Who:
Golden Gate YC (GGYC) holds the America's
Cup as trustee, and defends the trophy against the
challenger selected in the Louis Vuitton Cup
Regatta. GGYC will be represented by Oracle
Team USA.
The actual Challenger that races
GGYC will be selected in the Louis Vuitton Cup
regatta, which serves as the challenger selection
process for the prospective teams.
Read more about the 2013 America's Cup Teams
Club Nautico di
Roma was the original Challenger of Record, giving
them the right to negotiation the initial terms of
the America's Cup match with the Defender.
After the initial terms were set, as agreed in the
Protocol for the 34th Defense of the America's
Cup, additional challenger candidates were sought
and accepted. CNR, represented by Mascalzone
Latino, resigned as Challenger of Record (COR) for financial reasons in May,
2011, and withdrew from competition. Per the Protocol the Swedish entry
represented by Artemis Racing was next in line
chronologically and automatically stepped into the
Challenger of Record role.
Read Original Challenger of Record Announcement
Before the Protocol for the 34th
Defense of the America's Cup was signed and
additional teams were accepted, the Challenger of
Record held the power to unilaterally agree with
the Defender to amend the plans for the event.
However, with the acceptance of additional
challengers, the consent of a majority of
challengers is now be needed to modify the rules,
so the Challenger of Record's power is not
sweeping. The Challenger of Record, though,
must agree to any such changes, as of course must
the Defender, so under the present Protocol the COR does retain a veto power.
Learn more about the Protocol for the 2013
America's Cup and other rules
The windows for
additional teams to be accepted as challenger or
defender candidates ran between November 1, 2010
and March 31, 2011.
See CupInfo's list of entered and prospective
teams for the 2013 America's Cup
This timeframe was
extended from the originally announced window
between October 1, 2010, and January 31, 2011.
The Protocol also allowed for possible late entries
at the discretion of GGYC, though the club said that they would accept only an
exceptionally strong late entry. GGYC
subsequently accepted Luna Rossa Challenge, a
three-time challenger since 2000, as a late entry. GGYC and
Oracle encouraged the formation of more US
teams to compete with Oracle for defender
selection, though none were accepted.
back to top
Where:
San Francisco, California, USA. Announced
December 31, 2010:
Read Official Press Release
Key America's Cup
leaders hinted in October 2010 that a decision
might even be announced in November, but as of
late December 2010 the process looked like it would satisfy
the December 31 deadline only with concerted
effort. San Francisco, CA; Newport, RI; and
Rome, Italy were the cities said to be under
consideration.
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Proposed event plans for the America's
Cup Village in San Francisco. Click
image to read more about northern
waterfront plan.
Image: ©2011 Americascup.com
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GGYC's potential
selection of a San Francisco location for a long
time appeared to hinge on local approval of a
hosting agreement, given that race organizers
including Larry Ellison had said that the city was
their preference if terms could be agreed.
On Tuesday, December 14, 2010, the city unanimously
passed a resolution approving a modified hosting
agreement and Mayor Gavin Newsom ceremonially
signed the document for the city. The
version that was approved shifted many of the
locations from the originally-discussed waterfront
south of the Bay Bridge to a northern waterfront
alternative instead, but also restructured several
aspects of the financial terms. What
remained for the city and regatta organizers was
to see if they could adjust provisions of the deal
to suit both parties. Provided that costs
for the city are not increased, details of the
agreement may be modified by city officials
without requiring passage of another resolution.
Time was tight,
however. Though GGYC told San Francisco that
a signed agreement was needed by Friday, December
17, if the city was to be the host, even before
that agreement was in hand, Golden Gate YC
officials turned to Rhode Island, beginning the
week of December 12, for a series of escalating
discussions with state and local officials about
the possibility of holding the match in Newport
instead. Efforts as of December 30 still
involved working on a formal expression of
commitment from Rhode Island and fine tuning the
San Francisco agreement. In late December,
Rhode Island officials said that a Letter of
Intent or a more extensive Hosting Agreement would
require the results of cost studies which could
not be completed until the first or second week of
January.
