Editorial A good Champagne Mumm Admiral’s Cup. And for the next trick...
In the final analysis, the 1997 Champagne Mumm Admiral’s Cup proved itself an event well worthy of winning. The fleet may have been the smallest for many years, at 21 boats, but the racing was of the highest standard and the result remained in doubt right up until the final few hundred yards of the event, in Plymouth Sound.
There was a great deal of positive discussion during this Admiral’s Cup, with strong consensus on some of the changes perceived to be needed for future events. That the event takes too long for today’s world seems beyond doubt, and that we need a bigger spread of available boats is another thing on which most seemed to be agreed. Narrow élitism, in quality terms, is fine for the competitors at the front, but it must be faced that unless the Admiral’s Cup stays above a minimum size its continued survival really could fall into question.
Helmut Jahn’s Farr IMS 49 Flash Gordon 3 was the top individual points scorer at CMAC'97 This said, it was then no surprise that when the RORC announced its dramatic plans for International Rule 2000 (see p.4, p.40 and p.58), our phonelines lit up. Most competitors left Plymouth after the Fastnet, anticipating a likely choice of classes for CMAC ’99 of Mumm 36, plus two mid-size bands of IMS boat, to be raced on handicap. Thereafter, it was generally assumed that in a further two years’ time there may be a switch from the Mumm 36 to a more up-to-date one-design, but that whatever boats were chosen, the next event, in 2001, would still be IMS-based. Boats built in the next couple of years should, therefore, have had a reasonable expectation of competitive life.
Now however, with the announcement of a new rule that, if successfully introduced, will replace IMS for Admiral’s Cup 2001, some prompt reassurances are needed if boat owners are not again to become confused about what to do.
For now I will avoid comment on the need or otherwise for yet another rule. There is not enough detail yet known about the mandate the RORC has announced.
Certainly IMS has had its failings, most especially failings of presentation and application. But it had settled down within the grand prix arena. Meanwhile, although it has proved it can be a success (the 1997 Copa del Rey was a good example), IMS has failed to achieve real popularity among the cruiser/racers for which it was originally conceived. It is the lack of a stronger rule in the cruiser/racer arena that has probably driven this pressure for a complete replacement. But we must be careful to avoid losing the new build momentum that was slowly reappearing in race boats, as a result of any broader changes made.
If IMS is to continue to offer good grand prix racing in the intervening period, and new boats are to continue to be built, then it must be made clear that boats built to IMS will not in any sense be deliberately disadvantaged under Rule 2000. If such assurances cannot be given, then some of the more emotional communications we have received in the last few days from owners of modern IMS racers will have been well founded.
However, in the interim period, while we learn more of what exactly is going to happen, there is one prompt action the ORC must take to protect its current IMS clients; they should announce a three-year freeze of the IMS immediately.
Such a rule freeze would be desirable, even without this latest development from the RORC (and the UNCL, who are supporting the new initiative). But in view of the likely disruption further uncertainty will cause, it becomes essential.
With the ISAF offering their tacit encouragement to the new RORC/UNCL initiative, the ORC must show some rapid response if it is not to be further sidelined in an area of the sport over which it once exercised real control.
Whitbread Prospects
This year’s Whitbread fleet is the most evenly matched and competitive ever. Most of the boats are near-identical, and the majority of syndicates have had enough funding and enough sailing and development time to know their boats and their sail combinations reasonably well.
The difference therefore will come down – more than ever before – to the crews.
It was therefore less than surprising to see some of the unspoken trepidation evident in Plymouth, post-Fastnet, as the reality sank in among the W 60 crews of just how closely matched their fleet is. Everyone likes to feel they may have a shot at a small overall speed edge, especially for a long race. But though there will be some small differences between the boats in specific sailing conditions, there will be zero margin for easing back.
With the timely introduction of a new points-based scoring system, aimed to keep the competition alive for as many as possible for as long as possible, this will be a fantastic boat race.
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