Commodore of the RORC, Peter Rutter stated: “The criteria would provide an exciting class for modern boats ranging down from the latest maxis through boats such as the Volvo 60 to the newest IRC big boats of around 50ft. The aim of the class is to be as inclusive as possible.”

Other details regarding Club entries and crew composition were also announced. Following expressions of interest from a large number of Clubs, the RORC has decided that there will be no restriction on the number of entries from each country, although only one team entry per challenging Club (affiliated to the National Authority) may be submitted. It is likely that there will be an overall cap on the event of 25 teams. It was further announced that 25pc of the crew (including owner/charterer/skipper) must be members of the challenging Club prior to 1 January 2003. This 25pc would be capped at five. The crew weight restriction to be applied would be published in the Notice of Race in November 2002.

Peter Rutter commented that he was most encouraged by the expressions of interest in the new format Admiral’s Cup from abroad: “There have been strong expressions of interest from USA, Australia, Italy, Greece, France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Hong Kong and the host country Ireland. Within the UK, 5 Clubs (the Royal Yacht Squadron, West Mersea Yacht Club, Royal Southern Yacht Club, Royal Thames Yacht Club and the Royal Northern and Clyde Yacht Club) have already registered an interest in entering, and up to 4 Clubs from Ireland have expressed interest in raising teams”