America's Cup: Dutch challenge will test Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa relationship

Emirates Team New Zealand celebrates after they beat ORACLE TEAM USA to win the America's Cup. Photo / Getty Images.

Six challengers for the America's Cup, yes, but there could still be only five – and the announcement of the Dutch challenge for the regatta in Auckland in 2021 may be the first real test of the relationship between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa.

That's because, reading between the lines of Team NZ's announcement on Friday, the Dutch need Luna Rossa's blessing as Challenger of Record before they can make the start line.

The joint challenge from the Royal Netherlands Yacht Club Muiden and Royal Maas Yacht Club was one of those recently received by ETNZ with conditions. Of the eight late entries that flooded in, two fulfilled requirements (Malta Altus and Stars & Stripes) and were automatically accepted.

However, the others all had conditions requiring a change of the America's Cup protocol, the document which sets the rules for the design, construction, crewing and racing of the boats trying to win the Cup under the banner of the original Deed of Gift.

But because the protocol needs to be changed, the Challenger of Record must agree – and that is where the relationship between Emirates Team NZ and Luna Rossa comes into play.

While the defender has an obvious motive for allowing another challenger entry, Luna Rossa (and other challengers, come to that) has an equally obvious incentive to decline. Why would a competitor spending mega-bucks on an America's Cup challenge open the door for someone who could potentially beat them to challenge the defender?

The answer could be tied up with money – hardly a surprise in the America's Cup. The late entry fee is US$1 million and it is thought some teams are having a tough time finding that extra amount. Paying by instalment is an option but needs a change to the protocol and Luna Rossa's approval.

There is precedent for this. Team NZ couldn't pay their fee in time for the Bermuda deadline in 2017 – and Oracle Team USA and the Challenger of Record (Artemis) agreed to a change in protocol allowing the Kiwis to pay by instalment for a regatta they eventually won.

Luna Rossa and ETNZ have been close for a long time. They collaborated in the 2013 America's Cup in San Francisco; in the run-up to the 2017 Cup in Bermuda, Luna Rossa pulled out in protest at Oracle Team USA's late design changes reducing the size of the boat, and threw much of their weight behind the New Zealand challenge. Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena spent 18 months working for ETNZ as a technical advisor in the Bermuda regatta.

They were named Challenger of Record for the 2021 regatta almost as soon as ETNZ won in Bermuda and are helping with the design of the new AC75 monohulls – including the foiling arms, the subject of much scrutiny lately.

Luna Rossa is also the force behind the new challenger series and trophy – formerly the Louis Vuitton Cup, now the Prada Cup. Luna Rossa principal Patrizio Bertelli is chief executive of Prada and is married to Miuccia Prada; their company is bankrolling the Italian challenge along with Pirelli.

So a team which withdraws from the Cup on principle and which has so much of a stake in the 36th America's Cup (which Prada has been trying to win for about 20 years) may be no pushover when it comes to allowing the Dutch in.

The counter-argument is that the latecomers, while unlikely to win the Cup first up, may beef up the ranks of the challengers in more than one regatta. The Malta Altus challenge, for example, was lodged with the avowed intention of participating in two or three America's Cup cycles – when winning becomes a more realistic objective.

If Luna Rossa fails to allow a Dutch entry now, it may cut its own flotilla of challengers should the Italians win the Cup in Auckland.

Little is known about the Dutch challenge so far but it is thought to be headed by Simeon Tienpont, an America's Cup winner with Oracle Team USA and, intriguingly, a Luna Rossa crew member when they pulled out of the 2017 regatta. He is also a multiple Volvo Ocean Race contestant, skippering the AkzoNobel team to fourth place in the 2017-2018 VOR.

So five teams remains a distinct possibility as outlined in the final paragraph of Team NZ's press release on Friday: "Today Emirates Team New Zealand have advised the Auckland Council and Government that if there ultimately are not six challengers, there is an option not to build the Hobson Wharf extension as five teams can be accommodated on Wynyard Point saving taxpayer money."