Now that everyone knows the winner of the 33rd America's Cup, the most pressing issue is the future of the world's oldest sports trophy. In the hands of the American club, which for the last two or more years has been defending the "equal and fair rules of the America's Cup", we hope the trophy will get a new development and once again become the most exciting sailing competition in the world.
To start this process in less than 24 hours after the second race of the 33 America's Cup, the new Cup Defender - BMW Oracle - convened a press conference in Valencia, where Russell Coutz answered press questions about the future of the Cup. The general idea is that nothing has been decided yet, but some interesting thoughts were expressed.
The CEO of the American team confirmed that GGYC received the Challenger Note from the Roman Yacht Club, which represents the interests of Mascalzone Latino. This club was already the Challenger of the America's Cup in 2003 and 2007. Vincento Honorato's longstanding association with BMW Oracle is well known, and in Valencia Honorato was on Larry Ellison's yacht together with his senior lawyer Alessandra Pandarese. According to Russell, Mascalzone Latino has not yet signed any protocols with the U.S. team, but just handed over its Note.
The venue and time of the future America's Cup has not yet been determined and Cootes has made it clear that there is still work to be done. However, Sail Karma's blog, referring to the Italian press, said that rumors have it that 34 America's Cups are already scheduled for 2013 in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. This information may well be true, given the speed with which the "application" from the Italians was submitted, as well as its warm welcome by the American team. It seems that these teams already have everything arranged. As once, in 2007, it was with Alinghi and Spanish CNEV.
Responding to questions about the selection of challengers for the America's Cup, the BMW Oracle CEO said that the qualifying tournament will be fully independent and the current Cup Defender (i.e. BMW Oracle) will not participate in it so as not to influence the Challenger selection process. The format of such a competition has not yet been determined, but the American team is going to negotiate with all stakeholders, including the World Sailing Teams Association (which is currently hosting the LVT) to determine the best format for the selection of the Challenger. We would like to remind you that before certain events 19 teams, including the Russian team from the 7 Feet Club yachts, expressed their desire to participate in the selection of the Bidder for the 33rd America's Cup.
At the press conference Coutz surprised everyone with the announcement that in addition to the Candidates Tournament, he also sees an opportunity to host the Defenders Tournament. This can happen if one of the American yacht clubs thinks he is strong enough to fight BMW Oracle and choose to defend the Cup on behalf of the country.
As for the yachts on which the teams will compete for the 34th America's Cup, Coutz said that no decision has been made yet. However, the New Zealander said that thanks to the spectacular competition between two multihulls, he is no longer such an ardent opponent to hosting the America's Cup on multihulls. Earlier, before the lawsuits, Alinghi's defender proposed a new yacht design for the Cup, which was called the AC90.
