No 2nd Regatta Scheduled by Challenger

It’s official. Club Nautico Espanol de Vela (CNEV), one-time America’s Cup 33 Challenger of Record, is apparently NOT scheduled to host a follow-up regatta of any sort in 2008, following its hastily thrown-together race back in Nov. 2007 to “satisfy” (partially and fleetingly) one of the Deed of Gift’s requirements for the Challenger of Record to be a “real” yacht club - - one that hosts regattas.

The Spanish Sailing Federation’s new regatta calendar for 2008 has been published and there’s no clue regarding the scheduling of a follow-up 2nd-Annual Trofeo Desafio Espanol Regatta by CNEV to honor the winning Alinghi sailing organization.

Psssst: Maybe this whole deal WAS all a sham after all. Don't tell the NY judge!

Would it really kill Alinghi/CNEV to both schedule a second regatta and start a web site for CNEV? Hey, your blogster will create a web site for the club for FREE! Just email me.

According to Valencia Sailing, and as a reminder, this first regatta was the so-called cornerstone of BMW/Oracle’s successful legal case overturning CNEV’s quickie appointment as official Challenger of Record. BMW/Oracle argued, persuasively, that CVEV was only a “paper” yacht club and had only been formed in order for a European club to become the Challenger of Record. They further argued that previous Challengers (not Challenger's of Record) had been accepted as sponsors for America's Cup yachts. Some had represented bars (not clubs) or paper organizations of some sort without yacht club fundamentals (boats, docks, clubhouses, racing committees, etc.).

Nothing, of course, today really exists anymore unless it has a web presence, hint, hint….