18 Seek Place in America’s Cup Regatta

Eighteen challengers representing 10 countries have applied to compete in the 1991 America’s Cup regatta to be held off San Diego, it was announced Sunday.

Entry forms were received by the Saturday deadline from five Australian yacht clubs, three Japanese clubs, three from France and one each from England, West Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Canada and Spain.

A $25,000 application fee accompanied each form.

But Sail America, the syndicate managing the America’s Cup, acknowledged that the race’s fate remains uncertain because of a pending court challenge by a New Zealand millionaire, Michael Fay. (There was no official challenge for the 1991 race from a New Zealand group.)

Fay wants to force the San Diego Yacht Club, the current Cup holder, to face just one competitor, the Mercury Bay Boating Club of Auckland, New Zealand, rather than have trial race heats open to all nations.

The New Zealander also wants to race in Class J sloops, 90-foot waterline boats, rather than the 12-meter boats now used, and to compete next year rather than in 1991.

A New York Supreme Court decision on the case is expected soon, Sail America said Sunday.

“We’re pleased to have 18 challengers,” Thomas Ehman Jr., executive vice president of Sail America, said in a statement issued Sunday from London, where the International Twelve Metre Assn. was meeting.

“That’s a strong endorsement for keeping the America’s Cup a three- to four-year world class event raced in 12-meter boats,” Ehman added.

Sail America managed the San Diego Yacht Club’s $16-million campaign in which Dennis Conner skippered Stars & Stripes to victory over Australian defender Kookaburra III last February off Perth in WesternAustralia.

The $25,000 entry fee received from each applicant will be held in escrow and will be refundable if the court changes terms for the America’s Cup, said Sail America.

“It was in the best interest of the event and the challengers, who asked us to move forward, to keep the Oct. 31 deadline,” Ehman said. “This will allow us to choose the challenger of record and proceed with our plans.”

The challenger of record, which organizes challenger trials and conditions, will be appointed during the next few months, he said.

The yacht clubs challenging Star & Stripes for the Cup will be required to post a $100,000 U.S. performance bond, a bank-guaranteed letter of credit, by April 30. The bond will be canceled when the entrant begins participation in challenger trials.

The America’s Cup race is governed by the Deed of Gift, a 100-year-old document that sets forth rules for Cup races. The two-page deed was written by George Schuyler, the last surviving owner of the yacht America, which won the Cup in 1851 at Cowes, England.

Fay contends that the original Cup rules provide only for the larger boat and for one competitor, the first to issue a challenge.

Schuyler donated the Cup to the New York Yacht Club and designated the New York Supreme Court as arbitrator.

The yacht clubs seeking to challenge Stars & Stripes in 1991 are:

- Claremont Yacht Club, Australia.

- Cruising Yacht Club, Australia.

- Royal Perth Yacht Club, Australia.

- Royal Sydney Yacht Club, Australia.

- Royal Queensland Yacht Club, Australia.

- Akita Agricultural College Yacht Club, Japan.

- Bengal Bay Club Challenge, Japan.

- Nippon Ocean Racing Club, Japan.

- Deutsche America’s Cup Verein, West Germany.

- Royal Burnham Yacht Club, England.

- Royal Danish Yacht Club, Denmark.

- Societe Nautique de Sete, France.

- Yacht Club D’Europe, France.

- Yacht Club de Nice, France.

- Stenungsbaden Yacht Club, Sweden.

- Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Italy.

- Secret Cove Yacht Club, Canada.

- Club Puerto Sherry, Spain.