# AC 35 Challenger of Record



## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

So the Land of Oz is back in the game.

America's Cup: Bob Oatley and Hamilton Island Yacht Club have challenge accepted for next Cup - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Hamilton Island Yacht Club (aka Rob Oakley owner of both Hamilton Island, Wild Oats x1 and the Oatley wine empire ) have been accepted as the challenger of record.


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## T37SOLARE (Feb 1, 2008)

Let's hope Ellison brings boats back into the game and not those jets again.


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

That was quick... and interesting. 

Not sure the venue can return to monos and keep the 'new' spectator field, nor the raw excitement. I did not expect to get as wrapped up in it as I was.. do still miss the true downwind work, though.


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## Classic30 (Aug 29, 2007)

Here's a bit more about it..

Australia challenges for America's Cup and a share of the venue

I imagine Mr Oatley is trying to capitalise on the recent success of the Aussie crew and hope to, yet again, bring the Auld Mug this way. Good luck to him, I say!


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

In all honesty I couldn't give a tinkers damn but one thing fills me with dread ... Oatley's media manager is that utter knobhead Rob Mundle.


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## sailwatcher (Nov 29, 2010)

Nice to see the momentum for 35 starting right immediately. I don't know anything about WS Islands, but their largest locality appears to be only 10,000. I guess the area is around the Reef. I'm somewhat concerned about the enviropolitical ramifications of this. But I'm not an extremist nor Australian, so I don't know that scene. 

It just seems like a bigger city, like Sydney, would be infrastructurally better.

I'm glad to see that they're saying they want to cut expenses, but I wonder how that's really going to go. Definitely don't want to go the one-design route. 

Smaller and foiling. All I really want.


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

Faster said:


> That was quick... and interesting.
> 
> Not sure the venue can return to monos and keep the 'new' spectator field, nor the raw excitement. I did not expect to get as wrapped up in it as I was.. do still miss the true downwind work, though.


Actually I don't think it was that quick. If I recall correctly, Artemis handed Oracle a challenge seconds (maybe minutes) after the trimaran crossed the finish line in Valencia. Up until Luna Rossa knocked them out of the Louis Vuitton they were the official challenger of record for AC34.

But it sure is interesting to see Australia back in the mix. Does this smack of nationalisation for the future?


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Sydney ? Heaven forfend. 

I'm thinking that should Oatley manage to win the thing then he'd be primarily relying on television and internet pod casting for the coverage. While Hamilton Island does not have the ability to handle tens of thousands of spectators it does host the Hamilton Island Race week each year and gets pretty good media coverage out of that. The coverage for an AC would be massive. I'm sure Oately can see the commercial possibilities for both HI and his wine business. 

What's more if they time it right then the weather would be sublime.


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## sailwatcher (Nov 29, 2010)

Sublime as in actually moderate? I'm American. Never been to Oz. But I stereotype the country is being blazing hot all the time. I'm sure I'm way off base, but I've never been.

Good points, though. Just because that area doesn't have the spectator infrastructure doesn't mean people won't tune in by other means aside from attending.

Ah, well. Back to watching water boil waiting for boat spec protocol. Very anxious to see how this ends up.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

sailwatcher said:


> Sublime as in actually moderate? I'm American. Never been to Oz. But I stereotype the country is being blazing hot all the time. I'm sure I'm way off base, but I've never been.
> 
> Good points, though. Just because that area doesn't have the spectator infrastructure doesn't mean people won't tune in by other means aside from attending.
> 
> Ah, well. Back to watching water boil waiting for boat spec protocol. Very anxious to see how this ends up.


No, definitely not blazing hot all the time. Oz is of course so big that there are some pretty major climate variations but Queensland, up round Hamilton Island is essentially sub tropical. Definitely shorts and t-shirt weather but not Death Valley either. I have spent some time in Hawaii, I guess Qld is comparable.


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## overbored (Oct 8, 2010)

Omatako said:


> Actually I don't think it was that quick. If I recall correctly, Artemis handed Oracle a challenge seconds (maybe minutes) after the trimaran crossed the finish line in Valencia. Up until Luna Rossa knocked them out of the Louis Vuitton they were the official challenger of record for AC34.
> 
> But it sure is interesting to see Australia back in the mix. Does this smack of nationalisation for the future?


not really. a Swedish yacht club was the challenger of record after a court case which eliminated the Club Nautico De Roma. the challenger of record is a yacht club not a boat. the race challenger is a team that wins the Louis vitton cup.
So that means that the Aussies of the Hamiton Island Yacht Club and Golden Gate Yacht Club will try to agree on the What, where and when of the 35th americas cup.


