The America’s Cup may have some American involvement yet.
While the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic announced they would not be moving forward with a challenge in the next edition of the Cup, a new American outfit has confirmed their interest in challenging.
Riptide Racing, representing the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club from Oyster Bay, New York, have announced their intention to be on the starting line in Naples, Italy, in 2027.
Led by top match racing skipper Chris Poole, the group believe they can put the pieces in place to meet the late entry deadline of January 31.
“We are not officially challenging, obviously. We are attempting to challenge. With American Magic bowing out and the possibility of America not having an entry in the Cup for the first time ever in 175 years, between us and our supporters, we had a discussion, and we came to the conclusion that we think it is achievable to mount a challenge for the 38th America’s Cup,” Poole told the Herald.
“We’ve been in discussion with various America’s Cup parties in regards to assets and rules and you know, structure looking ahead at the next America’s Cup competition and everything is still in the form of discussion, but there are avenues that see us acquiring the necessary assets to get us on the water.”
In a statement confirming their hopes to challenge for the Cup, the team suggested they were trying to raise US$50 million ($80.7m) to make a realistic bid possible, though Poole told the Herald he believed US$40m would be enough for a “bare bones” campaign and that the newly introduced cost cap of €75 million (approximately $146m) Made things a bit easier for a newly formed challenge.
“From our perspective as a new team and a syndicate that doesn’t have a principal backer, it would have been very difficult for us, looking at it from a purely monetary perspective, to enter the Cup,” he said.
“But with the way the teams came to the agreement and the protocol of the continued use of the existing AC75s and not allowing teams to design new hulls, and the cost cap, basically brought it within reason of a new team, especially like ours, without a principal backer to look at the Cup as a viable avenue to get in.”
The group would look to acquire an existing AC75 hull and support assets from one of the existing teams.
It’s a similar move to that of Alinghi Red Bull Racing in the last cycle, as they purchased Emirates Team New Zealand’s first edition AC75 in order to get up to speed in the vessel early in the campaign before building their own.
Poole said there were old AC75 hulls on the market, and they have reached out to several teams about what it would take to acquire one.
“At this point in the timeline, we do not have the capabilities to build a new boat, so we will be purchasing an existing package,” he said.
“The questions we are sourcing right now is what package is the best avenue for us to enter the Cup with for our first challenge?”
The protocol for the Naples regatta states that existing teams were not permitted to build new hulls, and Team NZ chief executive Grant Dalton said last month that allowed new teams to purchase old hulls and modify them into a more competitive state.
“Why you can still be in there and potentially still competitive is you don’t have to build a new boat. If you had to build a new boat, it’s already too late. No one would enter now because they couldn’t do it,” Dalton said.
“But because you’re starting with the same hull and there are second-hand hulls for sale that can be modified to be aerodynamically fast enough, the window is quite a lot wider. There’s quite a lot more room.”
Riptide Racing were giving themselves as much time as possible to get their campaign off the ground as the final deadline for entries looms early in 2026.
While he expected to have more of an idea of how likely entering the Cup would be by the end of this year, Poole said the team were giving themselves until the deadline date of January 31 to make a call.
“We’re going to push it to the end. Obviously, we want to make this happen and we don’t want to see the United States not have a team in the cup.
“If that means that we are the best option, then we’re going to try and make sure that we achieve that.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.