Who:
Golden Gate YC (GGYC) holds the America's
Cup as trustee, and has accepted a challenge from
Club Nautico di Roma (CNdR). GGYC
will be represented by BMW Oracle Racing, and CNdR
will be represented by Mascalzone Latino.
Both teams first raced for the America's Cup as
challenger candidates in 2003 in Auckland, NZ.
Read Challenger of Record
Announcement
back to top
Additional teams will be
accepted as challenger candidates between October
1, 2010, and January 31, 2011. GGYC has also
said that they will encourage formation of US
teams to compete with BMW Oracle for defender
selection.
When:
Probably 2014, but undecided.
Russell Coutts confirmed
at a press
conference May 6, in Rome, Italy, that 2013 or
2014 are "realistic" for staging the match given
the preparation they expect. General
expectations are that 2014 is most likely.
Ellison told
USA Today on February 16: "If
we can get agreement with (San Francisco) for
space on the Bay, we will defend it here within
four years."
back to top
Where:
San Francisco is the most likely city, and as of
July 8, 2010, was declared by GGYC to be the only
US location still being considered. Golden
Gate also said that were studying proposals from
four European countries that had made strong
expressions of interest, though they did not
provide and details regarding those proposals.
Read GGYC's San Francisco Announcement
Initially San Diego, CA, and Valencia, Spain, were
mentioned following the February match, though
team members point out that very little thought
was given to the next defense while the team was
focused on their 2010 challenge. BMW Oracle
leaders in early July also referred to two other
unnamed European cities under consideration.
Newport formed a lobbying
group to try to land the event, or at least some
regattas leading up to the match itself. San
Diego made similar overtures. New London, CT,
not far away from Newport, though not initially
mentioned by GGYC or BMWO, has also been active in
proposing themselves as a host for at least some
races. Still in southern California, Long
Beach expressed interest, and in the Bay area, the alternative of
Alameda has promoted itself, too.
At
the May 6th Rome press conference, Coutts revealed
little regarding the venue other than that
consultants were studying the feasibility issues,
and it is believed that detailed discussions are
taking place with the city of San Francisco.
San Francisco is in a strong position since GGYC
is located there and SF Bay is a dramatic location
for sailing with substantial wind. Team
members including Ellison say that SF is their
preference providing that a suitable location for
team bases and spectators is possible, and that
any required infrastructure will not be built at
taxpayers' expense. Aside from GGYC, the
headquarters of Oracle Corporation, Ellison's
company, are in the area, and it has been his home
for many years. The primary obstacle to
proceeding with San Francisco is likely securing
government approvals and building sufficient
infrastructure to accommodate teams, media, and
fans.
Newport was the Cup's long-time home after the
NYYC moved it there from New York in 1930, up
until the Cup was lost to Australia in 1983.
Before 1930, defender trials were regularly held
in Newport, and some of the most legendary
defenders in America's Cup history were built just
up Narragansett Bay by the Herreshoffs.
Larry Ellison, while making his home near SF,
recently purchased a fabled Newport "cottage",
suggesting he is looking forward to spending some
time in the Rhode Island area.
Notably, too, following the 2003 America's Cup two
racing series were hosted in these cities, the
regattas consisting solely of the America's Cup
defender and challenger sailing their 2003 yachts,
with the Moët Cup staged in SF, September 2003,
and the UBS Trophy in Newport, June, 2004.
Both series drew sizable crowds to the waterfront.
Ellison has said that part of the decision to
select a venue will depend on best accommodating
the needs of teams and spectators.
The team has had close relations with San Diego,
doing the bulk of their testing and training there
before the 2010 match, the southern California
city was part of the BMW Oracle's post-match
"Victory Tour", and could see at least some
exhibition or preliminary racing. Valencia
is the least likely of these cities to host the
match.
The America's Cup match and probably the
Challenger Selection Series (know from 1983-2007
as the Louis Vuitton Cup) would be held in the
chosen city, as well as a Defender's Selection
Series if there is one. Preliminary racing
before that would probably be held in multiple
locations around the world (see discussion of
Louis Vuitton Trophy, below, under "How").
back to top
Yachts:
Both mono-hull and multi-hull designs are being
considered. Designers have been hired to
prepare concepts, meetings with interested parties
such as designers and other team representatives
have been taking place in May and June 2010, white
papers outlining the concepts to date were issued
July 1, and sea trials of comparable designs are
planned to begin in July in Valencia, Spain.
