America's Cup: The fishooks in the Brave, New Protocol

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Westhaven Drive, Auckland © RNZYS

As they say in F1, you always read a new set of rules twice - once to see what the rules do say, and the second and much longer read as to what they don't say.

After reading the Protocol once and having been at the New Zealand media conference this afternoon (without seeing a copy of the Protocol) my initial take is as follows.

Much was made by the Challenger and Defender about event continuity - beyond the current America's Cup AC38.

The continuity beyond AC38 is contained in a Terms Sheet which has to be executed by Sept 9.

The Terms Sheet is not included in the release of the Protocol. When asked about continuity and the need to change the Deed of Gift which governs the America's Cup, the response was that was the intention and had the support of New York Yacht Club. A rather obtuse piece of legalese in the Protocol say that if the documents that will create the AC Partnership are not excuted by that date, then the Protocol "shall be void and of no further force and effect."

The Burling Rule, contained in a previous draft Protocol released by the Defender (prohibiting sailing crew from competing for an team other than who they sailed for in the 2024 America's Cup) effectively no longer exists, and Peter Burling, or others of his ilk, are free to helm the Italian (or any other boat) boat. However Ainslie and Dalton were at pains to say that they didn't (hoped?) this wouldn't happen in Burling's situation as the Italians had two strong "young" helmsmen (one of whom is only a couple of years younger than Peter Burling).

The comment was a little strange in that in Ainslie's case he was promoted from the reserve bench to be tactican of Oracle Racing on Day 3 of the 2013 America's Cup, when they were failing in their Defence in San Francisco. It is difficult to imagine that Luna Rossa would not do the same, in similar circumstances in Naples, come September/October 2027.

Teams are only allowed to sail an AC75 that was sailed in the 2024 America's Cup, or one to a design that was sailed in that event. There are a lot of fishooks in the boat recycling, and American Magic definitely comes out the winner with its low drag deck - it will be interesting to see how much the class rule permits boat surgery. Alinghi with it's near destroyed and extreme AC75 design is a problematic case.

As expected there are restriction on the number of days a team can sail in practice. But the teams have been allowed bonus time depending on where they finished in the 2024 Cup. The French get an extra 10 days and scaling down through the placings to the Brits getting two extra days and the Kiwis none.

Budget caps are also a key part of the new Protocol with a €75million spending limit. In the NZ session I asked how this would work, both Dalton and Ainslie were evasive.

Grant Dalton's response was that it wouldn't be a problem for the Kiwis as they had never got near that level of expenditure. Ben Ainslie ducked and weaved a bit.

However it is plain in the Protocol that after the Cup Match all teams have to submit (audited) accounts and if they are over the cap then they have to pay 100% of the difference to ACP - the new America's Cup Partnership (assuming of course that it is an on-going and surviving entity).

There is a fast track provision for Arb Panel Hearings with Applications having to be submitted within three working days and a decision within five days of receipt. It would seem that this is just the first stage of an Arb Panel Hearing.

As they say, there is a lot more golf in this hole - and more will be revealed in the coming days.

Entries open in a week, and close 28 days after the signature on the Partnership Agreement.