Challenges for the 35th America’s Cup are to be submitted to defender Golden Gate Yacht Club by today, 8 August 2014. The Protocol requires at least three challengers in addition to the challenge filed by Australia’s Hamilton Island Yacht Club. The Protocol also gives GGYC the authority to accept late challenges, so today’s deadline is not 100% firm.
We can expect an announcement of the challenges received soon, from GGYC’s event organizer, America’s Cup Event Authority. When GGYC confirms acceptance of the challenges, $1 million entry fee must be paid within seven days. A further $1 million entry fee and a $1 million performance bond must be paid by 1 December 2014.
Recall that Hamilton Island Yacht Club / Team Australia announced their intention to withdraw as Challenger of Record. Most observers believe that Luna Rossa will take over that role, but there has been no official announcement, either of Luna Rossa’s challenge or of a new Challenger of Record.
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, represented by Emirates Team New Zealand, today announced their challenge, the first public announcement. Four other teams have issued statements indicating their intention to challenge:
- Circolo della Vela Sicilia / Luna Rossa Challenge
- Royal Swedish Yacht Club / Artemis Racing
- Yacht Squadron Racing / Ben Ainslie Racing
- Yacht Club de France / Team France
Split Venue for the Challenger Selection Series?
If we end up with five challengers, it will be interesting to see if the planned “split venue” for challenger selection goes forward. Anticipating more challengers, the Protocol calls for all challengers to race their AC62’s in early 2017 together with defender Oracle Team USA in a venue different from the venue for the America’s Cup. The top four challengers from this “America’s Cup Qualifiers” event would move to the America’s Cup Venue for semi-finals and finals to select the team to race against OTUSA in the America’s Cup Match. With only five challengers, this plan would incur high expenses and only eliminate one team. All five challengers made it clear at a meeting in Los Angeles in July that they did not want a split venue. Read more about the format for the competition here.