Golden Gate YC has engaged US Sailing for the
multi-hulls and the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC)
for the mono-hulls to author draft Class Rules.
Currently the mono-hull concept
features a canting keel and conventional mast,
while the multi-hull being dicussed could use a
wing mast.
See "High Performance Yachts for America's Cup"
plus
Mono-hull Concept Paper (pdf) and
Multi-hull Concept Paper (pdf) for
details.
Ellison said following BMW Oracle's victory that
the yacht class for the America's Cup would be
determined by a consensus among the America's Cup
community. Expectations initially were for a
new design rule for monohulls representing an
evolution from today's America's Cup Class yachts,
namely larger and faster boats with more high-tech
features. Soon after, Ellison also made
statements that said multihulls were being
considered, for reasons of speed and spectator
appeal. And docktalk also circulated a
third tantalizing possibility, large yachts
modeled on skiffs, over-canvassed and light
displacement. Coutts added in Rome that the
among the characteristics desired for the new
class, in addition to speed and visual appeal, is
a more physically demanding boat.
Whether there will be the excitement of scaling up
the yachts to the proportions of the fabled
J-Class, and what sort of technology will be
involved, are questions that will be explored in
the decision-making process for the new class.
In
a March 22 interview with
Fortune magazine,
Ellison raised the prospect that the design
envelope for the new class could be very tight,
with the goal of controlling the escalating design
and engineering costs that deter potential
challengers from entering.
At
the Rome Press Conference May 6th, Russell Coutts
revealed that two yacht design firms had been
hired, Bruce Nelson and Morelli & Melvin, to
prepare concept studies for both monohulls and
multihulls with the plan of holding a conference
Valencia, open to all interested teams, to review
the proposals and establish what options might be
viable for the next Cup class yachts.
Initial meetings were held in May, 2010, though no
decision has yet been reached.
A
consensus formed in open meetings among all
interested parties in 1988-89 was the process that
produced the America's Cup Class (ACC) Design Rule
for the 1992 match, the only previous time a class
was actually created and built for the America's
Cup. The two previous classes, the
International Rule 12-Meter and the Universal Rule
J-Class, were chosen in an era before there were
multiple challengers. Those were existing
class rules selected in agreement with the
potential challenger at the time, and in fact at
the challenger's urging. Matches before 1930
did not use a design rule.
In
2007 in what was perceived as a conflict of
interest and a violation of the spirit of the Deed
of Gift, the defender at the time had their own
design team create a class rule, though after
sustained objection eventually allowed limited
comments, and only from officially accepted
challengers. In contrast, Russell Coutts has
said that BMW Oracle might even consider recusing
themselves from the design rule formation process
if that was the desire of the challengers.
back to top
How:
Format and Structure: Discussion from team members
suggests a series of events might be staged in
cities around the world in build-up to the actual
Challenger Selection Series. Louis Vuitton
is said to be enthusiastic to sponsor the
challenger side of the event again, as they did
with the Louis Vuitton Cup from 1983 until 2007
before withdrawing their support over
disagreements with the then-defender.
It
is probable that some integration with the new
Louis Vuitton Trophy program will be
arranged. Promisingly, Russell Coutts also
said after BMW Oracle Racing's win that the
Defender would be open to the possibility of a
Defender Selection Series like that which took
place throughout America's Cup's history until
2000. Coutts repeated this at the Rome Press
Conference, saying "We have to have a defender's
series."
Coutts and Ellison, as well as Vincenzo Onorato of
Mascalzone Latino, have also been adamant that the
regatta will have completely independent jury and
officials, that the organization itself will be a
neutral as possible, and were especially firm on
the point that the Defender will not compete to
influence the Challenger selection, an
unprecedented possibility that was such an
inflammatory issue over the last three years.
Some more illustration of the philosophy that GGYC
and BMW Oracle intend to take with the next
Defense can be found by watching the
Day-After Press Conference from February 15
and
the Rome Press Conference
from May 6.
back to top
