British Club Barred From Joining Cup Race

A British yacht club will be barred from competing when the San Diego Yacht Club defends its America’s Cup championship in a race with a New Zealand boating group next September, a Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday.

State Supreme Court Justice Carmen B. Ciparick said the Royal Burnham Yacht Club of Great Britain is out. San Diego and the Mercury Bay Boating Club of Auckland will sail one-on-one since they appear unable to agree on terms that would allow the English group to compete.

Royal Burnham had asked the court to stop the race and remove San Diego as a trustee of the cup unless the British yacht was allowed to compete in an elimination series. The British also asked for adequate time to prepare.

The judge ruled that Royal Burnham could intervene in the court fight, but she also found that the 1887 Deed of Gift, which established the competition’s rules, does not mention an elimination series.

In fact, she noted, the America’s Cup competition has been held as a match race throughout much of its nearly 140-year history, and the multinational regatta format was introduced in the 1950s.