CC MEMO -- Challenge-Acceptance Dates

[Updated 23 March 2005. Challenging YCs added 24 March 2005]

The initial challenge by BMW ORACLE Racing (Golden Gate Yacht Club, USA) was accepted at the conclusion of the 31st AC Match on 2 March 2003.

ACM advises that the official SNG challenge-acceptance dates for other Challengers were:

+39 (Circolo Vela Gargnano, ITA) - 25 March 2004

Team Shosholoza (Royal Cape Yacht Club, RSA) - 4 June 2004

Emirates Team New Zealand (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, NZL) - 25 June 2004

Luna Rossa (Yacht Club Italiano, ITA) - 29 July 2004

K-Challenge (Cercle de la Voile de Paris, FRA) - 23 August 2004

Desafío Español* (Real Federación Española de Vela, ESP) - 17 December 2004

Victory Challenge (Gamla Stans Yacht Sällskap, SWE) - 17 December 2004

Team Capitalia** (Royal Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia, ITA) - 9 March 2005

*née El Reto
**née Mascalzone Latino

Reminder that the final Challenge Deadline is 29 April 2005 at 16:00 CET.

CC MEMO -- CSS Format/Scoring Proposal: "San Fran Plan"

The Challenger Selection Series format and scoring proposal unanimously adopted by the Challenger Commission at its February meeting in San Francisco is now posted here.

The "San Fran Plan" is straightforward, understandable for the media and fans, exciting and fair for all. The Acts 2004-2007 figure strongly in the plan, and it requires no amendment to the Protocol. It is a good balance between promotion, training challengers, and selecting the best team.

CC MEMO -- Super Yacht Pier

A number of challengers are concerned that the size and location of the proposed “T” pier (in the drawing below, the dark grey pier extending into the Darsena from the left) in the center of the Darsena may significantly impede and endanger operations from many of the team bases. Teams are asked to be aware of the issue, to stay abreast of the latest information from VO7 and ACM, seek solutions, and keep each other informed.

Click on the image below to enlarge.

CC MEMO -- "Louis Vuitton Acts"

Pleased to report that Louis Vuitton have reviewed our "San Fran Plan" for the Challenger Selection Series and say "it is fine by us." We all very much appreciate LV's continuing support of the America's Cup, Louis Vuitton Cup and the Challengers in general, and ask that when you or your teams get the chance to please make this known to Louis Vuitton, especially CEO Yves Carcelle, Christine Belanger and Bruno Trouble.

To that end, it would also be appreciated if the Challengers could please use when practicable the words "Louis Vuitton Act" or "Louis Vuitton Act [number]" instead of just "Act", etc.

Likewise, I am sure ACM and the host venues would appreciate our using the full names of the Acts in our P.R. materials, e.g. "Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 4" or "Trapani Louis Vuitton Act 9."

ACPI -- Pre-Incorporation Agreement

The 1986 America's Cup Properties Inc Pre-Incorporation Agreement ("PIA"), including the 2000 Amendment, is available here. It is a large .pdf file (36 pages, 2+ megabytes), and will be of little interest to anyone except the legal and perhaps marketing departments of teams and sponsors.

CC MEMO -- 2005 Schedule

[The Regatta Director's 2005 schedule-spreadsheet, cleaned up following our Feb CC meeting in SFO and showing the 10-boat scenario, is posted here. UPDATE (21 Feb 05): Dyer's spreadsheet is now amended to show the Rules Seminar on 9 May, and an Act 4 Competitors' Meeting on 14 June.]


After a series of consultations with the CC and Defender by the Regatta Director beginning last August, I am pleased to confirm that the following format/schedule has been agreed and will be published shortly by ACM with dates as discussed at our Feb (San Francisco) meeting and previously distributed (Dyer's latest spreadsheet-schedule is attached to this memo). In a nutshell:

As you know the six Acts this year are at three venues: Valencia (June), Malmo (Aug-Sep), and Trapani (Sep-Oct).

Each venue has two Acts with the same schedule: an Opening Ceremony (Wed), Match Racing the first six days (Thu through Tue), a Reserve Day (Wed), an Off Day (Thu), then three days of Fleet Racing (Fri-Sun).

