Taylor Canfield and crew won three of the four races in winds ranging from 12 to 20 knots on Hamilton Harbour. They showed grit and determination in clawing back from deficits and a killer’s instinct in laying penalties on Williams and crew. They also showed great boatspeed when free and clear on the racecourse.

For Canfield the victory is his third at the Bermuda Gold Cup (2012, ’18) and second Open Match Racing World Championship (2013).

“It’s unbelievable. I can’t thank my team enough,” said Canfield. “I put us in a lot of tough spots this week and they got us out of almost every one of them. Thanks to Bermuda for getting us here. We’re excited to be out racing again, and to come away with a win is unbelievable. We’re thrilled.”

Canfield and crew accepted the King Edward VII Gold Cup, the sterling silver World Match Tour Championship trophy and the $30,000 winner’s check of the $100,000 prize purse.

Williams and Team GAC Pindar – Christian Kamp, Gerry Mitchell and Richard Sydenham – placed second and won $15,000. Williams, the two-time Gold Cup champion and six-time Open Worlds champion took the loss in stride, but was rueful of the umpire’s calls, whose decisions had an impact on the outcome.

“It’s a lot about styles,” Williams said. “We try to keep the umpires out of the game and (Canfield) likes to bring them into it, and it worked for him today.”

New Zealander Phil Robertson and his China One Ningbo crew – Bradley Farrand, Peter Nicholas, Johanna Thiringer and James Williamson – placed third overall and earned $12,000 after defeating Jeppe Borch’s Borch Racing Team from Denmark in the Petite Final.

At the awards ceremony after racing, dignitaries such as the Governor of Bermuda, John Rankin, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Commodore David Benevides, the President and CEO of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, Dr. William P. Curry, and the CEO of Bermuda Tourism, Glenn Jones, all spoke of how Bermuda has worked to contain and minimize the coronavirus pandemic. Everyone associated with the regatta was tested multiple times while on the island, and not one person failed the tests.

“We were able to prove to the world that we can host a professional sporting event safely and responsibly without sacrificing the action on the water,” said Jones.

They were on hand to witness the awarding of the Jordy Walker Trophy, recognizing the most improved young match race sailor at the Bermuda Gold Cup, to 23-year-old Borch. Borch’s crew, including August de la Cour, Seabastian Pieters and Nikolai Rasmussen, placed fourth overall and won $11,000 in their first Grade 1 match racing regatta.

RELATED: Bermuda Gold Cup Goes Coed

The Wedgwood Heritage Trophy, awarded in honor of Lord Piers Wedgwood, is presented to the sailor or support staff who best represents the traditional values and history of sailing. This year the trophy was presented to Tim Patton, who’s barge is a mainstay of the Bermuda Gold Cup. Asked for comment Patton replied, “When I’m done here, I’m taking the rest of the day off.”

From Williams’s perspective, the key point in the regatta was the pre-start of Race 2. Williams and Canfield had worked their way into the spectator boat crowd outside the pin end of the start line. Canfield was hounding Williams and got a penalty on him.

Canfield peeled off for a bit and sailed back toward the line and Williams began to follow. Canfield then decided to go back for another try at a penalty. Williams, on port, attempted to wipe Canfield by sailing below the commentary boat. Canfield, holding starboard, appeared to try and put his bow between the commentary boat and Williams. But his bow seemed to hit Williams’s at about the traveler and spun Williams bow into the commentary boat.

Damage was done to the bow of both boats as well as the commentary boat. Williams, who’d lost the first race, saw that as the turning point in the series. Not only did he receive a second penalty from the umpires, but he later was assessed a penalty of .75 points, which put him down 2-(-.75) after two races. That meant that he would have to win four consecutive races in order to win the championship.

“The big collision in Race 2 was the critical moment,” said Williams. “Not only was it a race win-loss on the penalty call, but also a lot of points on the collision. It’s essentially a 4-point delta. It was super critical. We’re not happy with it but you have to suck these things up.”

“The guys onboard were telling me to back off. I saw an opportunity and went for it,” said Canfield. “I hate hitting boats, but felt like there was no way to avoid it. He got another penalty and a three-quarter point penalty. Everyone makes mistakes and this time he made the mistake.”

The King Edward VII Gold Cup, awarded to the winner of the Bermuda Gold Cup, is the oldest trophy in the world for competition involving one-design yachts. First presented in 1907 by King Edward VII at the Tri-Centenary Regatta at Jamestown, Va., honoring the 300th anniversary of the first permanent colony in America, the trophy is the only King’s Cup ever to be offered for competition in the United States which could be won outright.

