An update on the legal process:

Last week as most of you know, the NY court deemed RAK (in the middle east) a non-legal venue for the event because A) it's in the Northern Hemisphere and not DoG legal and B) because the United Arab Emirates have some discriminatory policies in place regarding nationality and religion. Since the trust is overseen by the state of New York, any venue would need to uphold the anti-discrimination laws of said state.

Cahn's ruling stipulated Valencia, Spain and required SNG to provide a 6 month notice to the venue announcement. This creates a little bit of an impass because the 6 month window is gone (less than 100 days remain) and there's some dispute about Valencia being Deed Legal (although Cahn's ruling specifically named it...it will probably be in Valencia). GGYC/BMWO has already said they agree to waive the 6mo notice requirement for Valencia since both teams already have bases there - they clearly wanted to race in Valencia from the beginning. SNG/Alinghi claims Valencia is not "safe" to race in February because the weather too unpredictable and it might take 30 days to get three races in.

This will also lead to Alinghi putting wind limits in the SI's and another legal fuss over that (hopefully that is being headed off at the pass this week). The court established a date for racing to start and the Deed of Gift stipulates that the date of the first race is determined by the challenger (GGYC/BMWO). Conceivably, if racing is to be canceled that day by some provision in the Sailing Instructions, it should have been done so by the defender with the mutual consent of the challenger. SNG/Alinghi have shown no willingness to discuss any rule, measurement, or race details with the challenger so far.

SNG/Alinghi appealed Kornreich's ruling on RAK yesterday as well...the appeal probably doesn't stand much chance (if nothing else but for the anti-discrimination laws)...but it's possible that this tactic could delay the match which leads to a whole new can of worms. Hopefully the courts will either say "go race first" as was done in 1988 or quickly hear the appeal (which is somewhat unlikely).

Also ruled late on Friday was that it was illegal of SNG/Alinghi to include rudders in the LWL (Load Water Line) measurement...which means that the GGYC/BMWO trimaran should legally measure in now.

A new legal tactic has been employed by Kornreich (the NY judge hearing the issues now) that should quickly get to the bottom of any more issues. Each side nominated one "independent" judge that has participated in past America's Cup events. Those two judges selected a third person also with America's Cup sailing judicial experience. These three people form a panel that will advise the court on the technical issues being presented (sailing rules, measurement rules, weather, etc.). A hearing was scheduled for this Wednesday but the third judge, from New Zealand or Australia (I forget which), couldn't physically get to New York in time. A hearing has been scheduled for this Friday to listen to the Alinghi complaint that Valencia Spain isn't "safe" to sail in February due to unpredictable weather and we also expect the ability of SNG/Alinghi to change the rules at will to come up again (the court backed down from their stance that SNG/Alinghi could change the rules at any time last week).

Take my comments with a grain of salt because I'm a GGYC/BMWO fan...but the The SNG/Alinghi attorney have used some confuse and redirect tactics and told some outright untruths in court. I think Kornreich, who appeared early to side with SNG/Alinghi, figured this out last week and became suddenly suspicious of a lot of things. This panel should cut through any of the "jedi mind trick" tactics employed by either side's attorneys.