The Fur Flies

Back from the surf trip after a double-overhead session at Harlyn Bay yesterday...

And the fall-out continues to land in the America’s Cup, following the decision by Justice Cahn of the New York Supreme Court to remove Club Nautico Espanol de Vela (CNEV) as Challenger of Record, and replace them with the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) and Oracle Racing.

Next out of the blocks was Desafio Espanol, with a statement posted on the Valencia Sailing blogspot saying that they challenged through CNEV in good faith, having consulted with renowned legal advisers, and only ever wanted the best for the sport of sailing, Valencia and Spain… yada, yada, yada. Sigh.

Bruno Troublé broke the silence that he has maintained since Louis Vuitton pulled out of their quarter century of America’s Cup sponsorship. He penned a piece for Scuttlebutt, which pretty much blasted everything to do with the 33rd iteration that America’s Cup Management (ACM) had been trying to organize…

‘I am shocked to see the defender sailing WITH the challengers (no more of this great mystery at the start of the first final race) and at ACM naming the judges, umpires, and committees with no reference to ISAF...

'I am furious to see the 90-foot box rule. Anyone involved in the America’s Cup knows that the best match racing boats do NOT accelerate from 10 to 20 knots when luffing 10 degrees downwind. They are STUCK in the water the same way the 12s and the IACC were. Do not confuse these fast-accelerating sleds with the impressive looking J’s boats, as the defender has stated.’

Over at Team New Zealand, Grant Dalton reckoned the court judgement was ‘the outcome he was waiting for…’ according to an article in the New Zealand Herald. Tim Jeffrey then broke a story in the Daily Telegraph that Dalton and Team New Zealand had demanded compensation from Alinghi and Ernesto Bertarelli for the postponement of the America's Cup. The article reckoned, ‘Dalton's estimate of losses to his Kiwi team of £12 million if the America's Cup is put back to 2010, and £17 million if it is 2011…’

Sail-World subsequently confirmed the story with a statement from Dalton...

'The report in the Telegraph is substantially true.

'Before Emirates Team New Zealand entered the 2009 America’s Cup we sought from Ernesto Bertarelli the security of a side agreement that the event would indeed be held in 2009.

'Bertarelli was adamant the Cup regatta would go ahead as scheduled and entered into a binding agreement on July 25 2007.

'Emirates Team New Zealand entered into the agreement in good faith. The contract provided the assurance we needed to plan for 2009. For Ernesto Bertarelli the agreement with Emirates Team New Zealand ensured another entry for 2009.

'On November 22 2007 AC Management announced that the America’s Cup had been postponed.

'All challengers including Oracle are still adamant they want an event in 2009. This can be achieved easily now as a result of the New York Supreme court decision in favour of Oracle. The decision allows for a mutually agreed document as the basis of the next America’s Cup.

'Such a document has already been formulated between Oracle and the challengers.

'None of the nine points in this document can be construed as onerous for Alinghi.

'As far as Emirates Team New Zealand is concerned the agreement entered into is a simple contract. Therefore we are surprised that Alinghi has seen fit to put this letter in the public domain.'

Meanwhile, BYM News is running a story that backs up the notion that GGYC/Oracle are working hard towards a 2009 Cup, with leaked letters coming from Tom Ehman and Russell Coutts to interested parties – they have links to the letters and the story here which outlines Oracle's efforts to get Alinghi and Bertarelli to the table to sort out the next event.

But so far, there’s been a deafening silence from the Swiss, and the Detroit Free Press is quoting Tom Ehman (Oracle’s spokesman) as saying that Brad Butterworth didn’t show up for a meeting with Russell on Friday. A subsequent phone call to Alinghi by the paper has been met with the response that they’re still assessing their options. So we’re still left wondering what Bertarelli’s decision will be – negotiate, appeal or race in cats?

And finally, Sebastien Destremau outlines why Russell and Oracle might not be that heart-broken should Alinghi chose the final option and meet a 2008 challenge in giant catamarans, in a story for Eurobutt (scroll down past Magnus) – sentiments which are echoed by a New Zealand Herald article which may owe something to Sebastien’s thoughts – or is it the other way around? Hard to tell on the internet…

When I started this blog at the end of the last Cup and tackbytack.com’s coverage, I made some rules for myself about only doing AC news. Stay away from other events and opinion pieces – otherwise the damn thing is going to take over your life (and unless you see any advertising around here, I need some spare time to try and earn a living…) just like madforsailing.com did in its day...

The last few weeks (Tornadoes out of the Olympics, Baird not Veal for ISAF World Sailor of the Year, not to mention the ongoing descent into self-destruction of the Cup itself), have sorely tried those limits. But I’m toughing it out – self-interest rules, even when venality is held at bay… why should sailing be any different?

Or maybe I've just got cynical...

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Mark Chisnell ©

Oracle 1 - Alinghi 0

Err…. What did I say on the last post? Hopefully there’s a wi-fi link in case there’s something worth reporting? Well there was - wi-fi and something worth reporting, that is… the Spanish yacht club Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV) have been eased from their position as Challenger of Record (COR) by Justice Cahn of the New York State Supreme Court. The new COR is the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) and Oracle Racing.

The court decision has been posted on the GGYC website, along with the club’s response, in which Oracle CEO, Russell Coutts, expresses a desire for a conventional America’s Cup regatta in Valencia. Their preferences are:

'1) Seek to agree rules with all competitors along the lines of the October 17 “nine points” compromise proposal and race a conventional America’s Cup competition in Valencia in 2009.

2) If a Deed of Gift challenge went ahead, the club would seek to race under the AC90 monohull rule already published. If Alinghi did not agree to that, in multi-hulls.

3) In all scenarios, GGYC would seek by mutual consent to have a Challenger Selection Series with as many challengers as possible. “We will immediately endeavour to meet with the other challengers to mutually agree a fair set of rules negotiated with all the other teams,” Coutts said. “We will be very happy if we can put the last few months behind us and get on with sailing.”'

So, what happens from here? Will Alinghi negotiate on that basis, sail in cats or appeal? Alinghi made a curt statement yesterday that has been filled out in an interview with Brad Butterworth on their website today, the 28th November.