The Bermuda Gold Cup, an event of the World Match Racing Tour, is presented by Argo Group in benefit of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), an independent US non-profit scientific research and educational organization based in Bermuda. For over 100 years BIOS-based researchers and visiting scientists have worked to explore the ocean and address important local and global environmental issues, including climate change, coral reef resilience, and environmental monitoring. As a Bermuda registered charity, BIOS is committed to providing local students with educational programs that build a foundation for an appreciation of Bermuda’s marine environment, as well as future careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects. The Bermuda Gold Cup is proudly presented by the Bermuda Tourism Authority.

The post Team Stars+Stripes Strike Gold in Bermuda appeared first on Sailing World.

On this day in late April, Mike Buckley, the newly-appointed interim CEO of Stars + Stripes Team USA is back in his apartment in New York City’s Soho, virtually surrounded by money and opportunity in the economic epicenter that never sleeps. He’s been on the road for a few weeks, but it’s good to be back. The city’s hustle and bustle, and smell of success is everywhere he looks. He takes comfort in being surrounded by everyday Americans making things happen.

If only he could get his hands on a piece of this global cash flow that’s right under his nose—just a small piece in the grand scheme of things—we’d be having a different conversation. We wouldn’t be talking about a half-built multimillion-dollar America’s Cup raceboat waiting for an injection of cash or a build team eager to finish what they started. We wouldn’t be dancing around an answer to the undeniable and fast-approaching moment of truth for the All-American America’s Cup challenger.

Nope. We’d talking about when they’d be sailing their AC75 this summer, what they’re learning from the simulator, or even who is on the sailing team.

If only. Just a pile of millions more.

These are challenging days for Buckley and his co-founder Taylor Canfield who moonlights with the American SailGP squad in San Francisco while Buckley pounds pavement to keep their All-American AC team alive. A few weeks earlier, some of the team’s management gave up the ship, placing the campaign back into Buckley and Canfield’s hands to run with. He’s a self-described dreamer, and over the phone, he’s genuine when he confirms he’s not giving up on a young Cup campaign in serious need of an angel investor.

The team’s host yacht club toed the same line, countering rumors of the team’s demise with a statement in late March that read, “Long Beach Yacht Club’s Challenge for the 36th America’s Cup presented by Prada, Stars + Stripes USA, has not withdrawn from the America’s Cup and has no plans to do so.”

Stars + Stripes USA may well be the only of three late-entry teams to have fully paid the million-dollar entry fee, as well as design fees to Emirates Team New Zealand. The recent change in management, Buckley says, is not out the ordinary for businesses or sports teams [or presidential administrations]. “Taylor and I started it this team two years ago, so this is not a huge change in leadership. We have worked with some of the smartest people we have ever met, but we have grown as a campaign, and unfortunately people come and go and we are focused on the people that are here.”

RELATED: Stars & Stripes Returns to the America’s Cup

When they started out, they knew it would always be a grassroots effort, it would be hard to get across the finish line, and if they did, they’d still be fundraising. The scale of this current America’s Cup, however, with big untested machines, high salaries and a traveling pre-event circuit, may not be realistic or attainable for scrappy first-time syndicates. With fewer entries than fingers on one’s hand, the truth of ETNZ boss Grant Dalton’s final press conference statement of AC35 in Bermuda nearly two years ago rings true: It’ll be expensive, he acknowledged straight-faced, and not for everyone.

But Dalton also acknowledged it’s not impossible while thanking his own management. “They had to learn the ways of the America’s Cup and how incredibly difficult it is to stay going, and how you really have to put it out there, particularly financially, when you can’t actually pay the salaries, but you still don’t shut the door.”

Like Dalton, Buckley is dogged, if anything. “It’s certainly difficult because the budgets are enormous,” he says. “But we’ve watched Team New Zealand, year after year, be that scrappy, low-budget team that uses their money very carefully in places that make a difference.”

Buckley doesn’t intend to wear the CEO badge forever. The search for a replacement is underway, and a new advisory board will be announced over the coming weeks, as they put maximum effort into fundraising. The build, says Buckley was on schedule and the plan is to get it back to 100-percent build capacity by the end of May. They do not have any supplied equipment yet—for example the hydraulic foil control systems provided to teams—but a delay in the foil arms to be provided to all the teams bought them some time. Even if other teams are well down the track build-wise, conceivably, they won’t be sailing anytime soon.

