The San Diego Unified Port District has...

The San Diego Unified Port District has agreed to a request by the America’s Cup Organizing Committee to identify waterfront sites for 20 syndicates in a 1992 defense, pending a decision by the New York Court of Appeals on whether or not the San Diego Yacht Club will keep the Cup.

The district also allocated $125,000 to start planning an international regatta in May 1992.

By locating sites for syndicates from a record 15 countries expected to be entered in America’s Cup XXVIII, organizers say they’ll be ready to meet the rush for waterfront space if a New York appellate court ruling expected this spring keeps the trophy with the San Diego Yacht Club.

The appeal by New Zealand’s Mercury Bay Boating Club contends San Diego’s unprecedented America’s Cup use of a catamaran defender to beat Michael Fay’s monohulled sloop off San Diego in 1988 was illegal under century-old rules of competition.

A Feb. 8 hearing on the matter is scheduled before the New York Court of Appeals, that state’s highest court. A ruling is expected in March.

The ACOC said it has 14 solid and nine potential entries from challengers--the difference being those that have paid the $25,000 fee.

ACOC officials requested the Port District study partly because of logistical problem posed by the new International America’s Cup Class yachts that will be used in the next regatta.

Hulls of those 75-foot boats extend about 13 feet below the water. Most docks in San Diego Bay are too shallow to accommodate IACC yachts, and those where the water is deep enough are so far from Pacific Ocean race sites that it would put those syndicates at a competitive disadvantage.