Hard to judge how it’s going to go from that - Brad certainly doesn’t seem to think anything is going to be settled anytime soon. While the two sides didn’t seem that far apart when negotiations broke down a few days ago, we really don’t know how much mud is flying behind the scenes…

Meanwhile, as this is all over every news outlet – sailing and mainstream media – and is hard to miss (unless you're surfing in darkest Cornwall) I’m only going to point you in the direction of three of them, and the first two were kindly provided for me by John Whalen… First the New York Times and then the International Herald Tribune - both are luminaries of the global media, one is rather better than the other…

But for the real deal, I’d suggest you go straight to Cory Friedman, writing for Scuttlebutt – where he explains exactly why GGYC have won, and why the chance of reversal on appeal is unlikely…. It’s all to do with the word ‘having’ - and it means that you need to have had an annual regatta on an arm of the sea, as well as going to have one….

Whoever said precise grammar wasn’t important?

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Mark Chisnell ©

The AP is Hoisted…

The much flagged, smoke-signalled, rumoured and inevitable postponement has become fact - America’s Cup Management (ACM) have finally announced that the original date for a Cup defence of 2009 cannot be achieved…

‘The ongoing uncertainty around the conclusion of the New York court case brought by BMW Oracle Racing (BOR) leaves the organisers no choice but to delay the event, as many indicators demonstrate a lack of viability to stage the event in 2009 to the same standards as the 32nd America's Cup.’

Meanwhile they will await the result from the New York State Supreme Court, and…

‘If the New York Supreme Court rules that CNEV (Challenger of Record, Club Náutico Español de Vela) is valid and BOR chooses not to appeal the decision, ACM will endeavour to work with the competitors to adapt the existing rules and regulations and put in place a new framework for an event to take place at a later stage in Valencia.

‘Should the US Courts rule against CNEV, SNG will accept the Golden Gate Yacht Club Deed of Gift Challenge and meet them in a vessel, possibly a multihull, in accordance with the terms of the Deed of Gift.’

GGYC’s response was posted on their website as efficiently as ever. Tom Ehman saying that the delay was ‘Unfortunate and unnecessary...’ Presumably they are now working flat out on what that 90 foot cat might look like... unless Alinghi are bluffing about not appealing. What a game.

There's been plenty of speculation that ACM need the time to do things like find a sponsor for the Cup. And the Spanish media are alleging that there's a stand-off between the Mayor of Valencia and the Government over who holds the Chair of the organisation that will run the Valencia side of the event. Apparently the Government want it to rotate, and Mayor Barbera is insisting that it’s her privilege alone - meanwhile the organisation appears to be in some sort of limbo. Something else that perhaps needs a little time to sort out?

Another issue that will arise out of the postponement is the planned expansion of Valencia's port - I believe the work to double the port’s operational area was originally slated for 2010/11 – no problem under the 2009 scenario, but a bit tricky now.

It’s also interesting that ACM have left the entry deadline at 15th December - a little over three weeks away. It means challengers have to stump up a 950,000 Euro performance bond that they will lose should they not subsequently turn up at a series of events whose whereabouts and timing are completely unknown. Now I know a million Euros is not a lot of money in the greater scheme of an America’s Cup campaign, but it’s still the kind of dough that would buy you a pretty decent house around these parts. Just.

Nevertheless, there appear to be plenty of takers, perhaps driven by the declining number of shorebases in Valencia, and/or the need to enter to renew existing leases and maintain operations there. ACM stated in the press release that they now have eight entered challengers, with another couple doing the paperwork. Presumably Mascalzone is one of them, announcing their challenge through the Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia (RYCCS) on their website, but with no detail. Or what might be interpreted as a marked lack of enthusiasm. They have been joined by the new Spanish syndicate AYRE Challenge, representing Real Club Náutico de Dénia (RCND) – more detail on this one at Valencia Sailing blogspot.

But who’s the eighth? An earlier announcement from ACM had stated that… ‘In addition to Ayre's entry, there is one other new team whose challenge has already been confirmed, but who has requested confidentiality pending its own announcement.’

Meanwhile, the uncertainty has forced Team New Zealand (TNZ) to issue denials of a Times story that Dalton would shut the operation down if the court case wasn’t settled by the end of the year. It might make sense to close the doors for a while till the dust settles, these teams burn money while they're operating, but TNZ has a much greater asset value as a going concern than as a fire-sale of pieces. I can't believe that Dalts would shut it down completely as anything but an absolutely last resort...

Team Origin have responded to the situation with some pretty direct language... 'If that (settlement and a 2010/11 event) doesn't happen we can only surmise the greed of one side is only matched by the belligerence of the other.'

While Sail-World have another interview with Hamish Ross, Alinghi's General Counsel, which doesn't - to be honest - tell us much we don't already know...

And as for the much maligned issue of CNEV’s annual regatta (which may or may not be at the heart of the court case), their third attempt to hold it is underway…

There’s an interview with Grant Simmer, Alinghi’s design team coordinator on their website…

And I'm off surfing next week, although the swell forecast is marginal at best, there comes a time when you just have to get in the water regardless. But hopefully there will be a wi-fi link somewhere should there be anything worth reporting...

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Mark Chisnell ©

No, Non, Nein…

The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) has reported on its website that Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) have rejected their settlement offer (detailed in the last post, which I can hear playing faintly in the distance). Although SNG/Alinghi themselves have issued nothing, there are stories of a press conference to be held at some stage…

Meanwhile, rumour control is buzzing with what this might mean – according to an interview with Brad Butterworth on NewstalkZB in NZ, on Sunday (transcribed onto 2007Ac.com’s forum with a short story on the NewstalkZB site, and the audio itself on Scuttlebutt), it looks like Alinghi’s response to an Oracle court case win could be to race in cats. But there are plenty of other issues bubbling, like Oracle’s occupation of their Valencia shorebase, now that Alinghi’s ultimatum has passed without the lawsuit being withdrawn. Not to mention Russell Coutts’ accusation in the most recent GGYC release that SNG want to postpone the event (till 2011 to avoid a clash with the World Cup according to Butterworth) for commercial reasons – namely there aren’t enough teams, or sponsors – and SNG is trying to scapegoat GGYC.

I think you can expect more fur to fly over the coming few days…

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Mark Chisnell ©

Or an Ace?

Barely were the electronic dipoles lined up on Google's servers for the last story, when what might be an ace came fizzing back over the net towards Alinghi and the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) (ok, ok... I promise, enough with the tennis metaphor already).

The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) have sent a final, all-points-covered-no-further-argument settlement offer to SNG, which the accompanying press release says has the backing of a majority (four, I think we can guess who's missing) of the Challengers. The deadline is the same as SNG's earlier demand for GGYC to drop the lawsuit - end of play today. And now we all know exactly what SNG/Alinghi are being asked to do, for GGYC to fold their hand on the court action.