Still, their rivals over at the New York YC’s American Magic have been making serious hay in Pensacola, Florida, over the winter with its test boat. The on-water experience divide grows greater every day, but Buckley says time in their simulator, which is currently staged somewhere in Massachusetts, is keeping them on the curve and ahead of the other late-comers at least.

“We do get lumped in with the other two late entry teams [Maltus Altus Challenge and Dutch Sail Challenge], but we are vastly different. The two other teams, to my knowledge, have not started building boats, and I’m not sure where they are on entry fees, but we want to see them to get to the finish line and get as many teams as possible to the finish line to make this a fantastic event.”

But time is time and time doesn’t wait for anyone, so there’s undeniable pressure to be on the starting line with a sorted AC75 and crew in Cagliari, Italy, in April 2020. One year in a Cup cycle is a blink. They’ve been building the boat since last year and feel he has a little more runway than one may think. There is not a go- or no-go date, so momentum is their fuel.

That momentum, he says, if driven by the comments he hears every day in support of the team’s vision. “A lot of kids under the age of 20 have never seen an All-American team in the America’s Cup,” he says. “Think about that. If we don’t get there, then add four or six years until they do see it. That’s why we wake up every day with a chip on our shoulder to get this done. It’s not for us. It’s for America, and that’s why we continue to push on it.

“Building a Cup team from scratch is hard,” he concludes. “There’s risk and there’s reward, and we know it’s never going to be easy, but we’re sure as hell not going to giving up.”

The post Young Cuppers Regroup appeared first on Sailing World.

Stars & Stripes Team USA, American flagged Challenger for the 36th America’s Cup, today released additional details outlining their boat build and design process.

This information comes less than one month after the team revealed, as part of their entry announcement, that construction of their AC75 race yacht was already underway.

“Since our entry announcement, the level of support we have received for an all-American team has exceeded our expectations,” said Stars & Stripes Team USA CEO, Justin Shaffer.

“From day one, we have seen an opportunity to create a sustainable legacy in American boat building and yacht design on our path to win the America’s Cup,” said Shaffer.

“For a number of reasons, including the outsourcing of the design and build of yachts in the past, there are a smaller number of American yacht designers and boat builders skilled in creating this new breed of foiling America’s Cup yachts.”

“What excites us about our grassroots vision for Stars & Stripes Team USA is that it creates new opportunities for the next generation of American boat builders and designers by having our all-American team learn from global experts.”

As part of the team’s strategy to learn from industry experts, Stars & Stripes Team USA purchased a design package for their AC75 race yacht from Emirates Team New Zealand which immediately placed the team in a competitive position with respect to the boat build and design process for AC36.

That package included a complete design for the team’s first AC75 that is currently under construction, a design identical to ETNZ’s boat one.

Stars & Stripes Team USA also has the option to purchase an additional, basic design package for their second boat that can be modified with the team’s final race performance enhancements (under the 36th America’s Cup protocol teams are restricted to building only two AC75’s).

Throughout the build and design process, the design package also allows for Stars & Stripes Team USA designers to learn from the ETNZ design team, the same team that developed the revolutionary foiling monohull concept.

Using this platform as a starting point, the Stars & Stripes Team USA design team, led by JB Braun, has been able to focus on innovative performance solutions to improve upon the design package in areas including appendage design, software, and sail design, amongst others.

Recent hires to that design and build team are Senior Engineer Alon Finkelstein, who immigrated to the States 20 years ago and joins the team after 15 years with Farr Yacht Design and 3 years with Oracle Racing, and Lead Construction Manager Dennis Gunderson from Maine, who has versatile project management experience in the boat building industry from classic yachts to carbon fiber super yachts.

Also joining the team as Performance Analysis Machine Learning Lead, is America’s Cup veteran Bryan Baker from Cohasset, MA who brings a robust background in computational fluid dynamics modeling and performance prediction to the design team.

“The ability for us to grow American talent in learning how to design and build foiling monohulls was key in our negotiations for our design package prior to our entry,” explained Shaffer.

“In addition, we have made it well known that it is our full intention to take advantage of the competitive edge from this package and use it to win the challenger series and ultimately the America’s Cup in 2021.”

Key to this advantage is a design partnership with North Technology Group that will have Stars & Stripes Team USA collaborating closely with their design team and construction engineers in Minden, NV to develop new technology.

The decision for North Sails to supply sails and design resources for Stars & Stripes Team USA has been spearheaded by Braun, who in addition to his role within the team, also serves as the director of design and engineering for the world’s leading sailmaker.

