Carolijn Brouwer named to helm in skipper Simeon Tienpont’s Dutchsail America’s Cup initiative.
Carolijn Brouwer, two times World Sailor of the Year, three times Olympian and winner of the last Volvo Ocean Race with DongFeng Race Team, is named as helm for the Dutch AC75 on the 36th America’s Cup website.
The situation is still unsure as no substantial backer has been announced, but it is assumed that someone has paid the a $US 1 million entry fee for the challenge to have reached this stage.
If the challenge does eventually founder that sum would be forfeit.
With time of the essence it also not known if the Dutch intend to purchase a design package from Emirates Team New Zealand. The date for the first allowed AC75 launch is after 31 March 2019.
The published Dutchsail timeline has their AC75 launch a year later in March 2020, which means that they would miss the first AC World Series event in October 2019 in Sardinia, and possibly other early events.
Dutchsail have indicated a World Series event in Scheveningen in June 2020, which would only be a couple of months after the launch of their AC75, making the whole timeline very unpredictable.
The Prada Cup Challenger selection series start in January 2021 in New Zealand and the main event, the 36th America’s Cup Match where Emirates Team New Zealand will aim to defend the trophy between 6- 21 March 2021.
