Raising the Spar: New standards set in historic 37th America's Cup
by Kate Davison 2 Nov 12:58 NZDT
2 November 2024
Emirates Team New Zealand, celebrate winning the America's Cup - Louis Vuitton America's Cup, Race Day 6, Race 9. - October 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
On October 19th, 2024, Emirates Team New Zealand secured an historic victory in the America’s Cup match, defeating INEOS Britannia by 37 seconds in the final race, with a final scoreline of 7–2.
The Cup will be remembered for the Kiwis landmark third consecutive win – something no syndicate has achieved in the modern era.
There have been plenty of other history-making moments in Barcelona and plenty of reasons to look ahead with excitement.
INEOS Britannia became the first British team to race in the America's Cup Match in 60 years, and the first to score points in the Match in 90 years. Orient Express Racing Team brought a fresh challenge, and the incredibly high standard across the challenger fleet made for an enthralling Louis Vuitton Cup. During an epic Vuitton Cup final, as INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli pushed each other hard and exchanged wins tit-for-tat, INEOS Britannia eventually emerged victorious 7-4, setting a new America's Cup speed record in the process—the Challenger of Record clocking 55.6 knots!
The first ever Puig Women’s America’s Cup showcased some of the world’s top female sailors. Alongside the Youth America’s Cup and the J Class Regatta, Barcelona celebrated the sport’s past, present, and future.
As market leaders in high-performance composite rigs and rigging, Southern Spars and Future Fibres are proud to have been part of this iconic competition. Southern Spars supplied innovative rotating masts for three AC75s along with the entire AC40 fleet. Future Fibres provided the world’s most advanced standing rigging packages—with integrated fibre optic load monitoring—to every AC75, as well as equipping the AC40 fleet as one design suppliers.
In 1995, Southern Spars supplied its first America’s Cup mast to Team New Zealand’s Black Magic, which made history by winning the Auld Mug for New Zealand for the first time. Emirates Team New Zealand have cemented their names alongside the likes of Black Magic, not only by winning three Cups on the bounce, but also through their formative impact on the trajectory of the Cup as a whole.
The AC75 has been a technological game-changer, raising the bar in yacht design, while the AC40 has introduced an entirely new dimension. These innovations are influencing sailing across the board, even impacting superyachts and cruisers. Southern Spars continues to innovate side-by-side with the very teams that strive to win the Auld Mug. We very much look forward to the next Cup cycle, AC38, with excitement.