America's Cup: Back in negotiation mode, as final agreements thrashed out
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ 9 Sep 07:11 PDT
9 September 2025
Emirates Team NZ and INEOS Britannia - Race Day 1 - America's Cup Match 2024 - Barcelona © Ian Roman / America's Cup
Following the hastily called media conferences on August 12, 2025, to celebrate the newly inked signature of the Protocol for the 38th Americas Cup, little has been publicly forthcoming.
No Entry Period has yet been established, and some weaker teams appear to be playing for time/concessions again.
As stated in the published Protocol, entries did open seven days after signature on August 19 - however no teams have put their hands up announcing entry - with over three weeks now having passed.
In recent Cups the practice has been to announce the number of entries received at the end of the Entry Period. Then it is over to the Clubs and Teams to "out" themselves.
The sting in the tail of this Cup cycle is that the Entry Period end date is not known - as the Entry Period doesn't have a finite duration until the contentious America's Cup Partnership Agreement is signed.
That event is said to be "imminent" but, as yet, the deed hasn't been consummated, and the Entry Period close date remains open ended.
A careful read of the August 12 Protocol, against its predecessor, the so-called "Draft" Protocol of May 23 reveals some significant changes.
The earlier document was released by Emirates Team NZ in response to the PR salvoes, fired in orchestrated succession on the same day by three potential challengers - unhappy with what was going on underneath the blankets between the Defender and Challenger of Record for the 38th Match.
May's Draft Protocol, which in many ways was a roll-over from the Barcelona edition, restricted the teams to the construction of one new AC75 hull - the same as for Barcelona.
However, the longer the intercourse between Challenger and Defender continued, the time for design and testing ticked away, to the point where the design, build and commissioning of a new AC75 was fast becoming mission impossible.
The work around was to permit only the re-use of 2024 hulls, or for new Cup teams, the construction of a design from that 2024 era.
Whether the teams are enamoured with that solution, is not known.
Of course, outwardly they will all put a brave face on it, but behind closed doors, it could well be a very different story.
Who has good AC75s?
The August Protocol is silent on the degree of modification permitted - given that cyclor systems will have to be removed, and cockpits will be changed. That will be defined in the Technical Regulations, however the biggest hull modifications will be to accommodate new systems. The 2024 Technical Regulations were relatively relaxed about deck modifications and very restrictive on the hull (canoe body) alterations.
Ben Ainslie for the Challenger of Record, the Royal Yacht Squadron, and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's Grant Dalton both maintained there was no speed difference between any of the AC75 hulls from the last Cup.
But given that they had the two quickest boats in Barcelona, they would say that, wouldn't they?
Luna Rossa, who made up the other half of the 2024 Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Final, say they believe they have a good boat. But of the other three Challengers, it was always a good move to build a new boat - to step way from design issues they have have had in Barcelona.
Of course, one argument for re-cycled boats has it that the game is made more even for the new teams, and in design terms inhibits the rich from getting richer.
The obvious PR line is that the Naples Cup will be a exercise centred around wing foil and rudder elevator design, and any other titbits contained in the yet to be released Technical Regulations and new AC75 Class Rule.
With SailGP CEO, Russell Coutts claim that the League's newly developed T-foils can hit 57kts. It may well be that the AC teams' best area for development is to push out the cavitation barrier to try and match that of the SailGP F50s, which are currently the fastest raceboats on the planet.
Only one new mast?
In the name of cost containment, as well as being restricted to one 2024 vintage hull, the teams are restricted to the purchase of just one new racing mast. That comes not from the Protocol, but from the yet to be publicly released Technical Regulations, a reading companion to the signed final version of the Protocol and new AC75 Class Rule.
Again, quite how that rule, which was revealed by Luna Rossa's CEO, Max Sirena in a short Youtube clip, works in practice will be interesting to see.
In Barcelona, Alinghi went through two new racing masts in the space of just 20 minutes sailing time. It is not known if one or both were declared to the Meadurement Committee.
Another source says that the teams will be allowed only one new racing mast, only if they did not declare two racing masts in the Barcelona Cup. If correct that would hit the Kiwis, and other top teams hard, and put them in the position of having to use only their legacy spars - declared for racing use the 2024 Cup.
AC75 Practice sailing is allowed in just four months - from January 15, 2026
Kiwi fans might be treated to the sight of an AC75 lining up against the F50 fleet when they are in Auckland in February for ITM New Zealand SailGP.
Challenger of Record replacement
A big factor for all the teams is the limitations on sailing days, eased with the offer of increased training days for teams based on their finishing position in Barcelona. The winners get zero days, the French who were the first team eliminated in 2024 team get an extra 10 days. For all team the basic AC75 sailing entitlement is 45 sailing days in 2026, and another 45 days in the year following until the start of racing in Naples.
The kerfuffle over how a replacement Challenger of Record gets replaced was one of the points of rage in the contentious draft Protocol released on May 23.
The replacement process has been sidestepped in the August Protocol. The earlier draft version was a beauty contest, allowing the Defender to pick a team from any in the Challenger group.
Now, following the close of entries, the Defender is required to publish a register of teams by entry date.
The changed succession rule requires that the new Challenger, determined by entry date, will be the next to sup from the Poison Chalice.
No Challenger of Record has ever won the America's Cup - and in its almost 40 years of being, aside from the 1988 Big Boat Challenge, the always superstitious Kiwis have assiduously avoided taking on the role.
That point aside and given that the Challenger of Record does have a right of approval over any Rule changes - Match, Class or otherwise, it is surprising that the jostling to be the COR-Spare is conducted in silence.
Interestingly, back in 1984, when the Australians were trying to work out the logistics of staging the first ever America's Cup Defence outside of the USA. A proposal as to how to select the Challenger of Record was floated amongst the 17 Clubs which had completed the necessary post-Challenge documentation. Back in those heady days, Royal Perth YC received 24 paid up Challenges - 10 from USA alone.
Two clubs (San Diego YC and Newport Harbor YC) applied in writing to be the Challenger of Record - but Newport Harbor later withdrew. New York YC, who had defended for 132 yrs, only expressed a verbal wish to be COR during a 1984 visit to Fremantle.
As only the second club in history to conduct a Defence, the Royal Perth YC conducted an informal opinion poll, and for its guidance, amongst the then 17 Challengers.
The results were as follows:
- An Independent body (8 votes)
- No Comment (4)
- Still discussing with their Club's Committee or Syndicate (3)
- Another Challenging Club (1)
- Own Club (1)
According to the late Ernie Taylor (to whom I still owe a beer after he spent an hour in his garage, on my account, in 1997 checking back on RPYC records), there were 12 Challengers from 10 nations, invited by the then Challenger of Record Committee to participate in the Challenger Selection Series (Louis Vuitton Cup) for the 1992 America's Cup.
In a press release dated September 17, 1990, the Challenger of Record Committee, chaired by the late Dr Stan Reid, listed the 12 Challengers. Attached was a second list of nine clubs from eight countries who were "excused from Challenging for the 28th America's Cup". Surprisingly one of those was the 1983 winner, and 1987 Defender, Royal Perth Yacht Club.
In the 35-40 years that have passed, the America's Cup seems to have gone full circle.
While some may claim that an independent America's Cup organisation was concocted by the dastardly Kiwis in 2025, it seems that the West Australians beat them to it forty years earlier and significantly had the agreement of two cycles of America's Cup Challengers.