Location: The location of the event was hotly contested. The original court judgment said that SNG/Alinghi had to give GGYC/BMWO 6 months notice on the venue. Which they did when they selected RAK in the middle east. GGYC/BMWO contested with the courts that RAK was not a DoG (Deed of Gift) legal venue because it was in the northern hemisphere and the event was to take place in February (the DoG restricts racing during the winter months in the northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere). Alinghi contested that the wording of the previous ruling gave them the option of selecting “Anywhere”. The courts ruled in favor of GGYC/BMWO and put the event in Valencia, Spain (a provision also provided for in the previous ruling). SNG/Alinghi appealed and the appeals court upheld the previous ruling – so Valencia it is.
Both teams have packed up their boats an their on the way to Spain. BOR-90 (soon to be “USA”) should arrive sometime between Jan 4 and 5. We’re not really sure where Alinghi’s catamaran is at the moment or when it will arrive. It does appear that it was loaded up on a cargo ship sometime recently though.
Date: Feb 8th is the court mandated first race date. There have been many talks with the government of Valencia and Spain about delaying the match to take place on the 12th so it falls on a weekend and extending the racing to a best of 7 race series instead of a best of 3 that the DoG stipulates (if both sides agree, they can make the racing up anyway they want…if they don’t agree, it goes back to the best of 3 provided in the DoG). They had agreement, they didn’t have agreement, they had agreement, and now it appears they don’t again so we’re back to a best of three series that starts on Feb. 8th. The Spanish government is getting a little perturbed at the lack of agreement around the event and the delays in getting the details nailed down stand a significant chance of meaning there will not be any TV coverage of the event.
Contested Details: Constructed in Country (CiC). The DoG has a provision that the “yachts or vessels” must be Constructed in Country. Among other things, BMWO has complained to Alinghi that their sails are known to have come from the only place in the world that produces 3DL sails – the North Sails facility in Minden, Nevada. Alinghi has come back with a couple of confusing statements on the matter…first, they said that they are compliant and all their sails are “constructed” in Switzerland (sort of a chicken / egg situation here: the sails or sail panels are literally molded with specific fabric orientations in a large facility in Nevada, USA – the panels were then seamed and had fittings attached in Switzerland…does this constitute “constructed” or “assembled”?). BMWO countered with information they know that some sails from Nevada went straight to RAK (where Alinghi has been training) and never touched Swiss soil. Alinghi then countered contending that that the sails aren’t properly part of “a yacht” therefore they don’t have to be constructed in country. There are additional items that BMWO contest that were not CiC on the yacht – one item is the new longer spine/spar that Alinghi assembled to the boat while in RAK. The spine was apparently molded in Switzerland but placed on the boat in RAK. Conceivably, this puts Alinghi in a bind…if assembling the spine to the boat in RAK is not “constructing” in RAK, then assembling the sails in Switzerland isn’t “constructing” in Switzerland either…one or the other is wrong and they have a problem. Lastly, during the latest debacle where Alinghi contended that the Length on Load waterline measurement should now include rudders (that the court disallowed) they submitted an affidavit from one of their lead designers stating that all parts required to actively sail a yacht or vessel constitute a “yacht”….so their statement that sails are part of a “yacht” has problems. Also of note, as per the DoG, SNG/Alinghi doesn’t have to identify the yacht with which they will defend the cup until the first day of racing – they have also been saying that BMWO can’t possibly bring up any CiC complaints at this time because they don’t even know what boat they will be racing….which is a bit of a silly statement – as if they built their 115’ catamaran just to fake them out.
Boat Parking: Alinghi has inserted into the NOR for the event that all boats are to park in the Darsena Harbor (America’s Cup Harbor). However, the harbor entrance is a bit curvy and there is not enough room for BOR-90, with its giant wing, to swing 360 degrees on a mooring. Entering the harbor and storing in the harbor with the wing will be potentially dangerous to people and certainly to BOR-90 should it find itself at a wrong angle and unable to orient properly (capsize). BMWO has long ago made provisions to setup their base at an unutilized industrial harbor next door to the Darsena harbor (and in walking distance)…conceivably, Alinghi is attempting to DSQ BMWO for not setting up shop in Darsena.
International Jury: The international Jury for the event was named on Dec. 6th (the court stipulated a Dec. 4th deadline for the Jury to be inplace). Although they have been named, their contracts have not been finalized by SNG/Alinghi (does this constitute “in place”?). These contracts provide salaries and, most importantly, the indemnity “hold harmless” agreements that any judge worth a nickel would want in place before touching this situation with these power players. The Jury can help to decide many of these issues and there are several other significant issues BMWO has with the NOR that they are hoping the IJ will clear up. With Alinghi holding up the Jury, BMWO may not have a choice but to go back to the New York Court system to get Alinghi to get the Jury in place and/or some of these other issues resolved.
BMWO and Alinghi are supposed to sit down and discuss the Jury, CiC, and Parking issues soon…they’ve been firing two series of letters back and forth recently with some stiff language but trying to find a date and location to discuss. Meanwhile, Spain is impatiently tapping it’s foot hoping to make the event into a financial success.
