David Blakey: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Commodore on the recent protocol shake-up impacting the next America's Cup

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron has voiced support for the recent protocol shakeup set to impact the next America's Cup.

The 38th instalment in Naples in 2027 will see the number of sailors on board drop from eight to five, a requirement for one of those to a female, batteries replacing manual power and the introduction of a cost cap.

The protocol also outlines a new partnership between all teams, establishing equal authority among those involved.

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Commodore David Blakey says the requirement to have a female sailor on board will open doors for new talent.

"What this does is that it creates a pathway for our talented young female sailors to go all the way and be able to compete on the America's Cup boats themselves."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Together do to see Ellen hither we are unfortunate enough
to be in a house that is gas hot water,
gas heating, and gas cooking. Not sure how we would
afford to transition off. This is the trouble. Even though
Shane Jones played that down just then a you notice
that he was like, ah, nothing covin, but listen, we
are running out of gas as a country. We're not
gonna get more gas, and if we do get more
gases not happening in the next decade. So if you

(00:20):
have got the gas connections, which I have, start thinking
about what you're going to do, Start saving your pennies.
I think seventeen past five now the New America's Cup
Protocol has been officially signed and there are some big
changes here. Grinders and cyclers are gone. There'll only be
five crew members per boat, and every team must include
at least one female sailor. David Blakey is commodore of
the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and with us. Now, hey, David, hi, Heather,

(00:44):
how are you. I'm very well, thank you? Now, will
you admit that the token woman is definitely Grant Dalton
screwing the scrum because he's got a great token woman.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
No, absolutely not. One of the successes of the last
event was having both the youth and the woman's America's Cup.
And what this does is creates a pathway for our
talented young female sailors to go all the way and
be able to compete on the America's Cup boats themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Oh yeah, okay, so is the ladies there for a pathway?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Is she? No? Well, as I say, it creates a
place for aspiring young sailors to be able to participate
in the boat itself. And one of the questions we
got asked today does that mean potentially in the future
you could have a boat crewed solely by a woman.
And the potential is indeed there.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
David, do you reckon? You've I wasn't planning to do this,
but now you've opened it up. Do you reckon? Have
we taken all of the physical strength stuff out of
this so women can compete fairly against men in this.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Well, that depends on whether the technology goes hither. What
you will have noticed today is the cycles are no
longer on the boat. That's created more place for sailors
to get on the boat, but they're extremely powerful machines,
and they require a lot of skill to sail. So
it's going to come down to a combination, as it
always does, between the technology and the skill of the sailors.
Ultimately it's going to determine who wins.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Okay. And one of the rules is that what you're
allowed to foreigners on your boat? Is that right?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
That's correct?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Okay? So is that allowing what does that allow us
to do?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Uh? So that that that allows a team to have
two non nationals on their boat. So so two crew
from not not from their home nation on the boat.
So and and and that that's particularly helpful to to
new teams who want to enter the event where they don't.
It's rule well it's not the Peter Barley rule, but

(02:32):
but you know, opens up the possibility for people to
be able to sail and other teams, particularly the newer
ones that want to get established.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Hey, why do we get rid of the grinders and
the cyclists?

Speaker 2 (02:45):
A couple of reasons. So one was to take weight
out of the boat. Uh and and and change the
way that they're sailed. So you're you're bringing in more
of the new technology around batteries to to make it
easier for them to to sail and to adjust the
sales and the trim of the foils on the boat
while they're sailing. And as I mentioned earlier, it enables

(03:06):
us to have more people on the boat itself, so
more people actually sailing the boat, which I think was
one of the bits of feedback that we had from
the previous oventors. People would like to see more people
actually sailing the boat rather than necessarily just powering it.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, fair enough, David, Hey, thanks very much for talking
us through to appreciate it. David Blakie, Royal New Zealand
Yacht Squadron Commodore.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
For more from hither Duplassy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio