Yacht designers rule out radical changes to AC class

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The world's best designers are in no rush to call for radical changes to the America's Cup boats.

The America's Cup-class yachts, which took over from the 12m class which reached its use-by-date after the 1987 cup in Fremantle, are likely to be around for some time.

At a media conference yesterday, many of the designers, including New Zealanders Laurie Davidson and Bruce Farr, who are now with overseas-based syndicates, looked forward - and back.

The consensus among the seven who have put their reputations on the line in the Louis Vuitton series is that there is no need for change, although there was a call for boats to be lighter and, therefore, more manoeuvrable.

"I don't think that the rule [which governs the design for America's Cup boats] has reached the end of its life," Farr said. "It is a good rule which does a good job.

"It would be nice, however, to see the boats made lighter. It is difficult to sail boats which have such big blobs of lead on the bottom of the boat [keel].

"And we have seen some of those get lost, haven't we?"

Bruce Nelson, with Davidson and Phil Kaiko, part of the three-man OneWorld design team, said he would like to see the boats "a bit lighter."

But, he reminded everyone, any change to the class of boat had to be instigated by the defenders.

"The defenders control the rules. Unless the defender wants to change, there won't be changes," Nelson said.

Mani Frers, of Sweden's Victory Challenge, said: "The rule is a solid part of the cup."

Davidson admitted there had been changes, the most apparent being the reduction in the beam, an obvious reference to Team Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes, which is by a significant margin the narrowest of all those in the regatta.

"But," asked Davidson, "how narrow is too narrow?"

While declining to join the challenging designers on stage, Team New Zealand's Tom Schnackenberg said he had not realised the defender had the right to make the rules regarding the class of yachts to be sailed.

"I agree there are a lot of issues to be considered before making any change," he said. "Any decision would need to involve everybody, not just the designers.

"But whether any change would come in time for the next cup is problematic. Maybe you would have to look two or even three cups ahead before considering any changes."

Asked whether there was "anything new to come in terms of design", Farr said: "There are some things to look at next time. Certainly, we have not had enough time this time to do everything well."

Davidson, asked to compare conditions in San Diego and Auckland in terms of design needs, said: "They could not be more different. San Diego was pretty predictable; Auckland very unpredictable."

Nelson said a change in venue was akin to changing the class [of boat] anyway.

Davidson admitted that in "trying to cover all bases" he and his fellow designers with the Seattle-based OneWorld team had drawn on his experience with Team New Zealand.

Farr, asked whether the designers had worked with the El Nino weather pattern in mind, replied: "With the weather so difficult to predict you are forced to develop a good all-round boat."

To suggestions that if the Alinghi boat was painted black you would have NZL-60 - the boat which retained the cup 2-1/2 years ago - designer Rolf Vrolijk said: "We feel our boat is quite different. Only the length and some parameters are the same. You will see in the future that our boat will be different."

Schnackenberg said "about four or five" of the boats around the Viaduct Basin were close to Team New Zealand's black boats for this campaign, but Oracle and Stars and Stripes were "quite different".

Of the six challengers remaining, only Prada and Team Dennis Conner missed the debate.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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