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## smackdaddy (Aug 13, 2008)

tdw said:


> So the Land of Oz is back in the game.
> 
> America's Cup: Bob Oatley and Hamilton Island Yacht Club have challenge accepted for next Cup - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
> 
> Hamilton Island Yacht Club (aka Rob Oakley owner of both Hamilton Island, Wild Oats x1 and the Oatley wine empire ) have been accepted as the challenger of record.


Woohoo!


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

So what are the odds with this challenger? Will they conspire to up the ante even further, effectively limiting worldwide participation or try to fashion an exciting race that increased participation?


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## CalypsoP35 (Jul 24, 2006)

T37SOLARE said:


> Let's hope Ellison brings boats back into the game and not those jets again.


Every other sailboat race in the world has boats, AC is supposed to be special, see if you can build a boat faster then mine. The only thing I would like to see is for more boats, err, jets to be involved. May by going to the 45s instead of the 72s, more sindicates would get involved.


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

overbored said:


> not really. a Swedish yacht club was the challenger of record after a court case which eliminated the Club Nautico De Roma. the challenger of record is a yacht club not a boat. the race challenger is a team that wins the Louis vitton cup.
> So that means that the Aussies of the Hamiton Island Yacht Club and Golden Gate Yacht Club will try to agree on the What, where and when of the 35th americas cup.


Apologies, you are correct on one aspect. I named the incorrect club/team as the challenge of record, it was indeed Club Nautico/Team Mascalzone but the comment stands, they issued the challenge within seconds/minutes of the win by Oracle which was my point

And your are also not entirely correct, Club Nautico did not withdraw as a result of a court case, they withdrew as the result of insufficient funding. This is the letter that was published by the team (interestingly, not the club which confirms the splitting of hairs above)

Dear Friends and Supporters,

With deep sorrow I have to announce my decision to withdraw my team from the 34th America's Cup.

Since the very beginning of our role as Challenger of Record, I have been working on this project focused to bring the Cup in our Country.

Larry deeply loves Italy and he was excited about this idea. The Cup in Italy would have been the greatest worldwide promotion for our beautiful coasts. There have been some very high level and important meetings that made us believing in this dream, but the things went in a different way.
As Challenger of Record, we have worked with humility next to Oracle and I am satisfied of the result we have reached: a new Cup, spectacular, with new boats, the catamarans, that will launch on the international scene a new generation of sailors.

With Russell we have discussed for long time on the most difficult challenge that the next Cup must face: an international situation with big economic crisis and therefore huge difficulties to find sponsor. This is the only, true, real enemy of the next Cup. We have then thought of the idea to create the class AC45, a concrete way to make lot of teams get involved in the event reducing costs, at least in the delicate period of the start-up.

On our side, I must thank the two Italian sponsors that believed and confirmed us their trust. We are not able, however, to reach a budget that allows us to be a competitive team.

In our sport, men in blazer have overcome by now those in oilskins, I'm a man in oilskin and when I go in the sea, I want to win. I'm not interested in a hopeless challenge, I would lie to the sponsors, to our fans and last but not least also to myself.

I would like to thank our friends from Club Nautico di Roma. I am sure that we will have new exciting adventures together.

The sailing adventure of Mascalzone Latino doesn't end anyway with the Cup, but it continues with the sailing school in Naples, free of charge, for those children coming from the most difficult areas of this town. A daily challenge, and, who knows, maybe someday we will see a new America's Cup champion coming out from one of them.

Fair winds to all of you.

Vincenzo Onorato

This is just for your interest - the subject is not important enough to me to argue about it any further so I won't be.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Minnewaska said:


> So what are the odds with this challenger? Will they conspire to up the ante even further, effectively limiting worldwide participation or try to fashion an exciting race that increased participation?


While I cannot speak for the Oatley syndicate their public pronouncements indicate a desire to reduce the costs. In 21st century speak I think that means slow down the rate of increase.

Oatley has nowhere near the deep purse of Oracle/Ellison. Oatley himself is barely a single billionaire, Ellison has oodles of them. If it came down to a battle of the dollars then Ellison would eat Oatley alive.

On thing of interest will be experience. Wild Oats XI has been a formidably successful boat although she has only ever campaigned in Australia afaik. As Sid Fischer found out to his cost, running an AC campaign is a whole heap different to being successful in offshore racing as such.


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## GeorgeB (Dec 30, 2004)

Why do people go on and on over the number of participants for the AC? It is a match race after-all so only two can race at any one time. You guys really want to see the Louis Vuitton last six months? A year? An AC72 costs $10M USD to build, including wing (Foils are extra). The other $90M USD is to pay everyone’s salary and expenses for three years. As Larry said: “I have lost two AC campaigns and won two. I can tell you losing costs the same as wining.”


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

Why would having more boats in the LV make it go on for a year?


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