“We’re going to have our work cut out for us, that’s for sure.” Jimmy Spithill, Skipper for Oracle TEAM USA © Abner Kingman / ACEA/americascup.com
“We’re going to have our work cut out for us, that’s for sure.”
Jimmy Spithill, Skipper for Oracle TEAM USA © Abner Kingman / ACEA/americascup.com

Less money. Less crew. More teams. More excitement. The new protocol has been released and is being assessed by all parties. The new AC62 will be 10 ft shorter than the AC72s but is expected to be just as fast and thrilling to watch.

“The mandate,” according to the AC website, “was to get similar performance from a slightly smaller boat, but one that would be significantly less expensive to design, build and campaign.” Designers calculate the costs to be half that of the AC72s. Costs are also kept down with the new allocation of only 8 crew instead of 11.

Download The Protocol Governing the 35th America’s Cup

Highlights of Protocol:

  • A Three-Year Racing Program 2015-2017, with every race counting towards qualifying for the final AC match.
  • At least 6 AC World Series events in 2015 and 2016 raced in the AC45s with opportunities for all entrants to host events.
  • An America’s Cup Qualifiers series in 2017 involving all teams, with a bonus point in the AC Match at stake.
  • America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs for the top four challenger teams to emerge from the Qualifiers. Challenger moves to Match.
  • The America’s Cup Match, featuring the defender, ORACLE TEAM USA against the top challenger- the first to win 7 points wins the America’s Cup.
  • Up to two Youth America’s Cup events providing a pathway for young sailors to join the top rank of professionals.
  • The new AC62 yacht – a foiling, wing sail catamaran– to be raced in all events in 2017
  • A crew nationality rule requiring at least 25% of the AC62 crew to be nationals of the country of their challenge