America’s Cup contender American Magic cite safety in withdrawing from Saudi Arabia regatta

American Magic. Photo / Photosport

American Magic will miss the America’s Cup preliminary regatta in Saudi Arabia after citing security concerns in the country.

The New York Yacht Club-backed syndicate have sought exemption from participating in the event, to be held in Jeddah from November 30 to December 3, as they believe they will be at heightened risk of terrorist attacks.

America’s Cup rules state that all teams must sail at all preliminary regattas ahead of next year’s event in Barcelona, where Team New Zealand will be attempting to defend their crown.

But in an application to the Cup’s arbitration panel, the New York Yacht Club highlighted a number of recent attacks in Saudi Arabia and argued the American team would be at greater risk than their peers if they sailed in the region.

“This danger and safety concern is not uniform, but asymmetric,” said American Magic general counsel Luis Saenz Mariscal. “The safety concern in Jeddah, and in its area, is genuine and particularly high for any prominent USA presence or American interest, whereas such risk may be lower for other countries and nationalities.”

Former Team NZ director James Farmer thinks the syndicate will successfully get dispensation to skip the regatta and avoid any penalties for the decision.

“Under the America’s Cup protocol, teams are responsible for their own safety and they are required to make their own safety decisions,” Farmer told Newstalk ZB’s D’Arcy Waldegrave.

“American Magic has I think quite rightly decided that it is an unsafe place to go for an event called the America’s Cup because of the terrorism, because of the bombings and so on that have been going on there, and because of the general antipathy towards Americans by the Saudis.”

The New York Yacht Club noted the US State Department had issued an advisory warning Americans to reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia due to heightened threats and said the nature of the regatta would make security difficult to guarantee.

“The sea is open and any boat may succeed in entering the race course without great difficulty by sheer speed and manoeuvring,” Mariscal said.

Farmer agreed with that reasoning and pointed to a recent incident in which a bomb-laden boat attacked an oil tanker anchored at a port in Jeddah.

“There’s no real ability to provide for security as there would be, for example, with Formula 1 racing or with a golf course or that kind of thing,” Farmer said. “There was an incident not so long ago where a boat which was full of bombs actually deliberately crashed into another boat to blow it up. And that’s the sort of thing that could easily happen out on the open sea.”

The New York Yacht Club first voiced concerns about competing in the region when Jeddah was being considered to host the America’s Cup, before Barcelona was selected.

American Magic commodore Paul Zabetakis said the team had repeatedly raised their concerns about racing in the region.

“A regatta with the title America’s Cup taking place off the waters of Jeddah has certain risks for all competitors,” he said. “However, these risks are unacceptably higher for a team named American Magic registered and flying a US flag-themed mainsail.”