2. THE SUPERYACHT REPORT | ISSUE 128 65
Having met Iain Murray, regatta
director for the 34th America’s
Cup, and Craig Thompson, CEO of
the America’s Cup Event Authority,
during this year’s Monaco Yacht
Show, I am even more excited at the
prospect of what this global event can
bring to the market. This meeting,
following on from various meetings
and conference calls with Niccolò
Porzio di Camporotondo, Superyacht
Program director for the America’s
Cup, has inspired me to call to the
industry all captains and owners to look
seriously at what the Cup can ‘spill into
our laps’ in terms of business exposure
and media coverage.
Events prior to the finals in 2013 include
San Diego in November this year,
Naples in April 2012 (and again in May
2013), Venice in May 2012, Newport,
Rhode Island in June 2012, with more
America’s Cup Challenger events
planned and yet to be announced,
culminating in the Louis Vuitton Cup
in San Francisco in the summer of 2013
and the finals in mid-September 2013.
Obviously, high-performance yacht
racing is miles apart from the world of
the superyacht, but we need to look
more closely at the event’s dynamics and
the business opportunity.
All the locations mentioned above
have a direct link to the superyacht
world, with cruising grounds and key
players all at the heart of the regions
and ports alongside the host city. West
Coast based, US-owned yachts will
potentially form the first real spectator
fleet for the San Diego event. Naples at
the beginning of the 2012 season may
see an upsurge in yachts starting their
season early in April next year around
Malta and the southern regions of Italy,
moving around to the Croatian coastline
and Venice. Add to this the superyacht
fleet that typically migrates north
to Newport, Rhode Island, in June,
and with all these Challenger events,
superyachts could raise their profile to
the world’s media audiences.
With vast numbers of column inches,
clicks and views on both print and
digital media, coupled with TV rights,
the America’s Cup global audience
between now and the third week of
September 2013 is likely to reach
billions cumulatively. If the coverage is
going in the direction I think it is, the
ultra-wealthy spectator fleets will form
part of the overall spectacle. Billions of
the world’s eyeballs will see the racing,
and even if only a small percentage
The America’s
Cup 2013
With high-profile challenger series all over the globe between now and the America’s Cup
finals in 2013, we must seize a wonderful business opportunity. Martin H Redmayne explains.
>>
THE UK’S RACE ACTION FROM THE LAST ROUND OF THE AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES IN PLYMOUTH, WHICH DREW HUGE LOCAL
CROWDS, AS WELL AS A VAST GLOBAL AUDIENCE.
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3. 66 THE SUPERYACHT REPORT | ISSUE 128
US COLUMN | AMERICA’S CUP
of the world’s billionaires catch a
glimpse of our products anchored
around the courses and providing an
elite VIP spectator hub, this has to
be good for our business. We need
exposure, and in simple terms the 34th
America’s Cup can deliver in mug-fulls.
Consider too, the opportunity that
2013 and San Francisco offers. We
often refer to the need to nurture new
clients, and the west coast of the USA is
a great hunting ground. According to
our intelligence sources, California has
the highest concentration of UHNWIs
in the whole of the USA, with over
9,800 individuals within the state –
three times the number in Florida.
All of these people can afford to at
least charter, and importantly, many
can afford to own too. Between Baja,
California, in the south, all the way
north to Seattle and Alaska, there are
very limited cruising opportunities.
However, the target audience is there
in boatloads. If our industry can
encourage about 100 existing owners
to consider that their itineraries should
include a trip north to San Francisco
in 2013, then we may attract a small
percentage to try large yachts as an add-
on to the AC events.
Not only is the event authority working
hard to facilitate headache-free
charter operations during the Cup,
if one considers the audience in and
around San Francisco, Silicon Valley
and Seattle, the profile of potential is
considerable. For example, if Trinity’s
fleet of US built yachts all flagged with
the Stars and Stripes, there is no reason
why these yachts couldn’t charter
comfortably without the Jones Act
getting in the way.
We know that a handful of yachts will
be there as part of the team support,
with a variety of individuals backing
their teams and owning large yachts in
tandem. As I alluded to in The Superyacht
Owner magazine, this could be another
dynamic aspect to the AC 2013 mission.
With Oracle already emblazoned all
over the event, under Mr Ellison’s
guidance, the perfect scenario is for
other billionaires to follow suit and back
their own teams and create a floating
Formula One-style sporting club. Names
that spring to mind include Google,
The Limited, or perhaps Victoria’s
Secret might be more fun, as well as
SAP, News Corp, Gazprom, Travelex,
Westfield, Rusal, Goldman Sachs,
Mango, TAG, LVMH, ArcelorMittal,
Virgin and perhaps Microsoft, all of
which have the brands, and potentially
the appetite, for any high-profile, high-
tech, exciting global phenomena.
There are hundreds more brands
and billionaire yacht-owner links, and
having seen the presentation of the new
racing format, the Ellison invention
of the new America’s Cup could just
turn the oldest sporting trophy into
the most exclusive yacht racing club in
the world. After all, that’s pretty much
how it started. With vast TV audiences
and the gladiatorial chariot-style yacht
racing, one can imagine emperor-style
owners, watching their teams joust with
each other, similarly to elite boxes at
the Kentucky Derby, the Grand Prix in
Monaco, Nascar racing in Florida and
the Cowdray Park elite polo gatherings.
Sport is a significant part of the
billionaire world, and if the America’s
Cup can inspire other Ellison-types to
take up the gauntlet and challenge each
other to watery drag racing, three things
will happen: more of their friends will
be exposed to life onboard, the global
audiences for the Cup will see the
amazing world of the superyacht and
perhaps some of the need for speed
will keep driving superyacht technology
forward.
The America’s Cup is a real opportunity
for the superyacht world, and we must
make sure the owners understand the
value and potential. After all, if we don’t
grow our future client list, we could end
up in an ever-decreasing and diminished
market, which owners won’t enjoy as
their assets will become less valuable.
Seize the day in San Francisco. g
Opening image: Gilles Martin Raget
Above images: Getty Images and Corbis
To comment on this article, email
issue128@superyachtreport.com with
subject: The America’s Cup
The America’s Cup is a
real opportunity for the
superyacht world...
LEFT: TEAM ORACLE’S GIANT TRIMARAN RACES PAST M/Y RISING SUN DURING THE 33RD AMERICA’S CUP IN 2010, THEN OWNED BY
TEAM ORACLE CAPTAIN LARRY ELLISON.
RIGHT: AS ONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST SPORTING TROPHIES, THE AMERICA’S CUP HAS CONSISTENTLY DRAWN A HIGH NET WORTH
AUDIENCE. PRESIDENT KENNEDY AND THE FIRST LADY WATCH THE 1963 CUP FROM A LUXURY YACHT.
TYR128 pp65-66 US Column dm.indd 66 06/10/2011 16:01
