like Adrian Newey, who has shown a real passion for the design challenge of the America\u2019s Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis wasn\u2019t an easy process,\u201d admitted ORACLE TEAM USA skipper Jimmy Spithill. \u201cThe established teams, ourselves included, were well down the path of designing an AC62. But there is a bigger picture to consider. We needed to bring the costs down, but we had to respect the design component of the event as that\u2019s always been one of the biggest challenges in winning the America\u2019s Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
The savings the competitors will realize in this edition of the Cup may spark additional entries, with at least one potential team from Asia expected to challenge and other international teams considering their options.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be a global success, the America\u2019s Cup needs to be accessible to the best teams, not just the biggest and wealthiest ones,\u201d said Franck Cammas, the skipper of Team France. \u201cSo we must change in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it\u2019s true there are a few critics of this move, we have to adjust to the time. This is a rule that provides the essential of the America\u2019s Cup – the design challenge, the sport, the athletic spectacle – without such a prohibitive cost,\u201d said Olympic medalist Roland Gaebler who has been working to establish a German Challenge. \u201cMy focus had been on the next America\u2019s Cup but with these changes we may be able to accelerate that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rule changes were passed by a majority vote of the Competitor Forum, comprising the six teams currently entered in the America\u2019s Cup. An updated Protocol and a new Class Rule will be published this week.<\/p>\n
A majority of the teams has also now indicated a preference that all of the racing in 2017 be conducted at a single venue, Bermuda. The America\u2019s Cup Event Authority will consider this in nominating a venue for the America\u2019s Cup Qualifiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From\u00a0americascup.com The America\u2019s Cup teams have agreed to make changes aimed at significantly reducing costs for the 2017 America\u2019s Cup. Central to these changes is the introduction of an exciting new America\u2019s Cup Class – a wing-sailed, foiling catamaran between 45 and 50 feet. \u201cThe move to the new America’s Cup Class is a major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[20,368],"class_list":["post-2263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-we-are-foiling","tag-americas-cup","tag-downsizing"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/thedowsizers.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}