Latest America's Cup court rulings might not bode well for Alinghi

by Eric Sharp, Free Press Sports Writer on 1 Nov 2009
After months of circling and jabbing, America’s BMW-Oracle sailing team landed some legal body blows this week that bode ill for the Swiss Alinghi team’s efforts to avoid racing for the America’s Cup at Valencia, Spain, on Feb. 8.

The latest ruling came Friday afternoon, when New York State Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich said that the rudders on BMW-Oracle’s 113-foot trimaran won’t be included when the Yankee boat is measured for the best-of-three America’s Cup grudge match.

Alinghi, the defender, had tried to reinterpret the measurement rules to include the rudders, which would have disqualified the American challenger before the boat could reach the starting line.

Justice Kornreich also decided to bring three former international America’s Cup jurors into court Wednesday to help her decide the remaining rules and technical disputes, which could deal a knockout blow to Alinghi’s efforts to avoid racing on the Mediterranean Sea at Valencia in conditions that might favor the Yanks’ more-massive trimaran over the 115-foot Swiss catamaran.

What often gets lost in the nasty courtroom dust-ups is that fact that the Swiss could well have done all this for nothing and might have a boat that can beat the American yacht on its own merits.

Earlier in the week, Justice Kornreich tossed out Alinghi’s choice of Ras al Khaimah in the Persian Gulf as the race venue, saying that the 1887 Deed of Gift that sets the basic rules ban racing in the northern hemisphere between Nov. 1 and May 1 (the New York Supreme Court is the trustee of the deed).

That leaves Alinghi a choice between Valencia, site of the 2007 cup, and someplace in the southern hemisphere. Valencia is in the northern hemisphere but was deemed acceptable by Justice Kornreich because both teams had agreed to on that site some months ago.

Winter weather conditions in Valencia could favor the American boat, but the Swiss might have no choice. If they opt for a southern hemisphere race, it would violate another provision in the Deed of Gift that requires the defender to give the challenger six months notice of the site.

The Swiss apparently have decided to argue that racing in Valencia in February would not be safe in these boats, the fastest and most technologically advanced sailing yachts the world has seen, because cold fronts can bring high winds and seas. Alinghi is expected to ask the court to postpone the cup until May or allow a race in the southern hemisphere on short notice.

Auckland, New Zealand, which hosted the America’s Cup in 2000 and 2003, could serve as the southern hemisphere site on short notice, but the Americans repeatedly have expressed determination to race at Valencia.

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