America's Cup - 1988/1992 Protocol

September 8, 1988

With the legal and sailing battles of the 1988 America's Cup peaking, on September 8th, 1988, the San Diego YC adopted a protocol document addressing how the next Challenger of Record would be selected and outlining the steps to achieve the Deed of Gift's "mutual agreement" provisions regarding the major terms of the next America's Cup defense.

The Protocol proposes a "Trustees' Committee" comprised of the previous defending yacht clubs which would decide certain kinds of disputes among the participants.  Importantly, the Committee would also resolve any disagreements on four key aspects of the defense (yachts, dates, regatta format, and course configuration) if the Defender and Challenger of Record (COR) could not agree between themselves.

Of interest is that the COR would be elected by the challengers, not picked by the defender, and would propose the mutual agreement terms cited above for the defender's potential consent.  The balance of power in this document is substantially different than several recent versions.

An historical note to reading this document is that it was the first in an America's Cup context to be titled a "protocol".  Drafted by Tom Ehman, then an organizer for SDYC, later a rules advisor for BMW Oracle, and flag officer at Golden Gate YC, he has suggested in interviews that the word was chosen because it carried connotations of agreement and diplomacy.

Read the 1988 San Diego Protocol (pdf)

The San Diego Protocol was signed during the match with New Zealand's Mercury Bay Boating Club, then challenging with the KZ-1 big boat (the races were sailed September 7th and 9th), and witnessed by the New York YC.

SDYC won both races in Stars&Stripes, the catamaran USA-1.  The next defense, initially scheduled for 1991, was eventually sailed in 1992.