“Each Cup cycle produces an influx of design and technology, which keeps North at the forefront of material and design software innovation,” said Braun.

“With the move to thin sail skins as opposed to the rigid wing designs from recent Cup racing, there are significant performance gains we are currently exploring in how we manufacture and design the North 3Di sails for the AC75 rule.”

RELATED: Holland in the House

Ken Read, President of North Sails, echoed the North Sails commitment to advancing sail design and technology, a pillar for the Stars & Stripes Team USA campaign.

“We are proud and privileged that our world-leading people and products have once again been chosen as the best of the best,” said Read.

“Stars & Stripes Team USA’s design program is in the very capable hands of JB, one of the most talented sail designers in the game today, and all of us at North Sails are looking forward to watching the 36th America’s Cup unfold. Personally, I am thrilled to see Stars & Stripes Team USA and their next-generation, American sailing team in the Cup, as their namesake was a big part of my professional sailing life during the 2000 and 2003 America’s Cup cycles.”

Stars & Stripes Team USA is now able to confirm that they are building the team’s AC75 at Composite Builders in Holland, Michigan and that they have retained legendary boat builder, Tim Smyth to advise on the build.

“The choice of Composite Builders was an easy one for us; we are grateful to build our boat in Michigan and Tim’s consult has helped our team get up to speed quickly,” said Braun.

“Rather than simply hire a boat building team and keep our AC75 build in-house, we decided it was both more efficient and had a more positive impact on the American boat building industry to invest in an existing boat builder. We are excited to finally announce our partnership.”

Brian MacInnes, founder and CEO of Composite Builders and veteran of multiple America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, said his shop was enthusiastic to support Stars & Stripes Team USA’s grassroots approach.

“To date we have brought together over twenty American boat builders for Stars & Stripes Team USA’s AC75 build,” said MacInnes.

“There is no doubt that the number of experienced boat builders in this country has declined over the past two decades and pairing expertise with those eager to learn is a proven method for increasing that number. We are already seeing this project’s positive impact in Michigan and are proud to partner with this team.”

Stars & Stripes Team USA will soon be announcing details around the application and tryout process for American athletes and support personnel wanting to be part of the team. American boat builders and those interested in apprenticeships are encouraged to apply.

The post Second U.S. America’s Cup Challenger Goes Live appeared first on Sailing World.

At some point in the summer of 2019, Composite Builders will open the big doors on the backside of its beige 30,000 square-foot fabrication lair and roll out its AC75 for Stars & Stripes Team USA. When this happens, you can bet the town of Holland, Michigan, will know all about it. While the everyday citizen may not realize it today, they’ll soon learn their little city on the shores of Lake Macatawa, once a hub of classic boatbuilding, has given birth to one of the most sophisticated sailboats the world has ever seen.

A dead giveaway of something America’s Cup is afoot in Western Michigan these days is the presence of a few new faces around the neighborhood. They’re here to build a boat — a wicked black one at that — under the leadership of transplanted Nova Scotian Brian MacInnes, a big-armed veteran of numerous Oracle Racing Team campaigns. He’s gone from grinding to working on America’s Cup boats: from IACCs to the Dogzilla trimaran and the Comeback AC72 of San Francisco.

RELATED: Second U.S. America’s Cup Challenger Goes Live

MacInnes (above, third from left) started the composites fabrication company after retiring from professional sailing in 2013. His wife Danielle, whom he met at a regatta in the late 1980s in Antigua, manages the books and keeps the place running smoothly. His son, Rock, runs the clean room and oversees Composite’s other day-to-day production items; like parts for Harken and the Paralympic medal-winning sit skis. MacInnes’s right-hand man, Jon Holstrom, lead boatbuilder for Oracle Racing Team for four campaigns, is essentially quality control and guarantee.

Business has been good since startup, says MacInnes. He’s had to move three times already, with his footprint growing exponentially each time. He only turned on the lights in his new facility in October 2018, just in time to gear up for the production of a foiling 75-footer for Stars & Stripes. His headcount is on the rise, currently at 30 or so, and more hands are on the way.

The Help Wanted sign is out. “Early on, we reached out to a few folks we knew,” MacInnes says, “but there are a lot of good guys out here [in Holland] too.”

They’re drawing builders from coast to coast, from technical schools and connections, and are eagerly looking for young skilled, technical laborers to back the core team. “We’re bringing them in, housing them, feeding them, and building a boat,” MacInnes says. “As this continues and ramps up, we will bring in the hydraulic guys, the electricians, and all the specialists that you need to run a campaign.” By summertime, he says, there will be 40 guys or so trying to find space on the boat to do their work.