The Protocol for the
America's Cup required a venue decision by
December 31, though if necessary the Protocol
could have been amended to extend the deadline.
Entered and prospective teams need some certainty
about the race location in order to set budgets
and secure sponsorships, so an extension might
not have been well-received by the teams.
San Francisco was
considered the most likely host city throughout much of
2010, and as of July 8, 2010, was declared by GGYC
to be the only US location still being considered.
Golden Gate YC also said at the time that they
were studying proposals from four European
countries that had made strong expressions of
interest, though GGYC did not provide any details
regarding those proposals. Comments from San
Francisco officials in September and October
referred to two European cities being considered,
and in early November GGYC/BMW Oracle sources said
that an Italian city was the only other remaining
candidate still under consideration.
Read GGYC's "Only San Francisco" Announcement
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Early America's Cup venue concepts
proposed to GGYC and BMW Oracle in early
September, 2010. Click image to enlarge
and see more.
Image:
©2010 Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, LLP
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The proposed location of the planned America's Cup
village in San Francisco centered for a long time
on a combination of disused piers near downtown
San Francisco, just south of the Bay Bridge.
See a version of the proposed Space Plan for the
America's Cup Village and
View photos of locations under consideration at
Pressure-Drop.us
In
early November, despite all of the preliminary
debate about the southern piers, and the existing
hosting agreement and financial studies that
proceeded on the premise of the southern location,
the city's discussion returned to a
Northern Option located between the Ferry
Building and Fisherman's Wharf. Though the
new site itself offered some significant
advantages, including proximity to more suitable
commercial districts on land, and especially a
more direct view of the race courses, the
difficulties of satisfying the political process
while meeting the needs of all parties for the
northern site appeared steep, and proposed changes
to the agreement that coincided with the new
location appeared for a time to be dealbreakers.
Trying to reach agreement in
SF:
In late summer, the obstacle of a prolonged
government approvals process raised fears that San
Francisco would not be able to meet the needs of
the America's Cup in time. Although the
effort to host the event has solid backing from
local leaders, the city and other agencies are
required by the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA) to consider an Environmental Impact
Report (EIR) in making discretionary approvals of
the sort needed for construction of the
shore-based amenities and infrastructure that the
America's Cup organizers seek. Even though
the America's Cup village would be likely to get a
favorable EIR finding, the minimal length of the
process is still several months, with the
potential to take even longer despite little or no
opposition.
Officials considered seeking an
exemption from CEQA requirements, a nearly
unprecedented move which would have required a
vote of the state legislature, but regional and
state politics ultimately led the exemption effort
to be set aside. The prospect of
strengthening a precedent for such exemptions was
alarming to environmental groups, even those who
otherwise were inclined to welcome the America's
Cup to the Bay. Indeed, after tabling the
CEQA exemption, San Francisco city officials
reached a consensus agreement with local
environmental organizations to support the bid.
The 2013 America's Cup facilities would still
require approvals from several other agencies, but
the city's representatives expect that these can
be completed in under a year.
As of late 2011, the
"Final" EIR is awaiting certification from the San
Francisco Planning Commission, who will take up
the matter in a December 15 meeting.
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Original
concept plan for San Francisco
Waterfront Piers. Click image to enlarge
and read more.
Image:
©2010 Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, LLP
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Although San Francisco was
declared by GGYC to be the only American city
under consideration, shadow competition emerged
over the summer of 2010 from mostly unnamed
European cities, primarily in Italy.
Unconfirmed reports that an offer of $500 million
in support had been made if the America's Cup were
to go to La Maddalena, Italy, were denied by team
representatives, who also pointed out that La
Maddalena was not suited to hosting the large
crowds that would visit an America's Cup venue.