Assuming nine or more teams, each Match Racing Act will consist of one round-robin. Depending upon the final number of teams there will be two races per day for at least the first two days of the Match Racing Acts to assure that each team races every other team once. The Reserve Day will be used only if necessary to complete the Round. There will be no racing on the Off Day.

Regardless of the number of teams, each Fleet Racing Act will have five total races scheduled, two Friday, two Saturday and one Sunday; there is no Reserve Day at the end as a series will be "constituted" as long as at least one Fleet Race is completed.

There will be separate Notices of Races, Sailing Instructions, Skippers Meetings, and Prizegivings for each Act; and each is scored separately for the purposes of determining the ACC 2005 Champion and for collecting CSS Seeding Points.



2005: Six Acts at three venues with at least
231 race starts -- the most ambitious year
of AC racing ever.

CC MEMO -- Communications II

Pleased to report that the list of CC and ACM Skype users is increasing daily.

Here are the names on the CC Directory for whom we now have Skype Names (and are listed on the latest CC Directory): George Clyde, Jim Farmer, Bruno Finzi, Michel Hodara, Dyer Jones, Ken McAlpine, Peter Reggio, Bryan Willis. Other AC officials who have Skype include Henry Menin and Dawn Riley.

If I do not have yours, please forward.

To save you the grief of adding each of these to names to your Skype Contact List individually, I can forward you the entire list and you can accept them all into your Contact List in one or two mouse clicks. Just Skype me (either chat or call) sometime when we are both on line.

CC MEETING (MAR) -- Notice

The next meeting of the Challenger Commission will take place in Valencia on 15-16 March 2005 with a welcome dinner on Monday evening the 14th.

As with the February meeting in San Francisco, the March meeting is for Challengers only; however, the Chairman will again circulate the agenda to prospective challengers and solicit their comments in advance of the meeting.

CC MEMO -- Communications

Skype

At the CC meeting in San Francisco last week, we demonstrated the use of Skype between a couple of us early-adopter-types who were sitting at the meeting table online with our laptops. For those of you not already using it, Skype is internet telephony that is free computer-to-computer (no spyware, no adware), and is very low cost computer to landline. All you need is the software (free to download from http://www.skype.com/) and a decent internet connection (56k or better seems to do the trick). If you do not have a mic and speakers built into your laptop you will also need a cheap headset (US$15). No, I do not own stock in Skype nor am otherwise connected with them, but do commend it to you for intra-team and inter-team communications.

Coincidentally, at one stage in our meetings last week Bryan Willis called me via Skype, and using just the built-in laptop speaker and mic on my machine the CC members sitting around the table had a perfektly good "speaker phone" conference with Bryan, who was in Malaysia -- and, again, it was free.

CC Directory

Speaking of Skype, the latest CC Directory is attached updated to the minute including now Skype Names for those of you I know have it. All updates to the Directory are in red to make it easier for you to see them. Soon this will be posted on the CC blog/website as a downloadable document (behind a password soon to be provided). My thanks to Tamara Martyn for her continuing help in keeping this updated when some of the rest of you are, well, a bit slow on providing us with current info.

CC Blog/Website

Thank you for your many kind comments on our new site (http://www.challengercommission.com/). You will be pleased to know we have had over 400 "visitors" to the site since I stuck a counter on it two days ago (see the very bottom of the main page). As always comments and suggestions are welcome. As to the public/private discussion we had in San Francisco, it seems clear we made the right decision -- keep it "public" to the extent possible and only password (for CC members only) certain sensitive documents and works in progress, but otherwise strive to be as open and transparent as possible. I note several very complimentary ("shocked") comments in the past couple days on various AC websites, including this one today on Mariantic (http://mariantic.co.uk/ac/six.htm#blog):

"The agenda of the recent Challenger Commission meeting was leaked on Sailing Anarcy [sic] (nothing new there). Everyone said 'very interesting, I'd like to be a fly on the wall'. Now here's a dangerous precedent. You can be a fly on the wall. The full minutes [well not quite] of the meeting are published on the Challenger Commission website. That's the sort of open-ness bsuinesses and public bodies promise but rarely deliver. It quite shocked the America's Cup world, which thrives on rumour, leak and innuendo. Dangerous? Of course, if everybody promptly and honestly published details of all of their dealings what need would there be for a "Rumour and Speculation" page? And this [Mariantic Rumour and Speculation] page gets 80% of the site's hits. Only joking. The site is very welcome, keep it up Tom. Now similar a similar blog from Michael Bonnefous is eagerly awaited...."

