Golden Gate responds to America's Cup Contempt of Court charge

10:07 PM Mon 11 May 2009 GMT

'BOR90 - Just a prototype?' Paul Todd/Outside Images Click Here to view large photo

The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) today filed a memorandum of law in the Supreme Court of the State of New York supporting the court-ordered dates of February 2010 for the next America's Cup match and opposing a frivolous motion made by the defender Soci?t? Nautique de Gen?ve (SNG) to disqualify GGYC.

In early April the New York State Court of Appeals, in a unanimous 6-0 ruling, held that GGYC is the rightful challenger and that the next match would be in ten months, meaning early February 2010.

However, in an April 23 letter to GGYC, SNG unilaterally dictated that the match shall be in May 2010 in defiance of the Court's April 7, 2009 Order and Judgment. GGYC filed a motion to hold SNG in contempt of court for defiance of the judgment.

SNG retaliated with a cross-motion seeking to disqualify GGYC for not yet providing a custom-house registry (CHR) for the team's challenging yacht.

GGYC's court submission states it had 'no obligation to provide a CHR before commencement of the 10 month notice-of-race period.' The 10-month clock started April 7, the day GGYC served SNG with a copy of the court Order and Judgment, reinstating GGYC as the Challenger of Record.

'We will provide the CHR, as the Deed requires, 'as soon as possible,'' said GGYC spokesman Tom Ehman.

'Alinghi/SNG have already held up the 33rd America's Cup for two years. We believe this unfortunate new delaying tactic by SNG will not stop the 33rd America's Cup from proceeding in February 2010 as ordered by the Court last month,' Ehman said. 'We expect the hearing this week will promptly resolve both matters.'

The full sets of pdf's can be viewed here.

Sail-World:Probably the most interesting information in these papers is the statement that BMW Oracle Racing's Challenger is still under construction. It is not known whether this is confirmation that they have a second boat under construction, or whether the boat named BOR90 that has been sea trialling off San Diego is to be further modified and is therefore 'under construction'.

by Golden Gate YC Media

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Golden Gate responds to America's Cup Contempt of Court charge

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