In particular, the demand for two-boat testing has been dropped, which had previously been cited as the real deal breaker by Alinghi. And to an outsider observer, it's hard to see what's in this document that Alinghi can't agree to.... but have a look and see what you think. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking...

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Mark Chisnell ©

Deuce...?

The ball has been flying back and forth across the net in the last couple of days (to lean heavily on my already overused metaphor). As you might have seen from the comments at the end of the last post, Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) and Alinghi responded pretty quickly to salvoes from Oracle and the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) in an interview with their lawyer, Lucien Masmejan, posted on their own website.

Masmejan stated, amongst other things, that the GGYC had decided at a late stage in the negotiations that they now wanted to reinstate two-boat testing. Unfortunately for Lucien, this issue appears to have been on the table for a while, and GGYC promptly posted an October letter to Alinghi to make the point.

Next came an interview with Hamish Ross, Alinghi’s general counsel, on Sail-World, where he pushed the idea that Oracle kept shifting the goalposts of the negotiations. To which Tom Ehman responded that Alinghi had just issued some pretty major new rules with the Competition Regulations (also check out Tom Schnackenberg explaining them here), and Oracle had been invited by Alinghi to comment.

The latest that I’ve seen is an interview on BYM with Lucien Masmejan, but I’m sure there will be more - it won’t be deuce for long. But I suspect some of these shots are being played with plenty of spin, in an effort to deflect blame over the way this whole thing continues to unfold...

I think most people have long ago made up their minds, and this to and fro is largely a sideshow to the main event – the court decision. That’s when things will get lively again. What will Alinghi do if they lose - call Oracle's bluff and sail in the cats, restart negotiations - or appeal? And if they win, will they try to shut Oracle out of the 33rd Cup altogether?

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Mark Chisnell ©

The End Game?

It appears we might be reaching the beginning of the end, with a press release issued by America’s Cup Management (ACM) on 13th November. The first part was pretty uncontroversial, announcing the release of the Event Regulations. These are the final part of the rules that will govern the 33rd America’s Cup, under the Protocol announced by Alinghi and the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) back in July (feels a lot longer…).

The Event Regulations cover the commercial basis of the event, and include a deadline for entry, the 15th December – the entry fees and performance bond add up to a million Euros, which should separate the men from the boys.

So far so good, it’s the final paragraphs that smack of an ultimatum…

‘All the elements required to proceed with a successful competition in 2009 are now in place, and have the support of the Challenger of Record and all the existing competitors. However, the possibility of a race for the Cup in 2009 is impaired because of the negative effects that Golden Gate Yacht Club's (GGYC) lawsuit is having on sponsors and other arrangements for the Event.

The Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) has therefore required GGYC to withdraw its lawsuit by November 16 at 1700 hours, New York time, and to clarify its position with regard to its participation in the 33rd America's Cup.’

Right…

The response from the GGYC was swift and pointed, saying that Alinghi had called off the talks that might have produced a negotiated settlement ahead of the court case. Tom Ehman was quoted as saying for GGYC…

‘This is highly surprising and disappointing. We had accepted assurances from challengers that the new design rule was fair and we were confident yesterday that other outstanding points were well on their way to being resolved in a way that was good for everyone.

‘We offered to drop our legal challenge in return for Alinghi making the agreed changes to the rules. The other challengers have been very helpful in getting us to what we thought was virtual agreement.

‘But only hours later, Ernesto Bertarelli’s lawyer, Lucien Masmejan, called to say they would not proceed with the settlement.

‘We hope they will reconsider their position, and we remain open to further discussions before a court ruling that could come any day.’

Just as entertaining is the private exchange of letters ahead of these public pronouncements, which the GGYC have kindly posted on their website. First up, SNG/Alinghi’s letter to the Golden Gate, saying much the same thing as the press release – enter and drop the lawsuit, or … umm, well, actually there was no ‘or’...

Then GGYC/Oracle’s response, which says that SNG must have known GGYC would reject this ultimatum - as they have rejected all the others - and so GGYC conclude that SNG want the court case to proceed, and have given up on racing an America’s Cup in 2009. The letter offers to continue the negotiations...

So, there you have it – what does it all mean? Justice Cahn is the man with all the cards…

Meanwhile, United Internet Team Germany (UITG) have been hiring sailors. And Team Shosholoza have announced a new designer, Alex Simonis (best known for 90 footer Nicorette, line honours winner in the 2004 Sydney-Hobart), to replace Jason Ker, who had previously decamped for UITG…

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Mark Chisnell ©

Cup Rules Announced… Maybe

Into the uncertain atmosphere over Société Nautique de Genève’s (SNG) Protocol for the 33rd America’s Cup (under challenge from the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) in the New York State Supreme Court) America’s Cup Management (ACM), the body charged by SNG with running the regatta, yesterday launched the Competition Regulations.

The press conference in Barcelona introduced the event format and schedule, the dates for the Trials and the America's Cup Match, along with more on the AC90 – the new boat. We’ve already written about this, and there’s a good interview with Tom Schnackenberg, the man charged with bringing the new boat to life, at BYM News on how some of the parameters came about.

One added detail is that the crew weight limit has been removed because the new boats are so powered up – perhaps that will give all those heavier sailors disenfranchised from the current Olympic slate (which doesn’t include any keelboats) something to do…

As expected, the new rules attempt to outlaw two-boat testing, by forbidding AC90 boats from sailing alongside each other outside the events and formal ‘practise’ racing, which will be organised, apparently on-demand, by the regatta director. There are also rules excluding the sailing of ‘surrogate’ boats, in an effort to block expensive work-arounds/loopholes, and no-sail periods when the boats can’t be used at all. Returning are measures we’ve seen before like sail limitations, a 50% limit on modifications to an AC90 hull, and this time there will be no shrouding allowed at any time.

ACM are sticking with the much derided plan for the Defender to sail in the Challenger trials, and the format seems to have been designed to try and remove any influence they might have (by throwing races) over the outcome. I’ve got three words for what they’ve come up with; Cricket. World. Cup. Here’s the plan from the official press release:

Acts

End of June/ July 2008: Act 1, in Valencia (fleet & match race in ACC V5 yachts)

September 2008: Act 2, location in Europe tbc (fleet & match race in ACC V5 yachts)

April 2009: Act 3, in Valencia in AC90 (fleet race) (tbc)

Results from the Acts do not carry forward into the Trials. However, aside from the exposure and prestige gained, there are bonuses with regards to sail allocation for 2009. If teams compete in the 2008 Acts, they gain five sails on top of their 45 sail allocation for 2009. The overall winner of the 2008 Acts gains an additional two sails and the second placed competitor gains one extra sail.

