Nationality issues at stake in America's Cup outcome

The schooner America carried
national pride across the Atlantic

Ever since a group of wealthy New Yorkers named their yacht America and crossed the Atlantic to humble the British, the America’s Cup has been a competition steeped in national pride. In an event filled with ambiguities, one of the clearest injunctions of the original Deed of Gift is that it should be “a friendly contest between foreign countries”. Yet, the Cup community is now seriously divided over how nationality should be treated in the future.

Character of the Cup is at stake
Pharmaceuticals billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, who is making his Cup debut with the powerful Alinghi team, has made it clear that he wants the nationality rule relaxed, if not abolished. Team New Zealand, on the other hand, takes a traditional approach and, if anything, would like to see the nationality requirement strengthened. With these two teams pitted against each other for the America’s Cup starting on February 15, the whole character of the event hangs in the balance. Whichever team wins is in a powerful position to determine the future, so more than just victory on the water is at stake.

Some say patriotism is crucial
Says noted Cup historian, New York-based John Rousmaniere: “I am absolutely certain that patriotism is crucial to the ongoing success of the America's Cup, along with its spectacle and the opportunity for head-to-head challenge that it offers owners and sailors. Most owners, sailors, and followers care deeply about national identity – and I believe will care even more as other aspects of life become globalized. I believe each boat should have a clear national identity that is far more than the flag it flies.” Olin Stephens, doyen of America’s Cup designers, takes a similar view. “It would surely reduce the incentive for the richest groups to bid up the market across borders.”

Suggestions for a compromise
This more or less squares with Team New Zealand’s view that the nationality issue should be made clearer and more enforceable, with passports, rather than residency formulae, as the determining factor. Louis Vuitton media maestro and long-time Cup aficionado Bruno Troublé agrees nationality is important, but would restrict it to the actual racing crew. He says the majority of the crew should be passport holders, with an agreed number, three or four, able to be recruited from anywhere.

Is nationality oldfashioned?
Ernesto Bertarelli presents a counter view. In an interview shortly after he began building his multinational team, Bertarelli said he respected the history and traditions of the America’s Cup, but was selective about those he chose to admire. "There are 13 nationalities on our team (the number has since grown to 15),” he declared, “and I believe that is the way our sport should go.” A similar approach came from the OneWorld syndicate, also a first time team backed by extremely wealthy individuals, telecommunications mogul Craig McCaw and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. As the name implies, OneWorld took a firmly global approach and multi-national flags blossomed from its compound roof, one for each nationality represented in the team. Referring to the nationality requirements laid down in the Deed of Gift, Bertarelli argued: "Have we not moved on? Who would have thought 150 years ago that yachts would travel by air to come and sail in a regatta? Sailing should evolve at the same speed and with the same dynamics as other sports."

Dennis Conner wears his patriotism
on his sleeve

Syndicates have always been multinational
Those arguing for a relaxation of the nationality requirements correctly point out that many syndicates throughout the America’s Cup – including the America – had non-nationals in the crew. John Rousmaniere: “I think nationality is determined less by numbers than by the identity of the boat’s leaders. That was the case in the days of the J-Boats. Three nationals in the afterguard mean far more in the eye of the public, the history and the Deed of Gift than nine non-nationals in the sail-handling crew.” There is little doubt that, mixed in with other motivations like social ambition, commercial interest and unbridled ego, the overwhelming character of America’s Cup regattas has been of national teams competing. Irish Tea baron Sir Thomas Lipton’s yachts were all named Shamrock. Ballpoint pen entrepreneur Baron Marcel Bich called his yachts France, property billionaire Alan Bond campaigned yachts called Australia. When Australia II broke the 132 winning streak of the New York Yacht Club, the campaign created new icons with boxing kangaroos and Men at Work music blaring, We are the men from Downunder...

Private ambition and public passion
This touches on an important element of the debate. When private ambition coincides with public passion, a powerful force is generated. Without public passion it is difficult to conceive of the America’s Cup flourishing. And public passion comes from cheering for your home team. It is hard to imagine hordes of Italians, New Zealanders, Australians or Americans sitting up half the night to follow America’s Cup sailing on the opposite end of the earth if all that was at stake was the Microsoft boat up against the General Motors boat. Without the benefit of a stadium atmosphere, sailing in general struggles to excite public attention. Yet, despite its technical and legalistic complexity, the America’s Cup does just that. Strip away the national element, though, and the hundreds of thousands of cheering fans that lined the streets for victory parades in Sydney, Auckland and New York, would melt away.

Is national pride still the order of the day?
For more than a century and a half, the America’s Cup has had the ability to excite national passions and that, in turn, has allowed small countries to compete with pride and sometimes distinction against much larger nations. New Zealand is a strong case in point. Strip that away and it will become a plaything for extremely wealthy individuals, or large corporations only. And, the event will surely be the poorer for that.

Sorce: Louis Vuitton Cup