Grant Dalton has officially named Auckland as the venue for the 36th America's Cup match with racing to take place between 6th- 21st March 2021
Team NZ CEO Grant Dalton Photo: Photosport Ltd 2017 www.photosport.nz
Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton officially named Auckland's Hauraki Gulf as the venue for the 36th America's Cup match with the defending champions to race against the winner of the Prada Cup, the Challenger Selection Series, in a best of 13 (first to seven points).
In accordance with the protocol, the race course area for the Prada Cup and America's Cup match was also announced. The racing area is defined by a varied area outlined across the wider Hauraki Gulf, running south along the North Shore beaches around North Head encompassing the inner Waitemata harbour right up to Auckland's harbour bridge and downtown CBD, across Auckland's Eastern suburbs and all the way out the Tamaki Strait between Waiheke Island and Maraetai.
The Waitemata Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf are widely regarded as 'The jewel in Auckland's crown' and will offer a plethora of race course options, with a full range of wind directions and conditions.
"There is a reason that Auckland is world renowned as 'The City of Sails' and for its sailing conditions," said Grant Dalton.
"We're very fortunate that the geography of Auckland allows us so many exciting and challenging race course options in close proximity to elevated vantage points for spectators on land."
"We needed to define a wide racing area to cater for all wind and tide directions and conditions, which we have done across the racing area. But the one overarching objective in identifying the specific race courses within the race area was to bring the racing as close as possible to the land based spectators."
Both North Head and Bastion Point locations allow the public to literally hear the AC75s whistling above the water and see the wind shifts on the water without having to set foot on a boat.
There has been specific consideration given to the ideal time of day for racing to start. A tentative race time window estimated between 1600-1800 local time in order for a typical March sea breeze to reliably establish itself across the Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf race courses based on a leg length of between 1.3- 2.2 Nautical Miles (NM).
Along with the proximity to public, consideration has been given to minimising race day cancellations due to too much wind or swell as was seen in the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco.
The course area, directly between Eastern Beach and Waiheke Island provides a sheltered, all wind direction race course and was the training ground of Emirates Team New Zealand for their successful 35th America's Cup challenge in Bermuda.
The definitive race distance will depend on the wind speed and selected race course each day with an anticipated 35-minute race duration, including pre-start, based on a typical windward leeward configuration with potential for a dramatic final reaching leg to the finish line.