Trials

Round Robins 1 and 2

Starting on May 2nd 2009, they will result in a ranking that includes all Challengers and Alinghi. The six top ranked teams proceed into the Semi Final. The remaining teams proceed into a parallel fleet racing event called the 'Challenger Sail Off', the results of which go towards the final ranking and therefore the net surplus distribution.

Semi Final

May/June 2009: Three Rounds of the Semi Final (between the top six teams of the Round Robins) will result in a Challenger ranking. Number 1 in the ranking goes straight to the Challenger Selection Final, whilst there will be a Repechage between the 2nd and 3rd placed Challengers. Alinghi moves to the parallel 'Secondary Series' at this stage.

Challenger Selection Series

The Challenger Selection Series starts in late June 2009 with the Repechage. The winner of this goes on to meet the top ranked Challenger in a best-of-seven Challenger Selection Final in July. The winner of the Challenger Selection Final becomes the Challenger and goes on to meet Alinghi in the America's Cup Match on the 18 July 2009.

Concurrent with the Challenger Selection Final, Alinghi and the newly eliminated Challengers race two Round Robins of a parallel event called the 'Secondary Series'. Results from this determine the final ranking of these Challengers.

The 33rd America's Cup Match

Starting on 18 July 2009, the best Challenger will face the Defender in a best of nine match race series.

Got all that?

If you want to read the new rules for yourself – and bear in mind that the whole lot will likely go in the bin if Oracle win the court case – you can find a PDF here. But just from a quick read, I think I can already see some very expensive ways to get race crews more time on the water and in competition, and to seriously improve the quality of one-boat testing…

As you’d expect there’s plenty of analysis of this elsewhere on the web, I can point you to CupInfo.com who have posted the graphic of the format provided by ACM. And Richard Gladwell has done a great job of outlining the main points in a Sail-World story. While the Valencia Sailing blogspot has the press conference audio and a text blog of what was said.

And finally, CupinEurope is running a story about the Italian Challenge, Eolia finding their first sponsor in La Banca Intesa-Sanpaolo - a banking group involved as a minor sponsor for Luna Rossa last time. People still want to play the game, whatever the game turns out to be...

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Mark Chisnell ©

GGYC Respond…

In the last post, I commented that the ball was now in the Golden Gate Yacht Club’s (GGYC) court, as Alinghi had provided what they asked for, in the shape of the new Cup boat rule. That meant that GGYC were now in a position to decide whether or not Alinghi had got a headstart in the design process - one of their principal issues with the 33rd Protocol.

The ball promptly came thudding back across the net, as GGYC announced... thanks for the new rule – but how can we possibly decide if Alinghi have got a headstart in the design process if we don’t know what the boat looked like in Alinghi’s original proposal to the Challengers? GGYC now want to see Alinghi's first draft of the rule, to judge how far the final boat has evolved from what they started out with…

At the time of writing that ball was quietly thudding it’s way over the baseline at Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) and Alinghi, and heading down towards the grubby little corner of the fence where all the leaves, chip papers and McBurger wrappings gather (think municipal rather than yacht club tennis court), with no sign of a response...

So the pendulum swings back towards Justice Cahn and the New York State Supreme Court having the last word. Or maybe not, if Manuel Chirivella, President of the Challenger of Record, Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV), has anything to do with it. He announced at the weekend that they would be appealing if they lost the ruling in the court.

And if you follow that last link, you’ll find the always entertaining Kimball Livingston waiting for you with some other thoughts on a rather gob-smacking press conference given at the Barcelona Boat Show, in which CNEV also appeared to indicate that they thought Spanish law, rather than American, applied to the case - and that CNEV was simply a legal agreement to allow Desafio Espanol to become the Challenger or Record… I'm sure GGYC's lawyers will be interested in that.

So the date has just passed when the teams currently occupying a Valencia base have to indicate whether or not they want to stay on. The first feathers have already been ruffled. Cup in Europe has a story which indicates that the second Spanish syndicate has bought all the Luna Rossa assets and is now after the base as well - allowing them just to move in. Unfortunately, TeamOrigin have already baggsied first dibs on that one…

Meanwhile, the world’s design offices have been rushing to the nearest blog to give us their take on the new rule for the AC90 boat. Apart from the obvious fact that the new boats are bigger and a lot more powerful, the crucial difference between the old and the new is that the AC90 is a box rule – there is a fixed upper limit for all the main parameters; sail area, length, beam, displacement and so on. So teams won’t be trying to figure out how to balance these components into the right configuration for the venue/wind range they expect to sail in. Instead, the hull shape, within the confines of the box, is going to be where the design effort is focused. And then once they’ve figure that out, all the details of structure, layout, rig will come into play...

Bruce Farr and Britton Ward at Desafio Espanol gave the rule their blessing – but then as Challenger of Record, you’d hardly expect them to do an ‘IRM’ on it… The Valencia Sailing blogspot has got Schickler-Tagliapietra to take a look at the new rule. While Sail-World have had a chat with Brett Bakewell-White, who provides some comparisons with some of the supermaxis around. But we'll give the last word to Alinghi’s head design honcho, Rolf Vrolijk, who’s done a Q&A on the Alinghi website.

And just in case you hadn’t noticed, this blog is now feedburned - just click on the little orange logo (at the bottom of the menu choices in the left hand column) to get auto-updates whenever I drag my sorry arse back to the keyboard…

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Mark Chisnell ©

The New Boat...

America’s Cup Management (ACM) delivered on time yesterday with the issue of the rule for the new America’s Cup class, as required under their Protocol for the 33rd America’s Cup. The process, as we’ve reported previously, has been lead by Tom Schnackenberg, with input from the six challengers currently entered – and Alinghi.

The new boat is 90ft overall maximum length, 6.5m in draft when it’s racing, with a displacement of 23 tons and designed to a box rule. It was the displacement that the challengers were apparently allowed to set, to negate any prior knowledge of the rule that Alinghi might have had – and hopefully any headstart on the design process.

