During the press conference for the protocol, Grant Dalton confirmed that a new monohull class will be used for the 36th America’s Cup. He cited an online survey with over 80% of the respondents expressing their desire for a monohull. The concept video for the new foiling AC75 shows only one hull, but whether it enthralls, disappoints or confuses those survey respondents is an open question. There is no question that it is an audacious concept. It will fascinate, entertain and surprise us. We will have much to discuss over the next three years! With no keel and the windward foil’s weight providing righting moment, we should develop a new vocabulary for discussing any modern “foil delivery platform,” regardless of how many hulls it has. Many people have expressed a desire for a traditional America’s Cup, with close match racing, dial-ups and circling in the pre-starts, sail changes and spinnakers. As we develop our vocabulary, perhaps we should avoid the word “traditional” – it often seems to mean “what I like.”

 Déja Vu All Over Again

The America's Cup has changed clubs seven times. Each new holder has put their mark on the cup, literally and figuratively, not always to universal approval. Bob Fisher’s excellent book, “An Absorbing Interest,” provides fascinating background about how each new defender organized the event to their liking. For the first defense, New York Yacht Club's membership chose to ignore the meaning of a “match" and sent their entire fleet against Ashbury's Cambria, representing the Royal Thames Yacht Club.  A century later, their acceptance of a challenger selection process was widely welcomed. Challengers were less keen on some of the NYYC's "interpretive resolutions," including nationality requirements for yacht component construction and residency requirements for designers and sailors.

The current holder, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, is the only club to recapture the Cup after having lost it. Their protocol and plans for 2021 have interesting similarities and differences to earlier editions, including their own protocol for the 2000 cycle.

The 1987 big boat challenge from Michael Fay and the Mercury Bay Boat Club caught San Diego Yacht Club by surprise. When the dust from the court cases had settled, the "San Diego Protocol” was issued in September 1988. It defined a "challenge period" and called for the challengers to elect the Challenger of Record. This process was used for the 1992 and 1995 America's Cup cycles, but it did not remove the risk of a surprise challenge under the Deed of Gift. When it was clear that Team New Zealand was on the way to winning in 1995, RNZYS removed that risk. Bob James, Vice Commodore of the NYYC was on the Team New Zealand tender and presented a challenge the moment the Kiwis crossed the line in race five.

RNZYS was against "paper yacht clubs." In 1995 the Southern Cross Yacht Club was headquartered at Red Rock Point (population 1) and the Australian Yacht Club consisted of little more than a shingle on Syd Fischer's boatshed. As in 2000, the protocol for 2021 requires a challenging yacht club to have existed for five years, to have at least 200 members and to be financially supported by a majority of its members on a pro rata basis.

The protocol for the 2000 Cup referred to "the defender selection series, if there is one."  RNZYS decided not to accept any other defender syndicates, not wanting to dilute the financial and human resources available to Team New Zealand. They had learned from the Australians. After lifting the Cup in 1983, the Royal Perth Yacht Club probably sowed the seeds of their 1987 loss by allowing multiple defense syndicates and by pitching sponsorship of the event to the same companies the teams were approaching. The problem was compounded by the explosion of team budgets. On the US side, Dennis Conner's 1983 defense had cost $3.5 million but his 1987 budget was five times that. The NYYC's 1987 America II campaign reportedly spent $20 million. The Challenger of Record, Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, was backed by the Aga Khan; their Azzurra II appeared to have no financial worries.

In choosing to have only one defense syndicate, RNZYS was taking to heart Bill Koch's words when said, in 1992, "... the America's Cup is a race of management, technology, money, teamwork, focus and, only incidentally, sailing." In 2000 Peter Blake talked about the Kiwi strategy of wringing all possible speed out of their design through two boat testing: "... most of our learning, from our point of view, has been done not in the racing, but it's been done between the racing with our two black yachts. And it's Russell and the crew out there, working day after day, learning about our boats and what makes them go faster or slower. That's what helped us through. The racing has been just part of the process but we haven't learned what's making our boats go faster or slow in the racing. It's been of little consequence." The four Australian defender candidates spent so much effort trying to beat each other that they failed to develop enough speed to defend the Cup. Even the Americans had learned the same lesson. After losing to the Kiwis in 1995, Dennis Conner remarked that the San Diego Yacht Club would have been better off with one syndicate instead of three. We have not seen multiple defender syndicates since then - 1995.

If the Kiwis dispensed with the San Diego Protocol's method for selecting a Challenger of Record, they took to heart that document's intention to tighten nationality rules. For the 2000 Cup the residency requirement was extended from two years to three for domicile or principal place of residence, and applied to both designers and sailors. Blake said they would have preferred to make the requirement even tighter, based on citizenship. That would have prevented the Team New Zealand exodus to One World and Alinghi after the successful 2000 defense. With Kiwi talent on board, Alinghi won in 2003 and Société Nautique de Genève became the trustee. With their hip pocket challenger Golden Gate Yacht Club and Oracle Racing, they completely eliminated the nationality requirements for sailors. Oracle and GGYC made a gesture towards sailor nationality for the the 2013 and 2017 America's Cup events. With the Cup back in their hands, the Kiwis are re-tightening the rules, requiring 100% of the crew to meet nationality tests with at least three of the crew being citizens of the country they represent. All others on board must have their permanent-not-temporary residence in the country. Additionally, they must spend 380 days in the country in the two year period before decamping to Auckland for the racing.

Syndicates representing the Royal Yacht Squadron and the New York Yacht Club have announced their intention of challenging and will add gravitas.  The current America’s Cup cycle will continue to develop and evolve.  Stand by.