“We’re really trying to tap into the younger generation to get them onto the scene,” MacInnes says. “We need to get the younger minds and backs on the team and train them up. I’m 50 years old now and I want to pass along what I know. It’s an awesome opportunity for us to mentor a new group of people.”

Granted, the unproven AC75 is a big step for Composite Builders. Taking on a build of this scale, MacInnes admits, isn’t daunting at all. “I know the guys are super excited. We’ve got a big place and the shop is full and buzzing. Hopefully it will show what West Michigan has to offer. The buzz is getting around and folks are showing up looking for work, so it’s good.”

By springtime, he says, there will be 10 or 15 additional guys buying coffee and egg sandwiches down at the bakery nearby.

Advising on the build, remotely, is Tim Smyth, a guru among New Zealand’s high-tech boatbuilding experts. Smyth’s company, Core Builders, once based in Anacortes, Washington, has had far and deep reaches into virtually every America’s Cup team of recent times, primarily with Oracle Racing. With Stars & Stripes Team USA having purchased a comprehensive design package from Emirates Team New Zealand, Smyth will consult when necessary with Alon Finkelstein, the team’s in-house senior engineer, who will liaise with the Cup defender’s design and engineering teams. Smyth’s role, says Stars & Stripes COO, Todd Reynolds, is to ensure boat No. 1 (of potentially two), is fast, safe, and reliable.

“It’s awesome to consult with Tim,” MacInnes says. “The team was lucky to be able to retain his services for this build. He has an experienced set of eyes and knowledge. The fact that he’s built every Oracle boat that’s come out of the shed since that campaign started…he just knows the ins and the outs of it all, from the ground up. A big part of this build is making sure we have the right information when we need it.”

With an experienced team coming into shape, activity is stirring inside Composite’s facility. Today, there’s a sense of urgency, but key decisions don’t need to be forced, just yet. “With a boat like this, it’s the small parts that bite you,” MacInnes says. “The internals and the framework that’s down below — the nuts and bolts of it. A lot of people like to see the shiny new hull, but really, it’s all the internals we need to get going. We want all the bits and pieces done so we can assemble it once we get our hull.”

Reported delays of supplied one-design components from New Zealand haven’t affected the team’s build progress to date (one benefit of starting late). “For us, it’s not a big concern because, being stock standard items, we can build around those pieces and then fit them in the end,” MacInnes says.

But the clock is running, and so too, are the shifts at Composite. MacInnes had his guys on the floor through Christmas and New Year’s Day as the boat’s major components took shape. He knows his timeline is dictated by the first AC75 regatta planned for Italy in October, and the boat would ideally need to be sea-trialed on Lake Michigan before it ships.

To date, the build has gone “swimmingly well,” MacInnes says. “It was a later start, for sure, but once we got rolling, the information has been flowing very well. Every time we build a boat like this you’re hunting for kilograms, and getting Team New Zealand’s design package behind us is a huge help with their engineering staff. We have the information we need to do it right, and we have a few tricks up our sleeve as well. We don’t have to do it exactly the way they’ve done it.”

When the team does eventually haul the big hull out of Holland on a flatbed, bound for the West Coast or the Mediterranean, whichever comes first, the police escort will either be under the cover of darkness or leading a parade through Holland with a marching band and all. When it’s gone, MacInnes can sweep the space it once occupied and start ramping up the next.

The post Holland in the House appeared first on Sailing World.

For America’s Cup rumor slingers, the December 12 announcement that Taylor Canfield’s and Mike Buckley’s American challenge for the 36th edition in Auckland in 2021 was accepted by the Defender was a long time coming.

The long-time-coming is true as well for Canfield and Buckley who, between their own pro sailing gigs, have been knocking on doors and calling in favors for nearly two years as they hustled to fill a war chest. The road to the Cup is a long one, however, and even with the support of Los Angeles’ Long Beach YC and a millionaire’s club of patrons, the upstart team of first timers enter the Cup arena as a sports better’s long shot against the experienced juggernauts of INEOS Team UK, Luna Rossa, and the New York YC’s American Magic, all of whom have been busy designing, sailing, and training in earnest for many months now.

“I think this will be a defining moment for American sailing,” said Canfield, raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands but now living in Miami. “We have already begun assembling our sailing roster and will announce more details, soon. It has been my professional goal to compete in the America’s Cup my whole life and I am confident we will be very competitive in Auckland.”

