Larry Ellison’s BMW-Oracle sailing syndicate won’t compete in the America’s Cup envisioned by Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli as a legal battle over sailing’s oldest championship continues.
Marcus Young, commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club that hosts BMW-Oracle Racing, said in a letter to the Swiss Cup federation that Bertarelli’s planned regatta isn’t “a legitimate America’s Cup.”
“We will now focus our efforts and attention on winning our appeal before the New York State Court of Appeals -- clearly the only avenue left open to create a fair and competitive challenge that preserves the integrity, prestige and tradition of yacht racing’s pinnacle event,” he wrote.
Bertarelli’s Alinghi team said in a statement that the decision by BMW Oracle wasn’t surprising.
“They have never shown any interest in joining the competition with the 14 teams which are currently officially entered,” Alinghi said. “Instead, at every turn, they have chosen to insist on pursuing their selfish legal strategy.”
BMW-Oracle contends that Bertarelli’s Alinghi team, which currently holds the Cup, negotiated “unfair” rules for the event with an official challenger, a Spanish club, that hadn’t previously held a regatta and was incorporated days before filing its challenge, in violation of the Cup’s governing document, the Deed of Gift.
“Elementary grammar and syntax” indicate that the challenging yacht club should satisfy the deed’s criteria “at the time of challenge,” BMW-Oracle said in a brief filed last week with the New York State Court of Appeals.
Club Challenged
The legal papers said the Spanish club “does not even deny that it is a shell entity,” without boats, facilities or even a telephone number.
Young called the challenger “a sham,” created by Alinghi “to self deal and write your own rules” for the Cup.
Alinghi said BMW-Oracle’s legal challenge shows a “tremendous arrogance and lack of respect.”
“Despite never making it to the final rounds of the competition, BMW Oracle disregards the importance and competence of Team Origin, a British team representing the country that first created the competition in 1851; Team New Zealand, a two time winner of the America’s Cup; Desafio Espanol, whose country hosted the successful 32nd America’s Cup in Valencia; plus a winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup and a dozen other teams from around the world,” Alinghi said in its statement.
Event Delayed
The 17-month-old dispute between Ellison and Bertarelli has delayed another edition of the 157-year-old event. Alinghi and about 10 challengers in October appealed to Ellison to end the lawsuit. Oral arguments are set for Feb. 10.
Alinghi beat Team New Zealand off Valencia, Spain, last year to earn the right to organize the next edition of the event and plans to hold it in Valencia in 2010. Under recent proposals, the teams will build only one boat each, about 10 feet (3 meters) shorter than previous boats, and use less equipment and fewer sailors.
“But without several top competitors and major sponsors, without fair rules, without any regard for 157 years of America’s Cup tradition, and most importantly, with your club’s continuing reckless disregard for the Deed of Gift, it won’t be an America’s Cup,” Young wrote. “It will simply be an Alinghi Cup and we see no good reason to participate.”
(Source: Bloomberg)