However, in
August 2010 Russell Coutts
did admit that serious talks were underway with
other European locations if San Francisco were
rejected, reaffirming what Coutts previously said
in June.
The offer of funding alone was
likely not the issue, since Larry Ellison has
already said that America's Cup facilities in San
Francisco will not use taxpayer funds, but
certainty about approvals and a credible plan to
have the America's Cup village ready to use on
time as planned were important considerations,
too. In late September, 2010, San Francisco
officials included in their proposal the prospect
of $270 million in private sponsorship for the
event if the city were chosen. The city will
still incur costs in meeting administrative
commitments, processing approvals, and there is an
imputed opportunity cost of providing pier space
to the America's Cup organization. Private
funds are intended to offset many of the city's
expenses, however.
Other cities:
Initially San Diego, CA, and Valencia, Spain,
were mentioned following the February 2010 match,
though team members pointed out that very little
thought was given to the next defense while the
team was focused on their 2010 challenge.
At the May 6th
Rome press conference, Coutts revealed little
regarding the venue other than that consultants
were studying the feasibility issues, and it was
believed that detailed discussions were taking
place with the city of San Francisco at that time
as well.
BMW Oracle
leaders in early July also referred to two other
unnamed European cities under consideration.
Newport, RI, 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, was also
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 promoted
itself, too.
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 post-match "Victory Tour", and a natural
candidate for some exhibition or preliminary
racing. Valencia was the least likely of
these cities to host the match, and was officially
no longer under consideration by November
the Associated Press reported.
Newport and San Fran:
San Francisco was in a strong position since GGYC
is located there and SF Bay is a dramatic location
for sailing with substantial wind. As noted
by
Kimball Livingston, the Bay is ideal for
the "transformative" America's Cup that Ellison,
Coutts, and Onorato seek. BMW Oracle team
members including Ellison said that SF was their
preference providing that a suitable location for
team bases and spectators was possible, and that
any required infrastructure will not be built at
taxpayers' expense. Aside from GGYC, the
headquarters of Oracle Corporation, Ellison's
company, is in the area, and it has been his home
for many years. The primary obstacle to
proceeding with San Francisco was securing
government approvals and building sufficient
infrastructure to accommodate teams, media, and
fans.
Newport was the Cup's long-time
home from 1930, when the NYYC moved the Match
there from New York with the consent of the
Challenger at the time, Sir Thomas Lipton, and the
regatta remained in Newport up until the Cup was
lost to Australia in 1983. Before 1930,
although the Cup matches themselves were held in
or near New York City, 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 from Newport by the
Herreshoffs in Bristol. Larry Ellison, while
making his home near SF, recently purchased a
fabled Newport "cottage", which suggested he was
looking forward to spending some time in the Rhode
Island area, but accounts of Ellison's divorce in
late 2010 imply that his ex-wife will retain the
house, known as Beechwood, instead.
Read about Beechwood at Newport Discovery Guide
In late September, Newport was
reportedly asked by America's Cup Race Management
to submit a proposal detailing their ability to
host a large yachting series. The inference
was that Newport could make improvements to the
Fort Adams facilities and host a major lead-up
regatta in 2012, possibly the new America's Cup
World Series, according to reports in the
Providence Journal.
In early December, 2010, Newport
surfaced again as a contender for the actual
defense, as an alternative to San Francisco and
Italy if a deal couldn't be reached in one of
those locations, and if organizers preferred a US
port to defend the America's Cup. And even
after the San Francisco announcement, Newport has
been mentioned as a fall-back if obstacles prevent
timely approvals on the west coast. And in
the meantime, an America's Cup World Series
regatta was held there in June-July 2012.
Notably, too, following the 2003
America's Cup two racing series were hosted in
these two cities, the regattas consisting solely
of the then-America's Cup Defender and the
Challenger of Record (namely BMW Oracle Racing)
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 would depend on best accommodating
the needs of teams and spectators, and these
events especially helped demonstrate the spectator
component.