According to a team spokesperson, the team intends to play the long game — at least a few Cup cycles — as an all-American squad, but the current order of business is to continue to recruit a team, both sailing and shore, while building a fan base under the livery of Stars & Stripes Team USA. The team name, says Buckley, of New York, New York, is a nod to Dennis Conner’s iconic brand of America’s Cups past.

“We are the next generation,” says Buckley. “We feel honored to revive that legacy and met with Dennis in person where he affirmed both our use of the name as well as our goal to create an authentic and inclusive American team.”

With Conner’s blessing, and with the support of Long Beach YC commodore Bill Durant, who’s signature event is LBYC’s annual Congressional Cup match race regatta, Canfield and Buckley will continue their search for homegrown talent while construction of an AC75 continues in Michigan. Design direction is being overseen by JB Braun, of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Braun, who’s been in the Cup game for two decades, is the Director of Design and Engineering with North Sails and directed Oracle Team USA’s sail and rig package for the 34th and 35th editions of the Cup, so he knows plenty of both the aero and foil considerations. Not to mention complications.

Braun, of course, brings a direct link to North Sails and its technical resources. Ken Read, North Sails president and Stars & Stripes alumni under Conner, says Braun will continue to his current role with the company while integrating his new America’s project.

“North Sails has a long-standing history of ‘loaning’ key designers and engineers to the design groups of America’s Cup syndicates, which not only helps us make better product for each team but also pushes our software and our smartest people to completely new levels,” Read says. “We currently have key designers and software engineers working with Ineos, Stars and Stripes, Luna Rosa and ETNZ.”

The build of its AC75, the team states in its first announcement, has been accelerate with the purchase of a “design and technology” package from Emirates Team New Zealand. Design packages vary from Cup to Cup, and while Buckley declined to share the contents of the team’s starter package, he does say they’ve been at it for a while now. “The lights have been on for a while and the boat is under construction in Michigan [Holland],” he says. “That part fits into our story because in 2008 to 2009 manufacturing was shutting down shop there, and now we’re back there in the manufacturing capital of America building a boat, and we’re really happy about that.”

With limited in-house design resources, the design package would likely be thorough, says Scott Ferguson, design director for Oracle Team USA in the previous Cup. “I don’t know what they negotiated, but if you don’t fill a decent-size design team with structural engineers and the like, you’re going to have to rely on information going directly to the builder. So, what a package might include would be full scantlings of the hull and the hull structure. The most sensitive part of this whole thing will be the foils and that’s one area where Team New Zealand would hold back on certain things. The package will certainly have all the basics to get the boat built and sailing.”

What’s the going rate to a get a jump on the AC75? Several million for sure, says Ferguson, and of course, everything is negotiable from there.

Leading the management team as CEO is 36-year-old entrepreneur Justin Shaffer, of San Francisco, who left his career in the tech field to pursue a career in professional big-boat sailing. He’s supported by COO Tod Reynolds, the director of Chicago’s Match Race Center who oversaw the hugely successful America’s Cup World Series Chicago event. Melinda Erkelens, of San Francisco, has been retained as General Counsel to guide the team through the Cup’s sea of red tape, a role she is versed in having counseled both Oracle Team USA and Artemis Racing in past Cup campaigns.

“We’re not running it like a first-timer team,” says Buckley. “We got to a point where we were comfortable properly launching this team. We will be lean and mean, and we’re not going to have a huge group of employees. We are here to win this thing and we will have as many smart people as we possibly can. Building an organization has been the most important piece of the puzzle over the last six months. Getting everyone onboard legitimizes our organization and that’s something that Taylor and I needed.”

With Buckley and Canfield essentially East Coasters, how is it that the team landed in Long Beach? “We were trying to get the right fit,” says Buckley. “There are so many great clubs in the United States, and we had to see which one felt like home. That’s what it feels like in Long Beach Yacht Club. Taylor has won for Congressional Cups there and they love him in that city. There is no other place like it in the world, with the volunteers that show up for that event. We hope that we can involve all yacht clubs, but Long Beach is home.”

“They’re great people, very supportive members,” Canfield adds. “It’s incredible what they do at the Con Cup every year. They dig into their pockets and put on an amazing event and that’s the type of people we want to have involved in a project like ours.”

There is much work to be done, and fundraising will continue all the way thought the campaign, says Buckley, but there’s nothing wrong with that. It keeps people hungry, he says, and he’ll have a hungry team that will fight all the way to the end.

The post Stars & Stripes Returns to the America’s Cup appeared first on Sailing World.