| 34th America's Cup | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 7-22nd, 2013 |
| Defender | Golden Gate Yacht Club |
| Challenger of Record | Royal Swedish Yacht Club |
| Winner | TBD |
| Location | San Francisco, California |
| Coordinates | TBA |
| Official Website | http://www.americascup.com/ |
The 34th America's Cup will be sailed in 2013 in San Francisco, California with 72-foot wing-sail catamarans. Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) is the defender of the America's Cup, after their racing team, BMW Oracle Racing defeated the Swiss Alinghi team of Société Nautique de Genève in the 2010 America's Cup. On May 12, 2011, the Italian Club Nautico di Roma withdrew as the Challenger of Record and was replaced by the Royal Swedish Yacht Club.[1][2][3]
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On May 6, 2010, the Defender and the then Challenger of Record, Club Nautico di Roma, held a joint press conference to report on plans for the 34th Cup.[4] The planning process was to include: definition of new rules, an independent management team, definition of a new class of boats created in conjunction with all teams, regular racing in multiple venues and provision for much increased television and online coverage.
Intermediate dates were set on May 6, 2010 which included:
The Protocol for the 34th America's Cup was published on September 13, 2010.[5][6] The Cup challenge races will take place in September 2013.
Two new classes of boat were announced. AC72 wing-sail catamarans will be used for the America's Cup races and the AC45 class, a scaled-down one-design version of the AC72 will be used for the preliminary training and racing until boats built to the AC72 rules become available. The AC72 yachts are expected to sail upwind at 1.2 times the speed of the true wind, and downwind at 1.6 times the speed of the true wind.[7][8][9] The amended AC72 Class Rule version 1.1 was published on February 22, 2011.[10]
In order to increase global awareness and hence attract sponsors for the teams there will be an America’s Cup World Series of races in 2011-12 and 2012-13. The winner of each annual series will be declared the America’s Cup World Series Champion for that season. There will be three regattas in 2011, up to nine in 2012, and four in 2013. Each regatta will last for nine days and have approximately six days of racing, including official practice. Each AC World Series regatta will be a combination of match and fleet racing. Unless sea conditions are too rough, races can take place when the approximate average true wind speed is between 3 and 33 knots. AC45 one-design catamarans will be used for each World Series regatta.
(Event Four dates and venue to be confirmed)
In order to limit costs and hence attract challengers, there will be no-sail periods where on the water boat tuning and crew training is not allowed and limits imposed on the number of boats, sails, equipment and support boats which can used by each team. Crew size for the AC72s will be limited to 11.
In addition to using the AC45 catamarans for the initial world series races they will also be used to introduce the nationality based 'Youth America's Cup' (YAC). The smaller scaled down AC45 version of the AC72 with similar characteristics to the AC72 will enable younger competition sailors to master the techniques used to sail this style of catamaran before they progress to the AC72 boats. The YAC will begin in 2012. The age category for this event has yet to be released, but if ISAF standards are observed this would make the cut-off point 18 years old.
On July 8, 2010 BMW Oracle Racing announced that San Francisco “is the only city in the USA under consideration to host the 34th America’s Cup” match.[11] At the time, KGO-TV and Gazzetta dello Sport, an Italian sports newspaper, reported that Rome-Fiumicino, Italy was challenging San Francisco to host the event.[12]
BMW Oracle Racing did confirm that San Diego, Newport[13] and Long Beach were considered earlier as possible venues for this event.
A key parameter in deciding the venue was reliability of the wind and weather patterns so that pre-published television schedules would be virtually guaranteed to show racing rather than suffering endless postponents which was a significant problem for TV audiences watching the 2010 America's Cup. The venue was to be confirmed by December 31, 2010.[4]
In early December 2010, BMW Oracle Racing became concerned that a full and final agreement with San Francisco would not be completed in time to comply with the requirement to announce the location of the cup venue on December 31, 2010. As a result negotiations were activated with Newport Rhode Island as a potential venue for the cup.[14]
On December 31, 2010 San Francisco, California, was officially awarded the right to host the 2013 America's Cup.[15]
Twelve clubs applied to challenge the America's Cup before the deadline. The names of nine teams have been disclosed. Original Challenger of Record Club Nautico di Roma and Club Canottieri Roggero di Lauria withdrew, leaving seven named challengers. Additional challengers applied subsequently. The challengers are shown below, in the order in which they applied.[16]
| defending club | |
|---|---|
| Golden Gate Yacht Club | Oracle Racing |
| disclosed challenging clubs | |
| Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet | Artemis Racing[17] |
| Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron | Emirates Team New Zealand |
| Aleph Yacht Club | Aleph-Equipe de France[18] |
| Yacht Club de France | Energy Team[19] |
| Meĭ Fań Yacht Club | China Team[20] |
| Sail Korea Yacht Club | Team Korea[21] |
| Real Club Náutico de Valencia | Green Comm Racing[22] |
| Circolo della Vela Sicilia | Luna Rossa Challenge[23] |
On November 26, 2010, the former Cup holder Alinghi formally confirmed that it would not participate in the 2013 America's Cup.[24]
On May 12, 2011, the Challenger of Record Club Nautico di Roma and their team Mascalzone Latino withdrew from the 2013 America's Cup.[1][2]
On July 24, 2011, Club Canottieri Roggero di Lauria failed eligibility for the America's Cup.[25]
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