The America's Cup match and
probably the Challenger Selection Series (known
since 1983 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:
72-foot catamarans with rigid wing sails, designed
to a new AC72 Class Rule, as officially announced
September 13 by the Defender and Challenger of
Record. Boats from 60 to 90 feet long were
studied, including trimarans and catamarans from
65 to 85 feet long. Factors including
weight, cost, complexity, and transportation
logistics guided the configuration of the yacht,
including length and number of hulls. The
AC72 cats began sailing in 2012, while the teams
were working
their way up the learning curve first racing on the
smaller AC45.
See AC72 Rollout for photos and stories on the
yachts in development
The first AC45 cat was under construction in late
2010 in New Zealand and launched in January
2011 for evaluation trials. The first batch
of four additional boats was due by March 1, which
the teams received in order of their notices
of entry. Teams tested the boats in April
and May, 2010, including mock regattas with the
officials and broadcast technology before official
racing began in August, 2011, in Cascais,
Portugal.
Selection of this yacht configuration was revealed
at a Press Conference in Valencia:
Read Announcement and
View Valencia Press Conference (media currently
unavailable) and
Read more about the new AC72 Class
US
Sailing along with Morrelli & Melvin Design
and
Engineering wrote the AC72 class rule, following
on from work they did in creating drafts used to
support the selection of multihulls for the next
America's Cup. The Class Rule was published
October 15, 2010, two weeks later than initially
planned, to allow the incorporation of feedback
from interested parties.
Learn more about the AC72 Class Rule
Background:
The Choice:
Both mono-hull and multi-hull designs were
considered. As of late August, 2010, docktalk was
centering on the multi-hull option, with attention
being paid to the wing-sailed racing cats of the
revitalized
IC4 (International C-Class Catamaran
Championship), a multi-hull event once known as
"The Little America's Cup". Though some
existing teams were not excited by the prospect of
having to switch from conventional mono-hulls,
where their expertise lies, to multi-hulls instead,
significantly Vincenzo Onorato, the Challenger of
Record sponsor, was reported to have warmed to the
concept after initial skepticism and assented to
the choice. An
official announcement of the yacht selection was
made September 13 in Valencia. Designer Pete
Melvin helps explain some aspects of the decision:
See "Choosing the Multihull" at CupInfo
To help in the decision for a
new class, designers were hired to prepare
mono-hull and multi-hull concepts, meetings with
interested parties including the broader yacht
design community and representatives of potential
America's Cup teams took place in May and June
2010. White papers outlining the concepts to
date were issued on July 1, and sea trials of
comparable designs took place in July 2010 in Valencia,
Spain. To author draft Class Rules, Golden
Gate YC engaged US Sailing for the multi-hulls and
the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) for the
mono-hulls.
The mono-hull
concept in the early draft featured a canting keel
and conventional mast, while the multi-hull being
discussed considered 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.
The Goal:
Following BMW Oracle's victory, Ellison said 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 internet chatter also circulated
a third tantalizing possibility, large yachts
modeled on skiffs, over-canvassed and of light
displacement. Coutts said at several points
that the among the characteristics desired for the
new class, in addition to speed and visual appeal,
was a more physically demanding boat.
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 in 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 was intended to be
reached at that point.
Precedent:
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 other time a class
has actually been created and built for the America's
Cup. The two previous classes before the
ACC/IACC, the International Rule 12-Meter (first
adopted for the America's Cup in 1958) and the
Universal Rule J-Class (first adopted for the
America's Cup in 1930), were chosen in an era
before there were multiple challengers.
Those were pre-existing class rules that were
selected in mutual agreement between the potential
challenger at the time and the defending New York
YC, and in fact those classes were picked largely 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 said that BMW Oracle might even
consider recusing themselves from the design rule
formation process if that was the desire of the
challengers.
