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6:53 PM Tue 26 May 2009 GMT
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Golden Gate Yacht Club have responded to the letters sent earlier in May by Circolo Vela Gargano, who wish to have a Challenger Selection Series for the 33rd America's Cup and for the date of the 33rd Match to be delayed to accommodate their participation in that series.
Additionally the Italian club which is represented as its racing team by Green Comm Challenge, a new team in the Americas Cup. This group entered the 33rd America's Cup when the now defrocked Club Nautico Espanol de Vela, was Challenger of Record, but did not participate, along with ten other teams, in the Louis Vuitton pacific series in Auckland in February.
The Golden Gate YC response is as follows:
Mr. Lorenzo Rizzardi
President
Circolo Vela Gargano
Via C. A. Bettoni, 23
25080 Bogliaco (BS)
ITALY
Dear Mr. Rizzardi,
This is in reply to your letters of May 11, 2009 and May 22, 2009. Thank you for recognizing GGYC's tradition of sportsmanship and fairness.
We categorically deny the allegations in your letter to us of May 22, 2009. We will not hesitate to uphold our rights and to vigorously defend the reputations of our team members.
Likewise, your assertions about the responsibility of the Challenger are unfounded. As the Challenger we are not now, nor ever have been, obligated under the Deed of Gift to consider other challenges.
SNG has no right to consider other challenges. The Deed states that '.when a challenge from a club fulfilling all the conditions required by this instrument has been received, no other challenge can be considered [by the Defender] until the pending event has been decided.'
Since we filed our challenge with SNG in July 2007 GGYC has maintained, publicly and privately, that we are in favor of a conventional multiple-challengermonohullevent under mutual consent.?To wit, our Notice of Challenge dated 11 July 2007 states, 'GGYC acknowledges that the Deed of Gift contemplates negotiations between the Challenger and the Defender that may alter and supplement these terms [of our Challenge], and nothing in this Challenge is intended to circumvent consensual negotiations in the spirit of the Deed of Gift toward a Protocol comparable in scope, and similar in terms, to that used for the 32nd America's Cup.However, should SNG be unwilling to participate in the establishment of a Protocol through a consensual process, then the match shall proceed as expressly set forth in the Deed of Gift.' (Emphasis added.)
SNG/Alinghi have steadfastly refused to negotiate with us for an event comparable to the 32nd America's Cup. It is clear from SNG's correspondence, particularly their April 23rd letter to us, and from their public pronouncements before and since the ruling by the Court of Appeals, that SNG has no interest whatsoever in a conventional multiple-challenger Cup - whether in monohulls or multihulls - where all teams would be subject to the same rules. This has always been a prerequisite for having multiple challengers.
For the past 22 months we have been forced by SNG/Alinghi to litigate the issue of our rightful position as Challenger for a match which should have taken place in July 2008. With last month's Court of Appeals ruling, and the Order and Judgment that followed, SNG is required to race us in February 2010. For the foregoing reasons we cannot accept any further delay.
Sincerely,
GOLDEN GATE YACHT CLUB
?Marcus Young
Commodore
Sail-World notes that in the Big Boat vs the Cat Match for the 28th America's Cup, the Challenger, Mercury Bay received a similar challenge to stage a Challenger Selection Series, which was initially granted.
However when Sir Michael Fay found that Royal Burnham intended to build a multihull challenger, Blue Arrow, that permission was rescinded.
Royal Burnham YC took the case to the New York Supreme Court, however lost on the basis outlined above 'The Deed states that '.when a challenge from a club fulfilling all the conditions required by this instrument has been received, no other challenge can be considered [by the Defender] until the pending event has been decided.'
Therefore the Challenger is under no obligation to accept other clubs to contest its right to Challenge.
In the end, the Blue Arrow challenge feel on its own sword, when it crashed during sea trials, causing serious damage, and she was not shipped to San Diego, regardless of the outcome of the legal actions.
Additionally there seems to be a lack of realisation on the part of CVG, that in seeking additional time for the 33rd Match, they ignore the positions of other Challengers who will be harmed by further delay.
An extended date for the 33rd match will inevitably see the 34th Match slide out into 2013 - to avoid a clash with the 2012 Olympics.
Current expectation is that the 33rd Match will be sailed early in 2010, and a contest for the 34th America's Cup could be sailed in July-August of 2011, an interval of about 18 months.
Any delay beyond that date will inevitably threaten the precarious financial viability of established teams who either participated in the 32nd America's Cup or entered the CNEV version of the 33rd America's Cup.
Meanwhile a meeting is expected to take place in Paris on 4 June, with several key teams present, to consider the options and appetite for the establishment of a Louis Vuitton World series.
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World
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