ACM issued a press release about all this, but more interestingly they also issued the rule itself. I don’t think anyone was expecting that, as ACM had previously made a big deal of withholding knowledge of the rule from anyone that hadn’t entered the 33rd America’s Cup, and therefore accepted all the other (disputed) conditions of the Protocol. But now the rule is out there, and the ball is definitely in the Golden Gate Yacht Club’s (GGYC) court.

GGYC, who, along with Oracle have led the attack in the New York State Supreme court on the 33rd Protocol, had previously issued a press release on the 25th October stating that, ‘The American team (Oracle) has told challengers it is ready to agree to wide ranging new proposals discussed over the last 24 hours if it can confirm for itself that the design rule developed by Alinghi is fair for all competitors.’

Well, now the rule is out there, we’ll all be expecting to hear from the GGYC next…

Meanwhile, the Spanish bloggers have been getting much exercised over the issue that’s pivotal to the court case – the credibility of the Challenger of Record, Club Nautico Español de Vela (CNEV). The Valencia Sailing blogspot has a nice story on efforts to join the aforementioned club - revealing that you can’t. While Scuttlebutt have translated a blog by Jaime Soler, who writes in Spanish, about the Notice of Race for the CNEV’s third attempt to hold an ‘annual regatta on an arm of the sea’ – one of the conditions for any challenging yacht club. It's not pretty...

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Mark Chisnell ©

No Decision

Anyone still holding their breath can stop now… there was no decision in the New York State Supreme Court of Justice Cahn on the case that Oracle and the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), have brought case against Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) and Alinghi. The hope is that a decision will be handed down in days or weeks rather than months, and you can read Cory Friedman’s excellent coverage for the online Scuttlebutt magazine right here.

Bob Fisher was in attendance for Sail-World, and his report is here, with John Rousmaniere also describing events for Scuttlebutt. While both GGYC and SNG delivered short press releases, expressing their satisfaction with events to date – one of them is misguided in that belief…

GGYC have also posted the original July letter from seven previous Cup challengers, protesting the Protocol. It makes interesting reading. And the mighty Valencia Sailing blogspot has come up with TVNZ's report on the court case, which includes footage from the court room of all the players - so if you want to put faces to names, that's the link to click on. The same site also has an interview with Hamish Ross, Alinghi's General Counsel.

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Mark Chisnell ©

D-Day

Today's the day when the New York State Suprememe Court will hear Oracle and the Golden Gate Yacht Club's (GGYC) case against Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) and Alinghi. Ahead of the hearing in the court of Justice Cahn, there’s been plenty of tit-for-tat filing and press release issuing – the ever reliable Cory Friendman summarises the latest court papers for Scuttlebutt.

The latest press release from the GGYC is in the normal place (click on the title 'GGYC Press Release October 20, 2007' and it opens a Word file). While you can read the latest from SNG on their website.

There is, apparently, a meeting this morning in New York ahead of the court appearance, but having read all that, all I can say is thank god for courts and judges...

Meantime, in case you missed it, Paul Cayard has signed with Desafío Español, the current Challenger of Record, as their Sports Director. Cayard joined the team for a few months ahead of the last Cup, and that role is now to be reprised for an entire Cup cycle. There was a press conference on the appointment in Valencia, which was reported in the Valencia Sailing blogspot.

And finally, another Italian syndicate has broken cover, Eolia has submitted 'pre-registration' to America's Cup Management (ACM) ahead of getting enough funding to actually enter. The team intends to be as Italian as possible, with that language spoken on board the race boat, and they’d like to get hold of a Luna Rossa boat for training. According to BYM News the 50 million Euro budget will come from a Milan company, a bank and a number of businessmen in the north, along with 10 million Euros from Sicily - and Francisco De Angelis has been connected with the team.

So, now you can all go and hold your breath until end of play in the New York courts…

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Mark Chisnell ©

Catching up...

Apologies for absence, but the sailing in St Tropez took its toll, and then there was a big pile of work to catch up on when I got back, and well… a Happy Monday’s gig to go to… And I'm off to the Frankfurt Book Fair at the weekend, so this blitz through a couple of weeks worth of news isn't really going to do it justice. Still, there's some great writing if you follow the links...

So, back at the ranch house, there’s been plenty going on in the Cup world, as both the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) and Sociétè Nautique de Genévè (SNG) file their papers with the New York courts ahead of the hearings on the 22nd October.

If you want to read all the original documents, then GGYC have been posting court papers on their website, while SNG have put up some of the early stuff on Alinghi's website. The Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia (RYCCS), the challenging club of Mascalzone Latino, have also weighed into the legal action with what’s apparently called an amicus curiae brief to the New York Court – you can read a summary of their filing here. But the definitive independent coverage of this stuff is Cory Freidman’s work for Scuttlebutt – you can read his assessment of the paperwork issued to date right here – but if I were to cut to the chase, I’d say that SNG are in trouble.

Cory Friedman also met Ernesto Bertarelli as part of a PR sweep through the States by the head of Alinghi. Friedman had some interesting things to say about the meeting - which can probably be summed up by saying that Bertarelli still doesn’t get it (and if you want to know what he doesn't get, then you can read this story by Richard Gladwell at Sail-World). When the PR sweep reached the West Coast of the US, Kimball Livingston was one of the men ushered into Ernesto’s presence, and he’s written in his usual lively manner about the occasion - in two parts. Elsewhere in the same PR push, Marian Martin of BYM News got to talk to Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth - and this is the best interview Brad's given on the whole thing.

Meanwhile, I can personally confirm that the swirl of dockside rumour was alive and kicking in St Tropez, reflected online at the Valencia Sailing blogspot, the latest of which is right here. So have Ellison and Bertarelli cut a deal? They know, and we don’t. But if I was to put money on it (and why-oh-why did I not have a few quid on England and France at the weekend?), I’d say not…

Given the closeness of the court date, the most surprising event of the past couple of weeks was the announcement from ACM on the 3rd October that they were reconsidering the feasibility of holding the Cup in Valencia in 2009, ‘as a consequence of the uncertainty and the delays arising from the Golden Gate Yacht Club Law suit in New York’.

But why make this announcement less than three weeks before the court date that will finally provide some certainty? It was bound to spook the herd - particularly the five teams that have already challenged and their prospective sponsors. And coming at such an odd time, you have to wonder about ACM’s motives in making the announcement. In an AP story, Paul Logothetis quoted ACM chief executive Michel Hodara as saying that the lawsuit was the problem. ‘Nothing has changed. We are just saying that now we find ourselves in a situation where time is the problem. We have reached a stage and we have to face the reality of the situation.’ So, just a reality check, or something else?

