Stars + Stripes Still in It

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron required Stars + Stripes Team USA and DutchSail to confirm their ongoing commitment to the 36th America’s Cup by July 1. The first announcement came from Long Beach Yacht Club on June 29:

“Long Beach Yacht Club is committed to making the start line at the first America’s Cup World Series Event in Cagliari, Italy,” said Camille Daniels, commodore of LBYC. “Our membership is excited, and we are all working hard to achieve our goal of bringing the America’s Cup to Long Beach

“We appreciate the continued support of LBYC and its membership, and the assistance of Emirates Team New Zealand and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, over the past few months as we have reorganized our team,” said Mike Buckley, co-founder and skipper of Stars+Stripes USA. “We continue to make progress with corporate partners, and believe we will have what it takes to be competitive in Auckland.”

Stars + Stripes will have to complete the entry-fee payment process before they will be eligible to race. They’ve already made their initial payment. But, as a late-entry challenger, they also have to pay a $1 million late fee, due in installments by October 1. See the team page at https://starsandstripesteamusa.americascup.com.

DutchSail, however, is out. The team from the Netherlands is the second challenger to step down. In May, the Royal Malta Yacht Club officially withdrew the Malta Altus Challenge.

Emirates Team New Zealand will announce the venues and dates of the 2020 AC World Series by November 30. Check out Jack Griffin’s CupExperience AC Guide here.