a brief update - a press conference was held in Rome this morning announced a few things.
The type of boat for the next AC is still up in the air. Two American design firms are putting together one proposal each. One is putting together a monohull solution, and Melvin and Morrelli are putting together a multihull solution. These will be evaluated and possibly voted on and the result announced by the end of December, 2010.
With regards to the protocol for the event (the rules), a rule set from the last multi-challenger AC (32) is being distributed to potential challengers. They are being asked to each draft up their own protocol for the event and submit it to GGYC. Conceivably, GGYC will use this input to build the protocol that everyone can live with and will put forth a prosperous and popular event.
I don't believe the location will be announced until the end of December either - but San Francisco is at the forefront of the runners. Sand Diego and other areas in the North Eastern US are also bidding for the honor. It's still possible that the challenger series could take place in one area of the globe and the actual one on one match for the cup take place in another (but that's probably not going to happen because it gives the defender a huge home court advantage that the challenger wouldn't have experienced until racing for all the marbles).
Let's hope we see the multihull solution sailing in the fresh breeze of San Francisco!