CC MEETING (FEB) -- Media Statement

32nd America’s Cup
CHALLENGER COMMISSION

San Francisco Meeting -- Media Statement


For Immediate Release
4th February, 2005


The Challenger Commission for the 32nd America's Cup ("CC") met in San Francisco 1st -2nd February hosted by the Challenger of Record, the Golden Gate Yacht Club.

The Challenge Representatives from five of the seven announced Challengers were present:

BMW ORACLE (USA) -- Russell Green
Emirates Team NZ (NZL) -- James Farmer
K-Challenge (FRA) -- George Clyde
Luna Rossa (ITA) -- Bruno Finzi
El Reto (ESP) -- John Cutler

Apologies were received from +39 (ITA) and Team Shosholoza (RSA).

Dyer Jones, ACM Regatta Director, was in attendance by invitation for much of the two-day meeting.

This was the first CC meeting after the 17th December 2004 interim challenger deadline.

Main decisions:

1. The CC will be incorporated as a Spanish Company with each Challenger holding one share and one vote.

2. A detailed format and scoring system for the Challenger Selection Series for the “Louis Vuitton Cup” was unanimously approved, subject to discussion with and confirmation by ACM. Details of this “San Francisco Plan” should be announced no later than the final challenger deadline of 29 April 2005, hopefully sooner. The San Francisco Plan calls for two or three rounds-robin (depending upon the final number of challengers) for all Challengers starting in mid-April 2007, followed by a knock-out semi-finals for the top four boats from the rounds-robin, and a two-boat final. Results among the Challengers in the thirteen Louis Vuitton pre-regattas or “Acts” in 2004-2007 figure significantly in the Plan – an America’s Cup first.

3. The Regatta Director asked the CC's guidance on a number of draft rules for the six Acts in 2005. The CC unanimously recommended that:

+ as a cost-cutting measure, teams be limited to using ("carding") a maximum of 26 sails for the six 2005 Acts, except that sails carded by teams in the 2004 Acts and that "old sails" measured prior to the end of the 2003 America's Cup Match would be permitted in addition to the 26;

+ windward-leeward courses of four legs be used, but with slightly longer legs than 2004 (depending on wind strength, 2.5 to 3.0 miles instead of 2.0 to 2.5), and maintaining a target length of 90 minutes per race with, normally, two races per day.

+ racing be conducted when the wind is in the range of approximately 7 to 23 knots (as measured by the Race Committee at six metres above the water), and that the starting times, at least in Valencia, be pushed back to 14:00 by when the sea breeze is normally well developed.

4. A proposal to experiment in 2005 with the deletion of racing rule 17.1 ("proper course") was not supported.

5. Challengers expressed a number of concerns about marketing, TV and promotion, and some of the costs associated with team bases in Valencia. Further discussion and negotiations with ACM are being pursued.

6. The acceptance by SNG of a challenge from a national federation, as opposed to a yacht club, was briefly discussed. It was agreed a CC position or action on the matter was not appropriate.

Overall, the Challengers viewed the Acts in 2004 as a big success, and very much look forward to the six Acts scheduled in 2005. All appreciate the extensive planning, hard work and good progress shown by ACM, the Regatta Officials, Louis Vuitton, and the venues, especially Valencia.

On behalf of the Challenger Commission I wish to express our grateful appreciation to the Golden Gate Yacht Club, especially Staff Commodore Norbert Bajurin and Manager Bill Chow, for turning the clubhouse over to us for two days, and helping to make our meetings productive and successful; and to the Sausalito Yacht Club for hosting a reception in honor of the Challengers Tuesday evening.


Tom Ehman
Chairman
AC 32 Challenger Commission

tfe[at]tfehman[dot]com