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How:
Dates:
The 2013 America's Cup Match itself is tentatively
set for September 7-21 (as needed), 2013, with the Challenger
selection series in July and August, 2013.
The Defender of the America's Cup, Golden Gate YC
represented by Oracle Racing, will faced the
foreign Challenger selected in the Louis Vuitton
Cup regatta.
The Louis Vuitton Cup regatta opening ceremonies kicked off July
4, 2013, followed by a planned fleet racing day
which was cancelled due to high winds, before switching
back to head-to-head match racing. Round Robin Match Racing
for the challenger candidates will be followed by
Semi-Finals and the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. The
winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup becomes the 34th
Challenger for the America's Cup.
See Daily Louis Vuitton Cup and America's Cup Race
Schedule
The details of the Louis Vuitton Cup (Challenger
selection) regatta were required by the Protocol
to be agreed upon by the challengers by July 1,
2011, and were announced July 2, though later
modified. The format and dates have been
modified since, adjusting to the number of teams
and the demands of racing the new AC72's.
See Latest Louis Vuitton Cup Format
The format for a Defender
selection regatta (if any) was to be decided by
GGYC on or before that date, also, though to date
no additional Defender Candidates have come into
the picture. A Defender series, if
necessary, would be held simultaneous with the
Challenger Selection races. For training
purposes, Oracle Team USA is holding an informal
Defender series between their two yachts at the
same time as the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Also see
Basic Schedule for America's Cup 2013 and
Detailed Schedule with Protocol
Dates for overall schedules and
dates.
Two Seasons: The 2011-12
and 2012-13 America's Cup World Series
Events were staged in cities around the world
as a build-up to the actual Challenger Selection
Series (Louis Vuitton Cup) and the America's Cup
Match in 2013. Named the America's Cup World
Series (ACWS), the number, dates, and locations of
the complete race program evolved over time. Locations for six
regattas of the 2011-12 season were
announced, along with 2012 stops in San Francisco
a year before the LVC and the 2013 America's Cup
Match itself. In April, 2011, the three ACWS
were confirmed for 2011 in Cascais, Portugal;
Plymouth, England; and San Diego, USA. For
2012, Venice and Naples in Italy were added to San
Francisco; and for 2013, the ACWS returned to
Naples for one final date before the Louis Vuitton Cup begins. See
2011-2012 America's Cup World Series for
ACWS schedule, race coverage, and results.
Structure and
Conduct:
Coutts and Ellison, as well as Vincenzo Onorato of
initial Challenger of Record Mascalzone Latino,
were adamant that the regatta will have completely
independent jury and officials, and that the
organization itself will be a neutral as possible.
All sides were especially firm on the point that
the Defender will not compete to influence the
Challenger selection, an inappropriate and
unprecedented possibility which was one of the
inflammatory issues driving the conflict that
played out from 2007-2010.
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 (media currently unavailable).
Louis Vuitton:
Louis Vuitton will again be a major sponsor of the
event.
See "Louis Vuitton Cup Returns"
Louis Vuitton
and parent company
LVMH
sponsored the Louis Vuitton Cup, awarded to the
selected challenger from 1983 until July 2007.
Louis Vuitton withdrew their support following the
2007 America's Cup over disagreements with the
then-defender, objecting to the direction intended
for the potential 2009 or 2010 Match.
After Golden Gate
YC and BMW Oracle Racing were successful in their
2010 challenge, it was expected initially that
some integration with the newly created
Louis Vuitton Trophy (LVT) program that
began in 2009 might be in store, since there are
close ties between the WSTA teams of the LVT and
the America's Cup challenger corps, but the LVT
banner was ultimately retired and the focus is
officially on the traditional Louis Vuitton Cup. Officially
the event in Dubai, November 12-27, 2010, was
the final Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta.
Defender
Series:
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."
Despite such urging, however, at the close of the
entry notice period, no additional defender
candidate had yet officially signed up and been
accepted.
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