Alinghi offers Australian venue to unlock 33rd America's Cup - UPDATED

by Richard Gladwell on 6 Nov 2009
Societe Nautique de Geneve have handed a thorned olive branch to the Challenger for the 33rd America's Cup, Golden Gate Yacht Club.

The Swiss Defender of what was the premier trophy in sailing has offered to stage the event 'on the east coast of Australia' in return for the cessation of all legal action.

The offer has also been sent to the New York Supreme Court who are to hear submission on the outstanding issues/five questions posed by Justice Shirley Kornreich in her Decision of last Friday.

However of the new venue is more relevant to an Appeal lodged by SNG with the Appellate division of the same Court over venue selection, and whether this must in fact be Valencia. The question still to be resolved is whether Golden Gate Yacht Club's consent is required for any venue Northern or Southern Hemisphere, now the event is well inside the six month time window specified by Justice Herman Cahn in an earlier Supreme Court decision.

The statement issued by Societe Nautique de Geneve reads:

Geneva, Switzerland - (2009-11-05)

Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), the 33rd America's Cup defending yacht club, has proposed an alternative venue to the American challenger in a bid to end their continued litigation and return the Cup to the water

Ahead of tomorrow's hearing at the New York Supreme Court, the Swiss Defender has proposed a solution to the legal impasse brought about by the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC). While the Defender's first choice for the Deed of Gift Match is Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, in order to achieve a Match in February SNG proposes to stage the 33rd America's Cup on the east coast of Australia, in the Southern Hemisphere, in compliance with the Deed of Gift. This is a venue that should be acceptable to both teams if, as expressed publicly, the true intention of BMW Oracle is to race for the America's Cup on the water.

A specific race course in the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of Australia, with weather conditions suitable for racing in February, will be announced promptly should GGYC accept this offer and cease their legal strategy. The east coast of Australia offers several locations with ideal sailing conditions for the best-of-three match. A venue in this region would be approximately two and a half weeks away by ship from BMW Oracle's base in San Diego, while Alinghi's voyage from Ras Al Khaimah would take approximately three weeks.

SNG is hopeful that this offer will be accepted and that the competition will resume on the water rather than in court.

While the Deed of Gift stipulates that racing for the America's Cup between 1 November and 1 May must take place in the Southern Hemisphere, Justice Cahn's 12 May 2008 New York Supreme Court Order ‘that the location of the match be in Valencia or any other location selected by the SNG' led the America's Cup defending yacht club, Société Nautique de Genève, to select Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.

The SNG was granted an expedited appeal yesterday regarding Justice Kornreich's decision of 30 October 2009 that disqualified the UAE venue.

The Emirati venue was selected by the Defender for several reasons: the suitability of the weather conditions for a February Deed of Gift Match; the infrastructure offered by the country and the experience the UAE brings in organising world class sporting events.

NB: this proposed solution has been sent to Justice Kornreich today.

Generally the move has to be seen as a positive one, and the first sign of a realistic option being put forward by the Defender in the two year impasse. However no specific venue has been nominated, just a region.

The rider that all legal action must cease is likely to be overtaken by events, as the fundamental rules questions were decided by Justice Shirley Kornreich last week and reinforced in written decisions this week. The outstanding matters relating to questions of Load Waterline Length measurement with ballast tankage, safety of Valencia as a winter venue, and race organisation process rules.

These matters should be quickly resolved once the panel of Expert Jurists has advised Justice Kornreich, after their meeting on Saturday.

That only leaves SNG's Appeal to the Appellate Division on the table, which could be resolved by withdrawal by the Swiss club.

That just leaves the Breach of Fiduciary Duty action, over SNG's actions as a Trustee of the America's Cup which is in its infancy. That action may not be successful if an America's Cup were held on the date prescribed the the New York Supreme Court, and is a mutually acceptable venue. In other words, it could be overtaken by subsequent events.

Ironically the helmsman of Golden Gate YC's Challenger, James Spithill, is from Australia, as is their head of the design team, Ian Burns. Grant Simmer head of the Alinghi design teams is also Australian.

In a side bar, to these events, the New Zealand Prime Minister, John key, expressed surprise when questioned in a radio interview this morning over the comments attributed to the Swiss Defender about New Zealand as a possible venue for the Match.

Golden Gate Yacht Club made a muted initial response to the offer, which was only communicated to them via the media and the letter written to the Court, raising questions as to whether it was serious.

Inquiries by Sail-World during the day amongst contacts on the eastern Australian coast were fruitless, and new channels were just carrying variants of the original media release.

Possible venues included Hamilton Island Resort - which is 200nm from the nearest port and does not have haul out facilities requiring barges to be used for boat storage and maintenance. However there is room for a 20nm course in sheltered water, but with some islands.

Brisbane would require the yachts to sail outside Morton Island to accommodate a 20nm course.

Heading south the Sydney are would seem to be the best option, provided the yachts stayed east of the Harbour bridge.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that John Bertrand, 62, who skippered Australia II to victory over Liberty in 1983 to end the New York Yacht Club's 132-year grip on the trophy, predicted the Swiss offer would be accepted.

'There's a very strong likelihood now that the America's Cup will be held on the east coast of Australia,' he said.

Bertrand identified the Gold Coast as an ideal location, however he understood Alinghi were scouting along the coast south from Townsville in north Queensland.

'It would be a big deal in this country and particularly in Europe,' he said.

'The America's Cup is still the most prestigious sporting event in the world because of the history and the pedigree of it.'

The parties resume their legal jousting in the New York Supreme Court at 0930hrs Eastern Time, where the specifics of the SNG offer are expected to be tested further.