As submitted to The Guardian
by Bob Fisher
Larry Ellison, the owner of the BMW Oracle Racing team, announced yesterday that he had appointed Russell Coutts to be CEO and skipper for the next America’s Cup. But where and when that will take place is something of a mystery as Ellison’s club, the Golden Gate YC of San Francisco, has an outstanding court action against the Cup’s holder, the Societe Nautique de Geneve that questions the validity of a challenge lodged by a Spanish club.
GGYC holds that the Spanish club that the Swiss has appointed as Challenger of Record is improperly constituted and does not meet the requirements of the Deed of Gift, the 1887 trust document under which the America’s Cup is raced. In addition, it objects to the draconian Protocol that the Swiss has imposed in which it can dismiss any challenger at any time without reason or warning.
Ellison said: “Our object is to return to the close and exciting racing we had, not the type in which we are unsure of our place. We cannot make a challenge in which we can be dismissed – no team would have any chance but Alinghi.” He objects too to the decision of Alinghi to change the class of boats to be used without first giving details of what it will be while at the same time advancing its own design team on the project. “They will have more than a year’s design lead on any challenger,” he added.
Coutts, who parted from Alinghi with animosity, will be delighted to race his old team. “We will build on what this team had last time to produce a winner,” he predicted.
ENDS
