Defender club: Golden Gate Yacht Club Yacht: TBD | Yacht: TBD Dates: June 2017 | |
Challenger club: TBD (formerly Hamilton Island Yacht Club and Luna Rossa Challenge) Location: Great Sound, Hamilton, Bermuda | ||
The 2017 America's Cup will be the 35th edition of the America's Cup yacht race. It will be held in June 2017 and be contested between the Challenger who will be the winner of the 2017 Louis Vuitton Cup and the Defender, Oracle Team USA, the winner of the 2013 America's Cup. It is preceded by the 2015–16 America's Cup World Series. It will be Oracle's second defense of the America's Cup, four years after its first successful defense. The races will be conducted using hydrofoiling America's Cup Class yachts, which are slightly larger than the AC45F yachts used in the world series.
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Venue
The venue of the 2017 America's Cup is Great Sound, Hamilton, Bermuda.
In June 2014, media reported the venue of the 34th America's Cup, San Francisco, was no longer in consideration to host the 35th edition. San Diego, Chicago and Bermuda were listed as being still in the running. In July 2014, americascup.com reported that Chicago being dropped from the running, and finally on 2 December 2014, Bermuda was announced as the host of the 2017 America's Cup. The Premier of Bermuda, Michael Dunkley, welcomed the teams, sponsors, and spectators at a press conference in New York.
The financial package included in the bid by Bermuda is worth approximately $77 million US dollars, which includes a $15 million sponsorship fee, $25 million infrastructure improvements spending, $12 million operating costs and a $25 million guarantee against commercial sponsorship. Dr. Grant Gibbons, Bermuda's Minister for Economic Development, has stated that the America's Cup has a possibility of generating up to a quarter of a billion US Dollars in revenue.
Challenger of Record
On 1 October 2013, Australia's Hamilton Island Yacht Club was confirmed as the "Challenger of Record" for the 35th America's Cup, after submitting their paperwork only moments after the win by Oracle Team USA. The HIYC challenge was accepted by the Golden Gate Yacht Club, who was the Defender and Trustee of the America's Cup. Australian businessman Bob Oatley, founder of Rosemount and owner of famed super maxi yacht Wild Oats XI, was confirmed to be the main financial backer of the Hamilton Island Yacht Club challenge.
On 19 July 2014 Russell Coutts, Director of the America's Cup Event Authority (ACEA), announced that the Hamilton Island Yacht club had withdrawn Team Australia from the 35th America's Cup. Team Australia claimed that the entry fee rules agreed to in the official protocol created too much risk due to the uncertainty of the then unknown venue and schedule of the event.
The Challenger of Record Committee (CORC) represents all of the challengers' interests and negotiates with Oracle over mutual concerns. Luna Rossa replaced HIYC as the challenger of record. In April 2015, Luna Rossa withdrew its challenge bid, pulling out of the 2017 America's Cup in protest at rule changes reducing the size of the boats.
Rule changes
On 5 June 2014, it was announced that the regatta will be sailed in 62-foot-long (18.9 m) foiling catamarans, the AC62. The entry fee which must be paid by the end of June 2014 was $3 million. Each challenging team can only build one boat while Oracle Team USA can build two. A nationality rule was agreed to, requiring 25% of the crew to be from the entry's country. This nationality rule had been lifted prior to the 2003 America's Cup. The rules specify the size of each sailor which must average 87.5 kg. The neutral International adjudicating yachting panel has been dropped in favour of a 3-man panel appointed by the defender.
In March 2015, the teams voted to reduce the size of the boats to the 45- to 50-foot range, leading to the withdrawal in protest of Luna Rossa. This in turn led to a joint statement from four teams attacking Team New Zealand which had supported Luna Rossa.
Technology
Team New Zealand is using a SL33 foiling catamaran as a test bed for new ideas in its America's Cup boat. A new style bearing is being used to assist movement in the foil. The America's Cup World Series will be held again in the lead up with at least four events to be held in 2015 and 2016. The AC45F will be used in the series in order to maximize data collection for the AC50. The first AC45 one-design foiling catamaran was launched by Team France on May 7, 2015.
The rise in foiling catamarans has encouraged competing teams to enter into technical partnerships with companies specializing in aerospace technologies. Land Rover BAR has allied with Red Bull Advanced Technologies, headed by ten-time Formula 1 World Constructor's Championship car designer Adrian Newey. Oracle Team USA has entered a technical partnership with Airbus. Artemis Racing has allied with high performance engineering giant Cosworth. Luna Rossa Challenge had partnered with Lenovo to analyze and predict race simulations, assisting in the design of their boat.
Teams
The America's Cup will be contested by Oracle Team USA, who represent the Golden Gate Yacht Club, and the winner of the 2017 Louis Vuitton Cup.
Broadcasting
One of the attractive features in the successful Bermuda bid was its ability to accommodate coveted time slots in each of the respective teams' home countries. Races will be run in the late afternoon local time allowing for the broadcast to take place in prime time in Europe, early afternoon in the United States, and early morning in New Zealand. On February 9, 2015, the America's Cup Event Authority announced an agreement with NBC to broadcast the America's Cup Finals, as well as the America's Cup World Series, along with the America's Cup Qualifier and the Louis Vuitton Cup.