Larry Ellison wins in court over the America's Cup 33

A New York court Thursday backed American team BMWOracle over the Swiss champions Alinghi as an end to a long-running legal fight that could now mean the next America's Cup will be a duel between the two clubs in multihull boats.
The New York Court of Appeals overturned a ruling last year that backed, Club Nautico Espanol de Vela (CNEV), a Spanish club as the official Challenger of Record for the next edition of yachting's premier event.
BMWOracle, owned by American billionaire Larry Ellison, will now replace the Spanish club as the Challenger of Record, giving it the right to help organise the next America's Cup with defenders Alinghi.
"We're very pleased with today's decision by the New York court," Oracle spokeswoman Jane Eagleson told AFP. "We're carefully studying the decision and expect to have more to say in the next few days."
Alinghi's spokeswoman said the club would issue a statement later Thursday.
Oracle now has the right to demand the next America's Cup be a best-of-three duel with Alinghi in multihull boats, rather than the traditional regatta involving several teams, but the US team has said it is willingto negotiate with Alinghi to reach a deal on a traditional regatta, and the court in its ruling even called on them to talk with the Swiss champions to settle terms.

America's Cup: GGYC publishes a 10 point plan for Protocol changes

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The following is a 10-point plan that articulates simple changes to the proposed Protocol for America’s Cup 33 that would address the concerns of many Challengers who want to ensure that the rules of AC33 are fair.  With the exception of #10, the plan is based on the points we negotiated with the Challengers in December last year, and reflect further concessions since offered.  Agreement to these 10 points by the Challenger community could return AC33 to the water as early as 2010.
1. Once the changes to the Applicable Rules are completed, any further changes to Applicable Rules governing AC33 shall be mutually agreed between Defender and the Challenger of Record (COR) (subject to point #2).
2. All Challenger of Record decisions, including agreeing to the ACC Rules, Event and Competition Regulations, shall be made by majority vote of the Challengers in a Challenger Commission, one vote per team, including the COR who also has one vote, except that material amendments to the Protocol, Event Regulations or Competition Regulations, once agreed and issued, can be made only by unanimous vote of Competitors.
3. The current Arbitration Panel shall be dissolved and a new Arbitration Panel shall be appointed comprised of five members; SNG and the Challenger Commission shall each appoint two members, and the other four shall select the fifth member.
4. The Defender can race in the Challenger Round Robins, Challenger Sail-Off and Challenger Secondary Series. The Defender cannot sail in the Challenger Semi Finals and Final. Larry Ellison’s letter of 17 October 2008 to Ernesto Bertarelli offered several options in this regard, which BOR stands by.
5. The “Fair Competition” clause (2.3 of the Protocol) shall be expanded to include the Officials, Sailing Jury and Arbitration Panel.
6. The Defender and Challenger of Record shall jointly appoint a Regatta Director who shall be responsible for ensuring fair races are conducted in accordance with the terms of the Protocol. The Regatta Director shall have the same powers as for the last America’s Cup (he or she appoints/manages race committee, appoints measurement committee, umpires, and other officials as needed, prepares and publishes Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions).
7. Entries from AC32 challengers shall be accepted and not thereafter disqualified provided continued compliance with the rules, and then only by the Arbitration Panel.
8. AC33 shall be held in Valencia with AC32 teams retaining their bases if they desire.  In addition, the format and Schedule to be published by ACM ahead of time and not to be altered without consent of affected Competitors.
9. Each Challenger and the Defender may be limited to building only one new boat. As a result of this change, and as consideration for allowing the Defender into the Challenger selection series, there can be no Defender selection series.
10. There shall be no restrictions on Competitors’ sponsors or any control by the Defender or ACM over Competitors’ sponsors beyond the traditional restrictions (e.g., no tobacco sponsors). Moreover, ACM shall not ambush existing team sponsors, and if ACM secures an Event sponsor that conflicts with a major sponsor of a Competitor, that Competitor shall be under no obligation to display ACM sponsor logos on its yacht, base or team gear or otherwise promote or associate with such Event sponsor.

America's Cup Latest

America’s Cup Latest

As autumn takes hold here in Valencia, there comes just a glimmer of hope for an end to the 16-month long dispute between cupholders Team Alinghi and would-be challengers BMW Oracle.

Team Alinghi and their yacht club, Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) have announced that they are “taking the necessary steps to get the 33rd America’s Cup back on track” along with their chosen Challenger of Record, Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV) “and all challengers keen to join the competition.”

The announcement comes just weeks after Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi met with Larry Ellisson of BMW Oracle in San Francisco. Whether some form of agreement was reached has not yet been disclosed. However, it cannot have been a coincidence that Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), Ellisson’s club, offered to end its court action immediately if SNG agreed to hold: “a conventional, multiple challenger regatta under rules similar to those that governed the event in 2007.”

A decision from the New York Supreme Court of Appeal is still awaited. For BMW Oracle to be a party to SNG’s proposal would require them to drop their legal action which disputed the validity of CNEV as the Challenger of Record. Considering the vast sums of money expended by both parties in this monumental legal wrangle, it seems unlikely that Ellisson would forego the opportunity to reverse the June decision without some fairly substantial say in the procedure leading up to the proposed regatta.

Rules for the 33rd America’s Cup would be “discussed and accepted by all those joining the competition”. If agreement can be reached by the 15 December closing date for entries, it is planned that the Cup matches would take place in Valencia (subject to final negotiations with the Spanish authorities) in 2010. Racing would be in a new class of yacht which has yet to be decided. There are also plans to have pre-regattas in 2009, using the existing America’s Cup yachts.

Let us hope this really is the end of this long-running saga and let battle re-commence on the high seas off Valencia! More news soon.........

Mike O’Neill