America's Cup: Move to legacy AC75 use generates some quirky rules
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 18 Sep 21:04 AEST
2024's Jesus Lizards of sailing are back for the Naples America's Cup - Barcelona - August 19, 2024 © Ian Roman / America's Cup
With nearly 250 pages of America's Cup regulations released, it's clear both the Challenger and Defender have been forced to take a pragmatic stance on the Naples America's Cup.
The rules released last week, as well as earlier in May, shed a few shafts of light on the murky negotiations and changes in position over the 10-week standoff- from the release of the draft Protocol in May to the current Final on August 12, 2025.
The most significant change is that the Naples America's Cup will be the first in the Cup's 157-year racing history, where new hull designs are not permitted.
The reason for that side-step lies in the estranged negotiation process for the 2027 Protocol, of which the Final edition was announced on August 12.
Heralded as a move towards cost containment, the reality was that because of the extended debate, several teams ran out of time to design, build, commission and test a new race boat.
Or they simply did not have the money for a new build, but more of that contradiction later.
Looking at the big picture
Last week, the rest of the 2027 America's Cup picture was revealed with the release of the AC75 Class Rule and accompanying Technical Regulations.
Even a cursory glance through those documents reveals several issues, which are inherent in any rules for the re-use of legacy boats and gear.
The three documents are hefty tomes.
Compared to the Barcelona equivalents, designed for a restricted AC75 class - where every team could design and build a new raceboat, another 23 pages have been added to the AC75 Class Rule, along with another 25 pages to its companion Technical Regulations.
Add that to the previously released 65-page Protocol, and they make a total of 245 pages of rules to cover a yacht race. And that doesn't include the on-the-water bit – the Racing Rules - for which the America's Cup has a special edition.
Prohibiting new yacht designs and instead permitting only the use of 2024 Cup hulls/designs is a strange direction for an Event which was conceived in that 19th-century boudoir of technical excellence - the Great Exhibition of 1851.
In fact, the Deed of Gift, which governs the overall conduct of the Cup, explicitly prohibits a Challenger sailing the same boat in successive Cups - unless a period of two years intervenes. This restriction will have timed out by Naples in 2027.
Significant upside for new teams
The introduction of the "legacy design" rule, which requires the use of recycled boats, or their base designs, should appeal to the optimists within the America's Cup family.
It does have a few upsides.
For a "New" team, the partial freezing of the America's Cup design cycle offers a good opportunity for a start-up team to acquire an existing AC75 boat - and not be that far behind the established teams, who are sailing boats of the same AC75 genre.
The decision to go with legacy AC75s, the Jesus Lizards of the sailing world, became an inevitable outcome after 10 weeks were lost during the long-drawn Protocol "negotiations", when the parties never really knew who the hostage was and who was the captor.
The "Draft" Protocol released on May 23 was a response to three "hostages" calling for more "transparency". It revealed that each competitor "shall only be entitled to build a maximum of one (1) new AC75 Hull during AC38" - no mention of recycling hulls, in fact, quite the opposite.
Fast forward 10 weeks to August 12, and the joint release of the Final Protocol.
Buried in Article 24, "Cost containment and limitations", the previous edition's authorisation to build one new AC75 hull has gone. It's replaced with a decree that competitors can only use hulls/designs which sailed in the 2024 Cup in Barcelona.
The May 23 Protocol did have a budget cap of €60million (which included the cost of a new boat). The changes in the August 12 Protocol increased the budget cap to €75million and prohibited new AC75s, just the 2024 boats, plus only one new racing mast.
Clearly, the Challengers couldn't work within the Kiwis' budget.
Cutting the bow off
Trying to stymy progress in racing teams is always a very fraught process, often creating unintended consequences.
For the Naples Cup, new teams, or existing teams that acquire an existing AC75 that was not built in their club's home country, have two options – one of which is to cut the bow off their "new" boat – if they want to race it at the 2027 America's Cup.
That absurdity stems from the "Constructed in Country" requirement of the Deed of Gift, which the current Protocol deems may be satisfied if a 2.7metre section of the bow is constructed in the club's home country and fitted to the rest of the hull.
If, for example, a second Italian team purchased an AC75 from Emirates Team New Zealand, the Italian team would have two options. They can remove at least 2.7 metres off the bow, build a replacement bow in Italy that is identical in shape to the original, and fit that to the now bow-less hull.
Alternatively, the team could try to remove the outer skin of the AC75 hull and replace it with a new laminate, so that there is a new hull "surface" that again is identical in shape and construction to what has been ground off.
In theory, it's possible, but the designers and rule-makers aren't the ones doing the grinding and rebuilding.
If the hypothetical second Italian team can't prove the new section is identical, within allowed tolerances, to the original bow, then the team infringes the AC75 hull surface area modification rule, and their boat is munted.
It's a situation of which the "Yes Minister" script writers would have been proud - where the new team had a second-hand AC75, from which they had to cut off a perfectly good bow, to comply with a nonsensical "state of origin" rule.
What's the point?
Why are Cup organisers making it hard for a new team trying to enter an event, which needs all the new teams it can get?
In a normal class, the standard practice is just to grandfather older boats, provided no hull-shape modifications are made.
