America's Cup - Protocol announcement for next Cup in six weeks

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com on 19 Jul 2017 The Challenger and Defender for the 36th America's Cup, to be held in Auckland have issued a statement advising that the Protocol for the 36th America's Cup will be announced in September.

As previously tipped in Sail-World the statement indicates that the regatta will be held in the early 2021 - probably in February. The last America's Cup staged in New Zealand got underway on February 15, 2003.

It is not known whether the two parties will negotiate for a longer Challenger Selection Series than the three week affair sailed in Bermuda on a very compressed schedule.

Previous Challenger Selection Series held in Auckland have got underway in October for a Match in February. But the size of the Challenger Selection series is determined to some extent with the number of entries received.

So far there are two definites - being the Challenger of Record, Luna Rossa, and Land Rover BAR (GBR) who already have full funding for their campaign for the 36th America's Cup. The British team also has a specialist America's Cup base in Portsmouth along with many supporting programmes and initiatives and are the strongest team in this regard.

The statement also includes the comment that there will be a nationality clause and a constructed in country clause in the new Protocol. The boat type is expected to be announced in the Protocol after which consultation will start with the teams to refine the design options and begin development of a Class Rule.

The nationality clause means that the other potential entrants will all have to stay on ice for 6-8 weeks as except for the British and French. In the last Cup all other Challengers sailed 'rainbow teams', comprising a mixed nationality of professional sailors.

With the likelihood that the Protocol will have a much stiffer requirement than the minimal requirement in the 35th America's Cup that only one member of the sailing crew need to hold a passport of the Challenging/Defending Club. The percentage that has been bandied around America's Cup pundits is 70-80% however with small crew numbers, it is very hard to find a percentage that gives a whole number across several crew numbers - and the more likely outcome is that all but one or two crew will have to be nationals of the Challenging/Defending Club.

Australia is nation worst affected by a stringent nationality rule, being the most represented nation in the 'rainbow' teams. The last time Australia was able to mount a Challenge was with the Young Australia team in Auckland in 2000, which was on a shoe-string budget. Australia could not even field a team in the Red Bull Youth America's Cup series in Bermuda.

More home builds
Constructed in Country refers back to a phrase in the 19th century Deed of Gift which governs the conduct of the America's Cup. It requires the yachts to be 'constructed in the country to which the Challenging Club belongs.'

In previous America's Cups this has been defined in the Protocol to mean various acceptable levels of compliance.

For the 35th America's Cup the requirement was just for a 2.7 metre long section of the bow had to be completed in the country of origin, and the 13 metres of the America's Cup Class wingsailed catamaran could be built in any country.

Oracle Team USA and Softbank Team Japan both built their boats at Core Builders Composites in Warkworth to the north of Auckland, along with all tooling and wingsails for most of the competitors. Emirates Team New Zealand had their hulls and wingsails built at Southern Spars in West Auckland with crossbeams coming from Cookson Boats.

In spite of a very light Constructed in Country requirement, two of the teams Land Rover BAR and Artemis Racing built their own boats in their own country for the 35th America's Cup.

One advantage of the approach taken for the last America's Cup was that Core Builders Composites were able to produce the tooling for all boats to be constructed to one design shapes for the hulls and some other basic components.

Previously America's Cups have been open design and the use of common tooling and one design reduced the build costs considerably - making for an easier entry of new teams. The use of a partial one design also allowed a minimum build specification to be required and these features went a long way towards reducing the breakdown rate in Bermuda, the same as a similar approach had also reduced the breakdown rate in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Even with the one design hulls and crossbeams, there was still ample opportunity for designers, and design excellence was a key factor in Emirates Team New Zealand's winning boat in the 35th America's Cup.

The previous Protocol for the 34th America's Cup was more in line with previous Constructed in Country requirement for the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco which required the hulls of the AC72's used in san Francisco to be constructed in their country of origin.

With the globalisation of manufacturing the Constructed in Country requirement has become an anachronism and particularly so with the wingsailed multihulls with their multiplicity of components - only some of which have to be built in the country of origin.

The watering down of the Constructed in Country rule began with the New York Yacht Club in the 1970's when it was allowed for USA made sailcloth to be used to build the sails for the 12 Metre class which was used in the America's Cup at that time. Previously the Challengers had to manufacture their own sail cloth. If the requirement of the Deed of Gift were applied strictly then it would be almost impossible for any country to build without importing any raw materials.

The Protocol for the last America's Cup was not until eight months after the conclusion of the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco - that timeline will be reduced to just two months with the September 2017 announcement.

As mentioned above the boat type will be announced in the Protocol but not the class. That matter has to be quickly addressed so that potential Challengers do not feel that the Challenger of Record (who under the Deed of Gift names the dimensions of the yacht they wish to sail in the Cup) and the Defender don't have the benefit of inside information and use that to get a design jump on other teams.

The choice is clearly between a foiling multihull or a monohull of some type.

There is a lot of wingsailed multihull kit in the previous Challengers' boatsheds which can be sold off to new teams as a starter kit, if a multihull of a similar type to that used in Bermuda is selected. If a monohull is selected then that gear from the 2013-2017 era becomes completely obsolete.

The statement reads: the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and Circolo della Vela Sicilia as the Challenger of Record, together with their respective representative teams Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Challenge, are pleased to announce that the Protocol establishing the parameters for the 36th America's Cup will be released in September 2017.

The proposed dates for the event will be further detailed in the Protocol but the Defender and the Challenger of Record are considering the possibility of the 36th America's Cup Match and the preceding Challenger Selection Series being conducted in Auckland in early 2021 during the New Zealand summer.

In recognition of the fundamental condition of the Deed of Gift that the Cup be preserved as a perpetual Challenge Cup for friendly competition between foreign countries, the Protocol will contain a 'constructed in country' requirement for competing yachts and a nationality requirement for competing crew members.