A couple of the teams responded to this, Grant Dalton was quoted in the New Zealand Herald as saying that they will continue to prepare for a 2009 event. While Jochen Schümann, in charge of Team Germany commented, ‘The situation of a possible postponement for the planned 33rd America’s Cup in 2009 would harm the sport and its image worldwide. We are supporting all attempts of an amicable arrangement.’

Indeed. There was a 12 Metre World Championship held in Lulea, Sweden, in 1988 for what was then still the America's Cup Class, with ten teams lining the dock. By the summer of 1992 in San Diego - when the dust had settled on the catamaran challenge, the court case and the new boat rule - one each of the Swedish and Japanese teams, along with the British, Danish and German challengers had all fallen by the wayside. Lessons from history 101 - there's every reason to believe the court won't sit on its hands in judgement this time, as it did in that last debacle, but the risks are still there...

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Mark Chisnell ©

Injuries, Illness and Drugs…

A quick round up today, as I’ve got to catch a plane to the Nioulargue (or whatever they call it these days) which, as winter started in England this week, doesn’t seem a bad thing at all…

The bad news is the America’s Cup’s first doping case – the Alinghi website posted a statement from trimmer Simon Daubney yesterday, explaining that he’d tested positive on both the A and the B samples for a recreational drug.

In a subsequent appearance before the Jury for the 32nd America’s Cup, Daubney’s explanation that he was a ‘victim of contamination and or drink spiking’ (which contention was backed up by a polygraph test) was accepted. The jury concluded that there was no fault or negligence on Daubney’s part. Despite that, Daubney has resigned from the team until he’s taken further steps to clear his name - still, not exactly Ben Johnson….

Elsewhere, Yahoo have a bit of a short non-story on the K-Challenge preparations for the next Cup – Stephane Kandler hopes to have a major sponsor by the end of next month, but it doesn’t sound like it’s Areva, as they are quoted as not having been asked to back the French challenge.

And the New Zealand Herald have reported that Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) tactician Terry Hutchinson won’t be back with the Kiwis for the next Cup. Hutchinson is moving on after a successful stint with ETNZ saying, 'Following the conclusion of the 32nd event, I could not come to terms with the team on how we should go forward. I have the utmost respect for them, but an America’s Cup campaign is a very intense commitment, and I did not feel I could continue under the circumstances'.

Since I contributed at least one cold and a strained Achilles, I can’t go without pointing you in the direction of Vernon Neville’s report on sickness and health amongst America’s Cup crews. Neville was Luna Rossa’s fitness coach, and if I remember rightly, this was his PhD work at Loughborough University. So I guess it’s now Dr Neville to you, my son. Personally, I think the new appellation should be withheld until he’s finally learned the offside rule - this is an English university PhD after all…

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One Small Step for Alinghi…

Might be a giant step for America’s Cup racing – or it might not.... Alinghi appeared to blink first in their stand-off with Oracle Racing over the Protocol for the 33rd America’s Cup, when on Friday they announced that they were making some changes to the disputed Protocol, after discussions with the Arbitration Panel and those competitors that have already entered.

The Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) and Alinghi’s announcement came with an appeal to BMW Oracle Racing and the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) to lay down their weapons – the court case due to be heard on the 22nd October – and enter the event under the new Protocol. They reckon that the changes address many of the issues raised by GGYC, and Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth referred to recent discussions with Russell Coutts, Oracle’s skipper.

The changes to the Protocol are:

The power to disqualify a competitor has been clarified so that should a competitor refuse to be bound by the Protocol, they now have recourse to the Arbitration Panel before they can be thrown out.

America’s Cup Management (ACM) can now only refuse entry to the event on specific grounds – such as capacity at the venue.

There are changes to the power of ACM to amend the Protocol in relation to the Arbitration Panel, and these changes must now be subjected to Arbitration Panel approval first. ACM no longer have the power to remove members of the Arbitration Panel.

The ‘neutral management’ has been changed so that the Fair Sailing rule is extended to apply to all matters directly related to the regatta.

If you want to decide for yourself if this will keep BMW Oracle from the court, they list their issues with the 33rd Protocol in their media backgrounder here...

Or you can cut to the chase and go straight to an article on the Guardian website, where Tom Ehman (Head of External Affairs for BMW Oracle Racing) is quoted as saying that ‘We welcome some new points, but the changes are largely cosmetic and do not address the central issues.’ Ehman added that GGYC will not be withdrawing the court case on the basis of these amendments, and they want to negotiate a settlement directly with SNG.

So it looks like we will rumble on towards the day in court for now - whether or not this first step closer to a negotiated settlement will be followed up with more remains to be seen. Presumably GGYC are now in a better position to judge the strength of the SNG case, as they had to file their papers with the court last week. Alinghi appear to have posted these documents on their website here. As I believe I've mentioned before, if I wanted to read this stuff myself, I'd have taken law classes...

Meanwhile, United Internet Team Germany, one of those teams who have entered under the current Protocol, have got their man - Jochen Schuemann has left Alinghi to lead the German challenge. Schuemann had been sailing director at Alinghi for the last two Cups. But his absence from the race boat in the 32rd Match against Team New Zealand hinted at a coming departure. There's an interview with Schuemann on BYM.

Schuemann is joined by Jason Ker, the Brit who was chief designer at Team Shosholoza, the South African entry in the last event. Porsche and Audi have put their money down as sponsors, and the team has bought one of the Alinghi boats - SUI-91. There’s a report on the press conference on the Valencia Sailing blogspot.

And earlier last week, ACM doled out the 66.5 million euro profit from the previous America’s Cup. ACM take a ten percent cut as a management fee (this is after all the costs have been deducted from the gross of 240 million euros), then 45% goes to Alinghi, and the rest is shared between the challengers. ACM state that Emirates Team New Zealand will receive over nine million euros as the Challenger, while those teams that didn’t make the semi-finals will be making do with just over a million each - not quite enough to hire a top flight skipper then...?

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Team Origin Announces...

In the rather incongruous surroundings of a sand pit in the back blocks of the Southampton Boat Show, Team Origin, the British Challenge for the 33rd America’s Cup, announced it’s line-up this morning.

The headline appointments won’t come as any huge surprise to readers of the Cup tea leaves, with Ben Ainslie skipper and Juan Kouyoumdjian as principal designer. But if you dig a bit deeper (and you can do it yourself here - but I warn you that this is a 3M PDF file) there are some interesting appointments.

