Ken Read spearheads potent new US America’s Cup challenge

The new team is led by American sailing icon Ken Read and jointly backed by Czech businessman Karel Komárek and British-based sports entrepreneur and investor Chris Welch.

Komárek is a keen racing sailor and the owner of the highly successful 100-foot Wally Cento V which is skippered on the international Maxi circuit by Read. Welch, meanwhile, has strong links to motorsport, particularly Formula 1 where he has brokered numerous title collaborations – including McLaren Racing, Scuderia Ferrari, and Williams Racing.

American Racing Challenger Team USA has partnered with the Rhode Island-based Sail Newport, a non-profit public sailing facility that, as well as hosting the annual Newport Regatta each July, has also managed several major marine events, including US Olympic and Paralympic Trials, the America’s Cup World Series, and the World Match Racing Tour, and hosted the American stopover of The Ocean Race for three editions. Sail Newport is headed by Ken Read’s brother Brad.

There is no denying that ARC Team USA is ultra-late to the party for this latest America’s Cup cycle, and the fact that the challenge exists at all hinges on the success of negotiations with American billionaire Doug DeVos to purchase a large tranche of assets from American Magic – including the team’s AC75 Patriot and its two AC40s. 

According to an announcement by the services division of American Magic, ARC Team USA will operate out of the American Magic High Performance Center in Pensacola, Florida while their AC75 is adapted to comply with the modified rules for AC38. 

ARC Team USA CEO Ken Read told CNN that the new American team planned to do things differently. 

“This is going to be about being inclusive,” he said. “So our goal is to make this much more broad based, bring more people into it, get more people excited about it – and hopefully use the sport for some good.

The new team did not announce any information on its sailing team line-up. Potentially, Read may be planning to draw from the American Magic AC37 roster. Although the two principal helmsmen – Australian Tom Slingsby (AUS) and Britain’s Paul Goodison – are understood to already be committed to other campaigns, talent like trimmer/flight controllers Michael Menninger and Andrew Campbell, as well as Youth Team helmsmen Harry Melges and Riley Gibbs could be appealing signings.

With the first of the AC40 preliminary regattas in Sardinia, Italy looming just six weeks away on May 21, Read’s operation would need to scramble to be ready in time. This has led to speculation that the requirement to compete in this first event may possibly have been waived for the Americans and the yet-to-be announced second late-entry team.

Late to the cycle or not, this new campaign already carries a different kind of momentum. With Ken Read at the helm and a modern, commercially minded structure behind it, there is a growing belief that this is more than just another entry, it’s the start of a serious American rebuild – something that, for the America’s Cup as a whole, can only be a good thing.

“This is not starting up a sailboat racing team, this is a tech start-up – and we have to treat it as such," Read said. "I think that, hopefully, gives us a good long-term perspective on this.

"Are we going to be ready to win the 38th Cup in literally a year and a half? We are literally starting today. We are super-late. So we will never say never on the 38th – but we are definitely trying to do some building blocks for the future.”