By Alexander Smith
LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - Although the United States are not competing at this weekend's America's Cup preliminary regatta, they will be closely watching the racing off Sardinia as they embark on catching up with the rest of the fleet after a late entry for next year's event.
"We'll make sure we do whatever we can to follow the racing, analyse exactly what's going on there and learn that way whilst we're still forming the team," Giles Scott said after he was named as American Racing
Challenger Team USA's sailing director.
The British sailor, who won two Olympic gold medals in the Finn class and was a key figure in Ben Ainslie's America's Cup campaigns, told Reuters he got a message "out of the blue" from the U.S. team's CEO Ken Read asking him to get on board.
"It all happened pretty quick. The team is ... quite late to the party, especially for Naples next year," he said, with reference to the 38th America's Cup due to take place in the Italian Mediterranean city in the summer of 2027.
"It's somewhat daunting ... there's a lot to get sorted, that's for sure," Scott said during a video call last month.
Scott said the appeal of challenging for the "Auld Mug", which was first raced in 1851 off the south coast of England near where he currently lives, is combining sporting and technical brains to first produce a yacht and then race it hard.
The double Olympic gold medallist, who was already juggling the demands of a young family and leading the Canadian SailGP team, said the America's Cup is a "bit of a drug", combining cutting-edge technology with pushing the limits of design.
"There's always something there that keeps dragging us all back to it," he added.
'SOME REAL TALENT THERE'
Scott said his immediate priority is to get a sailing group together and to make sure they are aligned with the technical teams behind the U.S. challenge for the America's Cup, which was first won by the New York Yacht Club's "America" and is deeply ingrained in the country's sailing history.
He is kicking off with a training camp at the U.S. team's base in Pensacola using the one-design AC40 foiling monohulls that are sailed in the women's and youth events as well as the preliminary regattas in the lead-up to the main event in 2027.
"There's some real talent there," Scott said of the sailors he hopes to get on board, without disclosing any names.
Meanwhile, on shore, the designers are working hard on "upgrading" the team's AC75 yacht, which they have inherited from the U.S. challenger for the last America's Cup in 2024.
Scott, who said there are some "cool" things about the boat which differed from the British ones he competed in, does not rule out getting back behind the wheel if that is needed.
"If a good use of my time is to jump in a boat, jump on a simulator, then I will," he said.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