On the sailing side, Ben has been joined at the back of the boat by Iain Percy – these two have been raising flags on their intentions to win the America’s Cup together for some years now. Percy brings his Star crew, Andrew Simpson, with him, as aft grinder and strategist. Joining from Team Director Mike Sanderson’s winning Volvo Ocean Race boat, ABN Amro, is Rob Greenhalgh, as strategist and traveler – the up-the-mast role going almost exclusively to skiff sailors these days it seems. While Ben has brought navigator Ian Moore with him from Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ), where they sailed the ‘B’ boat together.

But the most notable defection from ETNZ is Andy Claughton, who joins as Design Coordinator, a role he filled in 2007 for ETNZ. He’s had some kind of involvement with the Kiwi Cup teams dating right back to 1987, and he will leave at big hole over at Grant Dalton’s camp.

Also on the technical side, Mickey Ickert has come from BMW Oracle, where he’s spent the last three Cups, and will be Aero Director – the lead sail designer. And to complete the rig package, spar designer Bruce Thompson also joins from Oracle along with trimmer, Robby Naismith – keeping it in the family. And with Neal McDonald on the mainsheet (who knows a bit about mast design himself) this is a really strong aero development team. Another notable on the technical side is Stan Honey, who was Mike Sanderson’s navigator on ABN Amro. Honey joins as Technical Director and navigator.

Up the front of the boat we have Chris Brittle, David Carr, Pawel Bielecki and Ian Weighell turning handles, with Julien Cressant and George Skuodas on the mast, and Kevin Batten, Justin Slattery and Matt Cornwell on the bow, with Nick Bice as Boat Captain.

And last but not least, the single most important part of the Cup game is having the money, and so perhaps the most important addition to the Origin team announced this morning was Charles Dunstone as partner and investor. Dunstone, of the Carphone Warehouse, has been a Cup enthusiast for some time, and it’s great to see him finally committing to the support of a British effort.

And there you have it – it’s a great line-up. There are some gaps - only one trimmer for the sails in front of the mast being an obvious one (and my apologies to Andrea Avaldi - formerly Luna Rossa's senior structural designer - who will take on that role for TeamOrigin. In a previous version of this post I'd said that there was a gap here too - but the eagle eyed have pointed out his presence in the on-line PDF profiles. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the printed version given out at the launch which I used to write this initially. I guess he was signed up a little late to make the print run). And with more signatures promised, these guys are up and running in a big way.

But there's a postscript - I mentioned in a previous blog that I didn't see too many people in the America's Cup giving children a chance to experience sailing - the only real way to build an audience for the event. The Royal Yachting Association has been trying to do this for some time, with its OnBoard programme, which is hoping to introduce half a million young people to sailing over a ten year period. TeamOrigin is the main partner to this programme. This is not just how you build an audience for the professional sport, it's also how you find the next generation of talent, by giving as many people as possible the opportunity to discover they love sailing and are good at it...

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Mark Chisnell ©

Memo-by-Affidavit

This is turning into something of a manual news aggregation service, as I really don’t have much to add about the whole memo-by-affidavit battle currently being waged in the New York courts, as the Golden Gate Yacht Club/Oracle (GGYC), go up against Société Nautique de Genève/Alinghi (SNG) in their dispute over the Protocol for the 33rd America's Cup.

So I'll get straight to the point - and push you in the direction of Scuttlebutt where New York lawyer, Cory E. Friedman is following the proceedings in Justice Cahn’s court for that internet magazine.

First up, check out the second half of Cory’s analysis of the pre-start moves - the affidavit’s and memorandum filed by SNG ahead of yesterday’s court hearing. Then you can read Cory’s report on the hearing itself.

The bones of it is that both sides will file papers and the judgement will be based on those papers – there will only be a trial if Justice Cahn subsequently decides he needs one and that, apparently, is unlikely.

The schedule is that SNG will file on 17th September, GGYC on 1st October, with the responses being due between 5th and 19th October and a hearing on the 22nd October - when we may get a judgement and if not, if should emerge pretty soon afterwards.

So, this looks more like a two mile windward-leeward than a round the world race at this stage, let’s hope it stays that way. On this schedule, there’s a good chance the court case will be decided before the new rule for the ninety footers has even been announced – unless someone appeals…

You can read Alinghi’s take on it here…

And the GGYC’s view of yesterday’s action is right here…

Meanwhile, as we mentioned in Saturday’s post the America's Cup Management (ACM) Arbitration Panel have filed their full decision. There was a suggestion in the conclusions to the ruling, published on Saturday, that SNG/ACM might consider changing some points of the disputed Protocol. It turns out that these all relate to the Arbitration Panel’s own operation and SNG’s right to dismiss the Panel’s members and change its mechanics of operation - nothing here that is going to make GGYC much happier, and the New York Court will remain the focus of the argument. But if you've got the time, there's a lot of background stuff in that judgement that will likely also be coming before Justice Cahn, and it may help you make your own mind up - should you want to...

Elsewhere, the Valencia Sailing blogspot has an excellent account of a Desafio Espanol press conference (whose Club Nautico Español de Vela (CNEV) lawyers were in New York the same afternoon), in which they announced that Farr Yacht Design will be working for Desafio this time around.

If you’ve been paying attention, you should now be wondering – who’s going to be working with Russell Coutts at Oracle? Juan K was there with Farr last time, but he’s been linked to just about everybody, particularly the Brits. They are supposed to be presenting their design and sailing team at the Southampton Boat Show this Friday, so I guess we may all learn a little more about how the cards are falling out then.

It's not yacht racing as we know it, but it's not dull either, is it?

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Mark Chisnell ©

Arbitration Panel Rules

Those of you who have been following the affair of the 33rd Protocol carefully, will remember that America's Cup Management (ACM) had referred the validity of Club Nautico Español de Vela (CNEV) (the Challenger of Record disputed by the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC)) - to the Arbitration Panel set up by ACM to adjudicate over the 33rd America's Cup.

Whatever you thought about that, and GGYC didn't think much, the Arbitration Panel has just come to a decision. This is the ACM press release on the matter, which you can read here.

