May 1st interview with Russell Coutts sheds light on future direction of America's Cup in the mono vs multi debate

Updated May 9, 2010.

Interview in Profil Online: original German version | English translation

Russell Coutts: "The crucial question is what will be sailed in the America's Cup in 50 years, and whether we are moving there today.. I have no doubt that there will be multihulls."

America's Cup Alameda wonders if Mr. Coutts is thinking about the WSL 70 that he and another local sailing legend, Paul Cayard, conceived with VPLP? You'll recall that VPLP would then become a partner with BMW-Oracle Racing in the successful AC 33 challenge by GGYC with the design of USA-17.

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In Sailing World Paul Cayard was asked about WSL 70:

SW : How did you decide on a 70-foot catamaran?
PC: We wanted something that was fast, for sure. We want to have exciting sailing, Russ and I are looking to have some fun and exciting sailing, but we think [using a catamaran is] important as far as growing the sport and as far as an event that will be attractive to young sailors coming up, sailors coming out of the Olympic Games like Robert Scheidt or the Tornado sailors. And we wanted it to be big and we wanted it to be able to sail close to shore. So we went through the evolutions of monohull, then monohull canting keel, and there were limitations with each of those designs and really there were some costs with some of those concepts.What we have with a catamaran is a very light, fast, powerful boat that can sail very close to shore, doesn't have the depth problems that a canting keel has. The more I think about a catamaran, it's a little bit non-traditional for those of us who have been sailing for 40 years, but my guess is it's where the worlds is going in sailing, a little bit like snowboarding has in some way taken over from skiing.

SW: How do you get the exciting boat-on-boat action that is so common with monohulls, but less common with cats where tacking or jibing is so expensive in terms of boatspeed and boatlengths?
PC: Well, another feature is we want to have the races pretty short, targeting 30 to 40 minutes, at the most, for a race. So on a given day's sailing, you'll have three or four heats. I think it's great, if the crew screws up on this thing, it's going to cost them the race. There are big speed deltas between a boat that is tacking or jibing or one that's going straight. I think that will lead to some excitement coming down to the finish, if one boat has to make a jibe and the other is shooting straight in, it will be quite exciting. We like all the features of the cat.

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In Scuttlebutt, Paul Cayard was asked:

SB : What did you and Russell see in the sport that motivated the WSL concept?

PC : "We saw an opportunity to provide a better commercial event in the sport of sailing than what currently existed. The attributes we were aiming to improve on were continuity of the event, costs, and excitement. Obviously our event would have independent management. We have studied what works and doesn’t work in sailing and other sports. We planned to deliver spectacular sailing to the public through proximity, new formats, short races, continuity, and repeatability of events (Formula 1 circuit), in very fast but high tech boats, at reasonable cost (NASCAR).

Therefore our boat design was a 70-foot catamaran (“one design”). This does two things: it keeps costs down and at the same time it increases commercial value of the event as the boats are all even and any team can win any race which is exciting. We also felt that if we come up with an event that improved on what is out there that we could “consolidate” rather that divide the sport."

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US SAILING's Interview with BMW ORACLE Racing Team Tactician John Kostecki

USS: What did you enjoy most about your America’s Cup campaign?
JK: I enjoyed sailing multihulls. I hadn't sailed them much before this and we really had to go all out and learn how to sail these kind of boats. So that was very satisfying. There was a lot of learning involved and I always enjoy that.

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To America's Cup Alameda, this sounds similar to this video interview with Larry Ellison.

So it would seem these legendary sailors think that multihulls are inevitable to the sport and the America's Cup, the question is when will the transition begin? AC 34? We'll know more on May 6th. Stay tuned.

Update: We learned at the May 6th Press conference there will be a multihull vs monohull "design off"! History is made with just that option. America's Cup prototypes will be designed respectively by legendary Southern California designers Bruce Nelson and Morelli & Melvin. Both have experience in America's cup boats including the famous catamaran Morrelli and Melvin 1988 Stars and Stripes for Dennis Connor's successful defense. Alamedans will also recognize another famous Morelli & Melvin effort featured in the graphic below and on our video page - Playstation and Playstation Video.

While more detailed requirements for an AC 34 Village are required for a formal proposal, some insight can be gained in viewing AC 33 Village pictured below (see AC 33 here):

AC 33 Village

There is plenty of room in the former Naval Air Station Seaplane lagoon (now known as Alameda Point) whether it be multihulls or monohull type boats.

Alameda Point - former Naval Air Station near San Francisco

The lagoon could be an early base or a supplemental base to the main event base in San Francisco- or an alternate if necessary. In these days of hybrid technology and outsourcing, a hybrid approach could be a small, high profile base in San Francisco coupled with an "outsourced" and early base in the lagoon. The high profile base in San Francisco should be near the expected city front race venue and the hosting Golden Gate Yacht Club. A friend has mocked up a traditional style double finger marina- upwind slips only- to show the scale of the available area. Just to illustrate the scale of the lagoon, the boats are 90x90 ft multihulls in 3 rows of 10 with room left over for a spectator marina and ferry terminal as well as the winning boat of AC 33. Obviously even more room for a smaller number of syndicate bases or if the boats are monohull type.

The lagoon itself is well protected and further protected within the outer harbor. Short tow to race venue or even shorter tow and sail to the venue- what a concept. Sail to the start. Pre race could even be photo op for the tourists and specatators with exhibition and warmup along the "City Front"

As Norm said, "Lets Bring it on!".