America's Cup- Entries open today, announcement expected later

by Richard Gladwell and AC Media on 1 Nov 2010
Today is, or was 1 November 2010 - the first day entries for the 34th America's Cup will be accepted.

The entry widow for the receipt of Challenges will remain open until 31st March 2011.

Due to the fact that the defender Golden Gate Yacht Club is located in San Francisco, they will see the first day of November later than most - certainly after New Zealand and Europe from where the first challenges for the 34th America's Cup may come.

An announcement is expected from the Club around Monday morning, when the Regatta Director, Iain Murray will issue a statement as to whether he has received from GGYC's America's Cup Committee advice as to the number of teams that have entered, if any, in the first eight hours after midnight.

24 teams attended the Interested Parties Briefing held in Paris about 10 days ago, where potential competitors were briefed on the organisation and plans for the 34th Match. Whether that was sufficient to spur the teams into action remains to be seen.

The advantage of entering first is that teams will be able to order the first of the AC45 class of 'baby' America's Cuppers for training and then racing in the America's Cup World series regattas.

The first AC45 is expected to be launched in Auckland in January 2011.

Regatta Director, Iain Murray has issues several, what are described by America's Cup sources as 'house-cleaning amendments' to the Protocol and AC72 Class Rule today that have been approved by Challenger, Club Nautico di Roma (CNR) President Claudio Gorelli and GGYC Commodore Marcus Young.

The documents (identified below) have been sent to the prospective teams:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2284087/Protocol%20Amendment%20No.%202%20-%2031.10.10.pdf!Click_here for Amendment No. 2 to the Protocol Governing the 34th America's Cup

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2284087/Class%20Rule%20Amendment%20No.%201.%2030-10-10.pdf!click_here for Amendment No. 1 to the AC72 Class Rule

From the www.americascup.com/blogpage!Americas_Cup_blogsite: Iain Murray has also published a memo to teams from on Saturday, confirming many of the details regarding the AC 45 – namely some key information about the boat itself and how competitors can get their hands on one or two boats.

The key dimensions are:

• Length – 13.45 m
• Maximum Beam – 6.90 m
• Mast Height – 21.50 m
• Maximum Draft – 2.70 m
• Displacement – 1400 kgs
• Wing Area – 85 sqm

The first boat completed (scheduled for around Christmas) will belong to (America's Cup Race Management (ACRM) and will be shared, for testing purposes, among teams who have entered the event.

'We are setting up a system that will give all entered competitors the first chance at testing the boats as they come off the production line,' explains Iain Murray, Regatta Director of the 34th America’s Cup.

In terms of teams getting their own AC 45, the boats will be assigned to competitors in order of entry.

The next three or four boats are scheduled to be delivered on March 1 and will be assigned to the Defender and Challenger of Record, along with the first teams to have their challenge accepted (or to have registered as defender candidates) once the entry period opens on Monday.

'The order in which teams enter will determine the order in which they can purchase an AC 45,' Murray said.

After that initial bulk delivery of up to four boats, more AC 45s will be built and assigned to teams as fast as possible. No team will be allowed a second AC 45 until all teams have one.

'With a new class of boat, we know the learning curve will be steep so ACRM will do its best to accelerate the technical handover of the new boats to the teams,' Murray continued. 'Ideally the 2011 America’s Cup World Series racing season starts with all teams having had equal opportunity to get familiar with the new class.'

The AC 45s are a stepping-stone to the America’s Cup 72 catamaran race boats for the 34th America’s Cup in 2013.