2023-09-17 10:00:01
Vilanova and Geltrú Everyone loves sailing, but they seem to come from different planets. Hundreds of Catalan skates, one of the most loved boats on the Catalan coast, raised their sails this Saturday to warm up their engines before the America’s Cup preliminary regatta. On their way back to port, they passed close to the six teams preparing to try to win the 100 Guineas Cup, one of the most famous trophies in the world of sport, in 2024. Teams with engineers, computer scientists, mathematicians, nutritionists, ex-cyclists professionals to pedal on top of the boat and, who knows, maybe spies. The Copa América de vela has raised the curtain with the first preliminary races of a tournament that will not be decided until October 2024. This weekend’s meeting in Vilanova is a first taste to see how six teams who, at times, they seem more dependent on their rivals than on themselves.
“This competition causes some of the richest and most powerful people in the world to fall very low and lose their roles,” says Magnus Wheatley, a historian of the America’s Cup sailing, who is walking around the press area these days. The Briton, who is preparing a book about the first edition of the competition, in 1851, knows by heart every champion, every boat and every entrepreneur who has sought glory. Shipwrecked, many times. “Think of Sir Thomas J. Lipton, the great magnate of infusions and tea, one of the richest men in the world at the time. He did everything to make a British boat champion and never succeeded. Millions and health were left there. And he could never succeed, never,” he explains. The modern Thomas J. Liptons are now brands like Red Bull, INEOS or Prada. Big international brands that form alliances with historic sailing clubs, to win. “In some things they are like the pirates of the past, ready for anything,” jokes Wheatley. In the quest for glory, there have been fistfights between crews, accidents due to not wanting to give way to the rival, insults and heaps of money to rob rivals of some of their most skilled sailors. When the Swiss team Alinghi surprisingly won the America’s Cup, being a landlocked country, it was because it nationalized a crew from New Zealand by decree. That’s why this year there are rules to avoid things like that.The rules for each edition, it must be remembered, are decided by the champion team.
Some of the most controversial episodes of the tournament, however, have had to do with spies. For the participants, knowing what their rivals are doing is as important as their own program, even if they now compete in almost identical boats. Small details make the difference, and that’s why rivals spy on each other. Actually, a few years ago Emirates Team New Zealand announced the firing of a contractor company for allegedly leaking secrets to rivals. Grant Dalton, the person responsible for bringing the Cup to Catalonia, explained in 2017 how they had to track if there were hidden microphones or hackers in their IT services.
The famous 1983 Cup, with divers spying
One of the most famous cases, however, was that of 40 years ago, in what is probably the most famous edition, in 1983. Until then, from 1851 to 1983, the Cup had always been won by the Americans of the New York Yacht Club. They had never lost. The Cup, it must be remembered, does not have a stable calendar. It is done when an aspirant challenges the champions, which is why four or twelve years can pass between each edition. Be that as it may, that 1983 the Australians arrived in Newport, where the Cup was held, with a surprising boat that wanted to put up a fight. they did it
That ship carried a revolutionary bear with wings. The bear is a piece used to improve stability, located in this case under the ship. The Australians hid it so much that when they raised their ship to clean it, they covered it with cloth. Such mystery existed about what lay beneath the ship that, after a training session, a member of the Australian team saw something strange near the ship: a diver. This one would be taken to a police station, but it was never tried and the Australians always suspected that, being done in the United States, the local secret services would have helped the New York team. “A legend has it that when Alan Bond, the Australian tycoon who put up the money, met his rival before the last races, he saw that the latter had a photo of the bear on his boat on the table.” explains Wheatley. Be that as it may, two other divers were located trying to take photographs of the famous bear, now on display at the Australian Maritime Museum. That year the Australians put an end to more than 130 years of American rule.
In 1992, the Americans were once again champions thanks to Bill Koch, one of the richest men in the world, who did everything to succeed. Koch spent $3 million trying to find out everything about his rivals. He hired submarines that had been part of the US military to send them under rival ships, put hidden buoys in places not allowed to calculate the speed of rivals and inside a ship that looked normal, installed lar a radio set to hear what the rivals were saying. “The Copa América has nothing noble or fair, it’s a dirty game,” he would say himself. At least he was honest. In fact, the first edition of all, that of 1851, also had its incidents, as the American ship took a slightly shorter route than its British rivals, because it was unaware of a rule according to which it was necessary to skirt a buoy on the outside. His triumph was not in danger because the British realized that no one had informed theAmerica of that unwritten rule among all who used to sail in the Isle of Wight. Moreover, they won with such superiority that many considered it childish to claim. Others, on the other hand, still today accuse the Americans of cheating, recalling that they had hired a local navigator who knew the waters. And, therefore, maybe that Englishman did know that it was necessary to skirt the famous buoy.
The incidents have been happening again and again. In 2003 two American boats wanted to regain the title, which had been won by the New Zealanders. That’s when OneWorld’s classified information was offered to its US rival, Oracle, for $2.5 million. These included details on hull design, crew navigation techniques, and crew member information. Oracle preferred to report it publicly and not accept the deal. It was one thing to spy on himself and quite another to buy information from a man who wanted to do business. Who was it about? Well, from Sean Reeves, the OneWorld lawyer, hurt because his salary had been cut.
In fact, over the years teams have started hiring lawyers, both to manage contracts and to interpret the rules. Lawyers have gone on to receive better salaries than some sailors, trying to find out if rivals have made mistakes in the appointment preparation process. After the incident with Sean Reeves, there are no other known cases of lawyers who have had their pay cut. Oracle, by the way, did well in 2003, but a decade later they would be penalized for cheating, when they secretly modified details of their ship on a date not allowed in the competition calendar. They were caught and three members of the team were kicked out. This year, thankfully, everyone seems to be playing fair. At the moment.
Team New Zealand and the surprising Orient Express dominate the first day
Emirates Team New Zealand, with a third and a first place, and the French Orient Express, with a first and a third, dominated the first day of racing in Vilanova. The result of the French is surprising, since it is the last team to confirm that it would be in the Cup and they had trained little together. In the end, the lack of wind only made it possible to do two of the four planned races. Today’s final day will consist of two 6 to 8 mile (10 to 14 km) windward-leeward heats (between buoys) and the final Match-Race (boat vs. boat) heat between the top two overall finishers. There will also be the second day of the sailing regattas with 217 boats competing.
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