Digesting the changes

James Boyd considers the prospects of the revamped Admiral's Cup

Two boats teams, from yacht clubs rather than nations, racing next year out of Dun Laoghaire and not Cowes - the changes the Royal Ocean Racing Club have made to their flagship event have been far reaching.

After the embarrassment of having to cancel the 2001 Admiral's Cup because they did not have enough teams, it seems that RORC have done all in their power to ensure there will be no shortage of entries for their new revitalised event in 2003.

Moving the Admiral's Cup to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced 'Dun Leery') is one of the indicators that RORC mean business in their shake up of the event. Aside from being a popular tourist destination and being based in the brand new Dun Laoghaire Marina, the move to Ireland will also help with the financial stability of the Admiral's Cup, following the departure of long term sponsor Champagne Mumm.

The Irish government have offered to help with the promotion of the event (although they have been careful to avoid the word 'sponsorship') and it is believed there is a healthy war chest with which to carry this out. Even better, RORC hint that they have a title sponsor for the Admiral's Cup all but signed up. This type of financial security can only be good for the long term prospects of the event.

Racing will take place over the two week period of 12-26 July, 2003 and will be run by RORC in association with the Royal St George Yacht Club. Janet Grosvenor, RORC's Director of Racing, says that the format of the event will be moving back in the direction of the Admiral's Cup's roots, when it was considered 'the world championship of 'offshore' racing', although there will still be some inshore courses. This is perhaps best demonstrated by the ambitious culmination of the fortnight - a race around Ireland, which at 710 nautical miles is roughly 100 miles longer than the Fastnet Race. Quite what combination of long distance, intermediate and inshore will be scheduled has yet to be decided.

The choice of boats also tells of a radical rethinking on the club's part. RORC has wisely, and some would say belatedly, opted to go where the market is instead of trying to direct the market. After pinning their colours to IRM, few would have anticipated them to return to IMS, but this style of racing is still dominant in many parts of the world, particularly the Med.

The smaller boat in the Admiral's Cup will conform to the rules of the new IMS600 class (see page two), with a 595-615 seconds per mile IMS rating band. RORC claim there are 240 examples of boats which could comply with IMS600 worldwide. One wonders how well these boats will survive being raced hard round Ireland.

Still to be pinned down is also the size band for the big IRC boat, although at RORC's press conference it was stipulated that it would be 'bigger than 50ft'. There is a contingent among the shapers of the new Admiral's Cup who want the large boat to include maxis, but this is likely once again to limit the number of potential entries, something which at this stage of the event's development RORC would be wise to avoid. Grosvenor says she hoping potential competitors will help them decided on this - as well as the format of the racing.

RORC claim they haven't included a one design class in the new format as they couldn't find a class with suitable international penetration.

The issue of having entries from clubs rather than nations still seems a little vague too. Clubs must be affiliated to the national authority and RORC say that they will allow up to two two boat teams per nation, although additional teams can also apply. They also say if there is more than two teams, potential entries will have to undergo a trial process similar to the old days of the Admiral's Cup selection process, run by the national body. The club say they will clarify this is due course.

RORC expect to confirm the size of the big boat class this summer and the Notice of Race will not be published until the autumn.

We anticipate that the new format will be reasonably popular, provided the RORC are sensible in their requirements for the large IRC boat. However whether RORC's new event will return to being the 'world championship of offshore sailing' remains to be seen. For more than a decade the popularity in offshore racing seems to have dwindled, owners prefering shorter courses and leaving the offshore or oceanic events to professionals and those with the stomach for it, in events like the Volvo Ocean Race and Vendee Globe.

What on earth is an IMS 600 boat? See page two...