American Magic, the USA Challenger for the 36th America’s Cup and a prospective Challenger for the 37th, welcomed the AC37 Protocol and updated AC75 Class Rule.
Along with the Deed of Gift, the Protocol and Class Rule are the governing documents for the next America’s Cup and provide a framework to allow design and planning work to accelerate for all teams.
“Our team plans to compete at AC37, and as part of that process we continue to learn as much about the next event as we can,” said Doug DeVos, Co-Founder and Team Principal of American Magic.
In terms of American Magic’s early impressions of the Protocol and Class Rule, Terry Hutchinson, President of Sailing Operations and Skipper for American Magic. said that an in-depth analysis was underway.
“There is a lot about the documents that we like already, but all together this is roughly 200 pages of info, and we are still digging into it. We are also keeping an open mind about some of the more ambitious aspects of the plan put forward by ETNZ and INEOS. We want AC37 to be a competitive, successful event, and we hope all the teams can work together to make that happen.”
“Fortunately, we have not been sitting still as we waited. Thanks to the support of our Principals, our design team and our operations staff have been laying the groundwork for our next campaign.”
Scott Ferguson, American Magic’s Design Coordinator and a two-time Cup winner added that the first order of business is checking it against the AC36 version of the rule, and then really digging into the new wording.
In terms of how these Class Rule changes will impact the Cup, Ferguson said that the racing conducted in Auckland clearly influenced how the rule was tweaked.
“One of the shortcomings of the AC75 Class [during AC36] was racing in light air. The rule changes have addressed this by expanding the foil span box by 12.5% and reducing the weight of the boat by about 11%. Both changes are key to improving light air performance.
Key dates outlined in the AC37 Protocol:
2021
- 17th November 2021: AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule V2 Published
- 1st December 2021: Entries for Challengers Open
2022
- 31st March 2022: Defender to announce Match Venue and approximate event dates
- 17th June 2022: New competitors may sail Version 1 AC75’s for 20 sailing days
- 31st July 2022: Entry Period Closes
- 17th September 2022: Competitors may sail an AC75 Yacht
- 30th November 2022: ACE to announce race schedule for the Match
- 30th November 2022: ACE to announce racing area for CSS and Match
- 31st December 2022: ACE to publish Brand Manual
2023
- 31st May 2023: Final cut off for late Challenger entries.
- 30th June 2023: ACE to publish Youth and Women’s AC Agreement
- 30th June 2023: COR/D to publish Match Conditions
- 30th November 2023: COR/D to publish CSS Conditions
2024
- TBD: The Challenger Selection Series
- TBD: The 37th America’s Cup Match
Related Post:
37th America’s Cup Protocol – All you need to know before you enter