'This afternoon, the Arbitration Panel reached a decision on the ACAP 33/01 case, in the matter of the Protocol governing the 33rd America’s Cup and in the matter of an application filed by SNG on July 20, 2007 in respect of the validity of the challenge of Club Nautico Español de Vela (“CNEV”) for the 33rd America’s Cup. In compliance with directions from the Arbitration Panel, the full document will be made available from this website Monday September 10, but it the meantime this is the summary of the decision:

“[162] The decision of the Panel is the following:

The Panel (i) has the competence to rule on its own jurisdiction and (ii) also has jurisdiction to rule on the present matter;

The challenge for the 33rd America’s Cup made by CNEV on July 3, 2007 (i) is a valid challenge entitling CNEV to challenge for the America’s Cup as Challenger of Record and (ii) SNG is obligated to accept (as it was the first valid challenge it received);

The Protocol signed by SNG and CNEV on July 3, 2007 complies with the Deed of Gift; and

Although this does not affect the compliance of the existing Protocol with the Deed of Gift, the Panel believes that SNG and CNEV should consider amending the Protocol in respect of some of its provisions as stated in point points [155] and [156]."'

It will be interesting to see what changes the Panel have proposed in points 155 and 156. I guess we get to see that on Monday - will it be enough to keep GGYC happy? That's also the day when the action opens in Justice Cahn's court...

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Mark Chisnell ©

Explainer: The Small Print

I couldn't let this one go by for anyone that doesn't subscribe to that fine internet magazine, Scuttlebutt. The people there have got Cory E. Friedman, a New York lawyer, to do what I've been avoiding (partly because I know nothing about it, and partly because if I wanted to spend my life reading affidavits and legalese I wouldn't have ended up here doing this...), that is - read the Golden Gate Yacht Club's (GGYC) legal papers and assess the coming court case.

So here's Cory's assessment of the opening salvoes in the court battle from the GGYC - hopefully there will be more along soon, when the Societe Nautique de Geneve step into the ring - because I sure ain't gonna do it for you...

And some good news from America's Cup Management (ACM), who have announced that Tom Schnackenberg will be a consultant to the rule development process for the 90 footers proposed in Alinghi's 33rd Protocol. Schnackenberg's role will be as class rule and competition regulations consultant for the design consultation period, which starts on the 15th September and runs through six weeks of discussion with the current challengers, until the rule is published on the 31st October.

Grant Simmer, design team coordinator for Alinghi, had this to say, 'Tom's responsibility will be to consult and consider the input of the entered challengers and to publish the new class rule by 31st October. Tom will also work on other racing regulations related to the 33rd America's Cup.'

But while Schnackenberg's recent work has been with the challengers (Luna Rossa in 2007), his future allegiance is not in doubt - Simmer added, 'Once he has completed these tasks we look forward to welcoming Tom in the Alinghi design team.'

I doubt anyone will regard this appointment as anything other than good news - Schnackenberg's critical role in winning the America's Cup three times (Australia II in '83, New Zealand in '95 and 2000) and his technical brilliance are unquestioned. Hopefully he'll also bring the authority to the group to ensure that the many different views and ideas that will be expressed in these discussions evolve into a great boat - you know what they say about camels and committees....

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Mark Chisnell ©

Coming at You...

A flurry of news from the Cup in the last few days, so we’ll start at the beginning with a link to a nice story by the people at BYM News, who have gone to the trouble of reading Tom Ehman’s affidavit (as presented to the New York State Supreme Court by the Golden Gate Yacht Club’s (GGYC) legal team, in their challenge to Société Nautique de Genève (SNG)). In which Tom has an interesting story about an SNG ploy to hand the Cup off to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, should they become unstuck in the New York Court.

BYM followed up this affidavit analysis with another cracker of a story, in which John Crawford, Commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, denied all knowledge of the plan...

And for those of you who like nothing better than curling up in bed at night with a good legal document to read, I can offer you the decision from the 1988 court case. In which Mercury Bay Yacht Club went up against San Diego YC in a similar dust up over the nature of the next event. The court gives some interesting opinions that will presumably be taken into account in deciding the case now before it.

Then there was the fall-out on the story from the previous post, in which Ernesto Bertarelli had apparently asked that the chairman of the jury at the recent Farr 40 Worlds, Tom Ehman (the very same as mentioned above) should step down. But the jury, the class, and ISAF all decided otherwise, and Ehman stayed. As reported by Stuart Alexander amongst others, Ernesto followed that up by not turning up for the prize giving, after being beaten into second place by Vincenzo Onorato and his Mascalzone Latino team. Onorato is one of the refuseniks that have spoken out against Alinghi’s Protocol for the 33rd Cup.

Meanwhile, Team Origin, the British Challenger for the America’s Cup, have been throwing their weight behind Alinghi’s wheel with a statement on their website arguing for the Protocol. Of the three points they present in favour of the Protocol only one of them is actually in that document, the others were presented at a subsequent press conference and currently have no official standing - but leaving that hair splitting aside, the Brits clearly have a strategy in backing Alinghi, and I’m sure it will become apparent, sooner or later…

And then there’s ACM, who yesterday (presumably, as I can’t find any evidence of it) presented papers to the New York State Supreme Court in defence of their position. And for good measure gave a progress report on preparations for the 33rd Cup. Their account of it is on their website, while BYM News have a story on the views of Hamish Ross (who’s Alinghi’s legal counsel) on the court case. There isn't too much here that we haven't heard before, but it is good to see ACM coming out and defending their position, rather than just ranting at Ellison.

And on that theme, AFP report that Brad Butterworth offered Oracle and the Golden Gate Yacht Club an entry into the Cup (under the current Protocol). Butterworth is quoted as saying, ‘If Golden Gate entered now, and got on with the game of the America's Cup, they'd be accepted. We want them to be in the next America's Cup.’ And it does look as though the warring parties might be talking to each other...

ACM also announced that United Internet Team Germany have become the fifth official challenge to enter under the protocol for the 33rd America’s Cup.

And finally… the Valencia Sailing Blogspot reports that the contract for Valencia to host the 33rd America's Cup has been signed, although there appears to be some issue amongst the three Spanish signatories as to who’s actually running the show.

Make that... almost finally... as in that same Valencia Sailing story, there’s a report on the Vuelta de España a Vela which is apparently CNEV's latest 'annual regatta on an arm of the sea'. So far, Mr Pierre Orphanidis doesn’t sound very convinced…

So now you’re as up to date as I am - but are you any the wiser as to how this is all going to turn out? I’m certainly not.

And that's about all you're going to get in the way of insight and analysis on all this, but hey, I've got a novel to finish....

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Mark Chisnell ©