Little America's Cup to be Sailed in Newport, RI This Fall
The International Catamaran Challenge Trophy (ICCT), also known as the Little America's Cup has been lying dormant now for seven years ever since Duncan MacLane of the USA skippered Cogito, with Erich Chase as crew, to victory over the Australians in 1996.
The race has always been on C-Class development boats, but a new format was announced today that will feature match racing on Formula 18HT catamarans. For this first year only, the ICCT will be done on production Bimare Javelin 2's that will be provided for the event. This exception is being made to facilitate getting the event on the water this year.
John B. Dawson, Jr, Chairman for the ICCT Trustees stated that, “The time has come to revive the trophy and to promote friendly international match racing competition as called for in the Deed of Gift. Catamaran classes have grown dramatically - we want to increase the reach to a broad field of Cat sailors and emphasize skill and strategy on the water.”
Twenty teams will vie for the trophy September 27 through October 2 at Newport, Rhode Island – ten of the teams will battle it out for the Defender Group (United States sailors) and ten of the teams will fight for the top position in the Challenger Group (sailors not from the United States). Then the top team from each group will sail for the Little America's Cup.
The trials will be over a two-day span with a third day allowed in case of inclement weather. That would allow three days of match racing for the top Defender and Challenger. There are plans to run 20-minute races with windward-leeward courses twice around for the trials and starts going off every five minutes. This is necessary since it will require 48 races to determine the top boat from each group. That means 96 races in total, and that is before the real racing begins. The defender and challenger then will be competing for three days.
June 1 will be the deadline for team applications. Only ten teams will be accepted for each group – the Defender (USA) Group and the Challenger Group (non-USA). If more than 10 teams apply, a decision will be made by June 15 on the final competitors to be accepted for the event. Sail Newport is hosting the event.
The International Catamaran Challenge Trophy was born in 1961 when the Sea Cliff Yacht Club of Long Island, New York, donated the trophy initially for competition between England and America. The intent was that the competition would be held every two years.
The event has been held 22 times from 1961 to 1996 when Cogito, the U.S. challenger skippered by Duncan MacLane and owned by Steve Clark, defeated the Australian defender Yellow Pages Edge by a score of 4-0 in the best-of-seven series. Cogito brought the trophy back to America after it had stayed in Australia for 11 years.
Ironically, the Australian boat, Yellow Pages Edge, had some bad luck in the 1996 competition that is reminiscent of the misfortunes of the New Zealand team in this year's America's Cup. During the second race, disaster struck. Skipper Simon McKeon and crew David Churcher lost control of the boat on the run to the leeward mark (reportedly in about 12 knots of wind) and Edge capsized, breaking off the wing sail. This left Cogito to complete the course alone. The next day was a lay day, which gave Edge time to put on a mast from a sister boat, but Edge was unable to win any race in the series.
From 1996 to 2000 the trophy was on display at Clark's home club, the Bristol Yacht Club in Bristol, Rhode Island. The deed of gift requires that if no challenge is conducted for more than four years (two events skipped), the trophy returns to the place of its birth, Sea Cliff Yacht Club in Long Island, NY. Steve Clark returned the trophy in 2000.
The deed of gift for the ICCT is overseen by a board of trustees, and potential challengers must go through them.
For the past two years, there were rumors that one or more Australian syndicates planned to make a challenge, but nothing ever became official.
According to one report, in late February the Australians made their challenge bid, but they were told that it was too late, that other arrangements were already being made (referring to the plans to do the ICCT on the Formula 18HT).
Steve Clark, whose boat Cogito is the defending champion, is understandably upset that the format has been changed to use an 18-foot beach cat instead of a C-Class. According to Clark, it was actually in December of 2002 that the Australians submitted their challenge and "they were told to go away."
In a release on March 5, Clark said, in part:
"We have learned that the Trustees propose to replace the regatta
which showcased the most efficient sailing machines on the planet with
a round robin regatta in production beach cats. Talk about lowered standards!
Talk about dumbing it down!
"In spite of the decision of the Sea Cliff Trustees, we have met
with the Australians and believe they are a viable team. We anticipate
proceeding with an event in the fall of 2004 to again determine who has
the fastest course racing sailboat in the world. Stay tuned for new developments."
The board of trustees for the deed of gift have made application to officially acquire the name "Little America's Cup" as a trademark name or copyrighted or whatever status is required to be able to keep someone else from using that name for another sailing event. (Randy Smyth suggested that "Little America's Cup" is kind of demeaning, and that it should really be called "Fast America's Cup.")
For Official Press Release, Click Here!