The less drastic solution to the Constructed in Country farce is to allow a second-hand AC75 to count the internal and deck reconstructions as satisfying the CIC rule, which has been rendered meaningless in the world of globalised manufacturing.
Recon period extended
The Reconnaissance rules have been tightened and expanded – a result of the Barcelona Cup experiences, where shared reconnaissance was a permitted activity to overcome the issues created by teams running spy boats against other teams.
A welcome move is for the Recon process to start within two weeks of a team being accepted for the Naples America's Cup and continuing until the end of the Match. The two recon team members will stay with their team throughout, including at all regattas in which they compete.
In the Barcelona Cup, for some reason that was never explained, the recon shut down two months before the start of racing - just when it was starting to get interesting.
With all the thought and testing that went into developing hulls that were optimised for racing in the sea states found in Auckland (essentially flat water) and Barcelona, it will be interesting to see what is perceived as the best compromise for the Bay of Naples, within the limitations imposed by the Class Rule and Technical Regulations.
However, the teams are not allowed to alter the shape of the hull below the deckline.
There is more scope for cockpit alteration to allow for the overall reduction of crew numbers from eight to six persons. However, there is no scope for hull surface alteration, and modifications to the internal structure of the boat are restricted.
Careful spending
Moving away from the requirement for unnecessary bow transplants, the issues with using "legacy" gear are well known and require some complex rules - particularly where gear replacement - "like with like" - is permitted.
They include a provision which allows teams who didn't use their full complement of parts for the Barcelona Cup to build more to come up to that limitation, provided they are declared to be from an AC40/75 which was launched/afloat for the Barcelona Cup.
Even more so than previously, teams will have to be careful about their choice of components to ensure they do not break the component limits for legacy items.
The foil arms – a one design, supplied part first used in the Auckland Cup, and then again for Barcelona, will not change for Naples.
The overall weight of the AC75 class has been reduced by 565kg, which comes from a variety of sources, including a crew reduction from eight to six (the guest racer is included in the all-up weight); a reduction in the wing foil weight and minor adjustments elsewhere, including the Foil Control System. Additions to the weight include a primary battery pack of 125kg.
The Technical Regulations permit teams to reduce the mass of the legacy wing foil and the wing flap by up to 40% to meet the new all-up weight.
The weight reduction will make it easier for the AC75s to foil in light airs.
The reduction in the mass of the new foils will open some opportunity for the design teams, who will be looking to push out the cavitation barrier, enabling the AC75s to get up to similar speeds as the F50S have achieved in SailGP – with speeds of 57kts being theoretically possible, as well as lifting off quicklier in the light.
The missing bits
There are some surprising omissions from the myriad of rules and interpretations.
There is no attempt to address the robotic appearance of the AC75, where the crew are buried in the hulls, with only helmets visible, and who never venture on deck while racing. There's plenty of crew visibility on the F50s in SailGP, with the crews crossing the boat in tacks and gybes. In the AC75, the crew were visible in the 2021 Cup in Auckland, but disappeared into the deep cockpits in 2024 and that looks likely again.
Another elephant in the AC75 room is that of artificial intelligence. It doesn't appear to be mentioned, if indeed it can be controlled, and it will a be a field day for the boffins as they attempt to weave a path between devices which the Measurement Committee can see, and the invisible machinations of computer code. Where AI will really come into its own is in on the water to do the heavy lifting in the data analysis area, and suggesting options that could be put into play.
When linked with LIDAR devices to look at wind and sail shape, coupled with the precision afforded by electric power systems - even if the available energy mimics that provided with the now exited grinders and cyclors - AI innovation will be a key factor in the Naples Cup.
Emirates Team NZ, the America's Cup Defender, in particular, has a notorious record for innovative design approaches to the written rules.
Having got off to a fast start, it could well be that Italy's Luna Rossa have adopted this lesson from the Kiwi playbook. The Italians have publicly had their heads down throughout the various rules negotiations and discussions. Team boss Max Sirena is already playing the media attack game with some mischievous comments in social media, and the hiring of some key people from Emirates Team NZ, for whom he worked in the 2017 campaign and Cup win.
The disruptors in the rules negotiations have given the Italians the windfall advantage of being able to utilise their Cup hires in the Naples Cup. However the real advantage of Junior and Burling is in their off the water presence, keeping the discussions on the level, and helping control the Italian emotions, in front of a home crowd. In other words, saving the Italians from themselves.
Entries opened on August 19 and will close 28days after the key America's Cup Partnership Agreement is signed between the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron and the Royal Yacht Squadron.
To date, no announcement has been made of the agreement being signed, and it is assumed that the initial deadline for this to happen, of September 9, 2025, has been extended.
The initial Challenger of Record, the Royal Yacht Squadron, will presumably enter and pay the €5million Entry Fee and €2million mandatory loan to the America's Cup Partnership. However to date they have not announced sponsorship/backing syndicate to fill the huge financial hole left by the departed INEOS Group.
Luna Rossa has had their Entry accepted but has made no formal announcement.
No entry fees are payable until the controversial America's Cup Partnership is signed.
At this stage, it seems that five teams will contest the Cup in Naples.