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8:49 PM Thu 23 Apr 2009 GMT
The America's Cup seems to be destined to return to Court as a result of the action of Defender, Societe Nautique de Geneve rejecting the offer of a Multi Challenger event sailed in yachts to the AC33 rule, made by the Challenger of Record, Golden Gate Yacht Club.
At a meeting in Geneva, on Thursday, SNG/Alinghi did not accept the Multi Challenger proposal, instead they opted for a Match in 90ft or 115ft LWL multihulls, the maximum sized yacht allowed in the Deed of Gift.
SNG/Alinghi also announced that they would Defend in May 2010, and apparent contravention of a US Supreme Court order requiring a match to be sailed on 8 February 2010.
The response from Golden Gate YC and their team BMW Oracle Racing was to request that the statement regarding a Defence date be put in writing.
Once that is done it seems that the matter will be referred back to the US Supreme Court for further decision and action.
SNG/Alinghi did make the offer to allow other teams to participate in a Multihull Challenge, however few would be expected to take this option seriously, unless they already had a craft under design/build, or could secure the use of such a boat, and it complied with the construction requirements of the Deed of Gift.
The reason for the changed date announcement by SNG/Alinghi is that the Deed of Gift states that for a Match in the Northern Hemisphere it must be sailed between May and October. In his last ruling the since retired Justice Herman Cahn determined that the Match should be staged in February 2010, and the 8 February 2010 date was constructed from the date of the Appeal decision by the New York Court of Appeals on the question of whether Club Nautico Espannol de Vela was a legitimate Challenger of Record.
The question of the date set by Justice Cahn was not the subject of Appeal and the date issue was not decided by the Appeal Court.
While the May 2010 date is in accordance with the Deed of Gift, it is believed that a decision of the Supreme Court on a point of interpretation will override the provisions of the Deed of Gift.
The date, when promulgated by the Defender will trigger a Court Hearing for non-compliance.
The move does of course give the Defender more time to build and prepare for the America's Cup. At best they are believed to be two months away from launch date, while the Challenger is already on its third set of sea trials off San Diego.
Should GGYC take no formal action to dispute the date, then it will be deemed to have accepted the May 2010 schedule, and that would in turn delay for another two months the announcement of the venue for the Defence, which must be made six months before the Match, buying further time for Alinghi.
That timeline would also mean that the match would finally take place 34 months after the Challenge was lodged by Golden Gate YC in July 2007. A Match that, barring legal argument, should have been sailed 10 months later.
For the other Challengers and America's Cup teams, all eyes now turn to Paris and Louis Vuitton, whose emissaries have been working behind the scenes since the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in Auckland.
It would seem likely that some racing will be attempted this year, probably with bid venues at little real cost to Louis Vuitton.
The question now to be faced by the America's Cup teams as to whether they can financially survive to May 2010.
The outcome for the next multi challenger America's Cup is probably unaltered, and that should take place starting in May 2011, at the earliest, in AC33 yachts.
How the teams operate in the meantime will be interesting, some will no doubt fold or be mothballed. others will survive in alternate competition.
Of course, the way is now clear for the former Challengers to form their own group, and promote their own competition free of negotiations with America's Cup Management. They would probably find a willing sponsor, in Louis Vuitton, and a willing backer in Golden Gate Yacht Club.
Such a move could pave the way to a (Louis Vuitton) World Series, hosted at various bidded venues around the world, sailed in America's Cuppers to the V5 rule, or modified, on an own boat, or borrowed boat basis. The series of regattas would be along similar lines to the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, and now that the America's Cup is a Multihull event, there can be little risk of legal obstacles through 'passing off'.
Such an event would mesh very well with a re-vitalised America's Cup, should Golden Gate YC win in February/May 2010 and it is likely that such a Series would grow and be partnered with a traditional 34th America's Cup.
Now is a time for leadership within the America's Cup family, rather than being mesmerised by the latest outpourings from Geneva.
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.Com
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Mount Wellington, TAS
