QUESTIONS RAISED

With the latest court ruling, some immediate quesitons come to mind:

1. Will the catamaran challenge by BMW/Oracle be scrapped along with these hot boats?
2. Will Alinghi and its far-flung advertisers get "back aboard" for the next Cup event?
3. Will it be possible for the Alinghi folks to tread that fine line between gloating ("Told you so. Told you so!") and being just plain happy, to get things back on track quickly with a minimum of upset?
4. With the Challengers return "to the fold" and get their boats in the water, that is, off the drawing board and ready to race in 2009?
5. Will any new legal challenges be waged by BMW/Oracle to stall things again and again?

Anyone have any hints about this?

SNG Reinstated as Challenger of Record - - WOW

The New York Supreme Court has reinstated Club Náutico Español de Vela as the Challenger of Record, which had been challenged as "unfair" by BMW/Oracle in a legal challege last year.

The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), declaring Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV) the rightful Challenger of Record for the 33rd America’s Cup and denying the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) this status.

Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi president, comments: “We are delighted with this result; we can now continue with our vision of a multi-challenger event. The court’s decision validates our actions and enables us to put the America's Cup back on the water.”

Lucien Masmejan, SNG lead counsel, comments: “After a year of litigation interference by the GGYC, we are extremely pleased that the Appellate Division has found its challenges to SNG's conduct of the 33rd America's Cup baseless. The GGYC’s actions have wasted a lot of time, effort and resources over the past year and we hope that it does not appeal. We must now evaluate whether adjustments have to be made due to the time consumed by its improper litigation initiatives.”

The decision of the Appellate Division reads: “…...the orders of the Supreme Court, New York County (Herman Cahn, J.), entered March 18, 2008 and May 13, 2008, which, inter alia, declared CNEV's challenge invalid and GGYC the Challenger of Record under the Deed of Gift, should be reversed, on the law, with costs, CNEV declared the Challenger of Record, and, in keeping with the Deed of Gift's requirement that the defender be given at least 10 months' written notice to prepare for the challenge, the 10-month notice period should be tolled until service of a copy of this order.”

ACM's Parting Shots: Got Nuttin'

Michel Hodara, who just resigned as the CEO of America's Cup Management, the Cup's governing body, was just interviewed in Adonnante.com (click on headline for story), which asked:

Does your former organization have any sponsorship at this point:

"You have two different sides to this question: The event and the team.

The Event: At the moment, we do not have a product. No date, no venue, no event. The 33rd America's Cup does not exist yet in terms of sponsorship product to sell. We accept this. It is like if you own a bakery and you have no bread to sell. You wouldn't feel pressured not having customers, would you?"

There you have it. Long Live the Cup, but the organization's CEO and marketing chief admits the entire revenue-generating side of the operation is kaput. What's a simple Blogster to believe?

The Team: We had Brad Butterworth (Sailing), Grant Simmer (Design and Boat Building), Lucien Masmejean (Legal) and myself(Marketing/Admin). So despite my departure, the management structure is only little affected.

Can it be, the next America's Cup 33 will never be, since racing is only part of the battle? Marketing and advertising still play key roles.

Will the Cup forever sit on the throne of the world's most neutral (& secretive) country?

We're listening. We're waiting. And we've been doing so a long, long time.

Let's stop blaming the lawyers. It's the chiefs - - sit in a room and thrash out the issues. Why rely on a judge whose courtroom has no view of the water and even less on the ball when it comes to sailing? Let's settle this like men: Pistols at 50 paces (or, at least some posturing, posing and agreement, globally). Enough is enough. Exit the gladiators. Enter the boatbuilders and genoa pullers. This isn't the UN - - set to dither into the next century. It's a handful of guys with a common love of competitive sailing (and parties). Give a little; get a lot.

Who will step up and seize the day for the masses of sailors worldwide? Stay tuned.

Alinghi CEO (not Bertarelli) Sails On (and Out)

Rumor has it that Alinghi's chief executive,m Michel Hodara, is quitting.

He has played a critical role in the successful Alinghi battle to win the Cup.

Part of the problem for Mr. Hodara remains the lack of focus on the next Cup activites: No firm dates, no firm boats, etc. How do you manage a race this way?

Alinghi has not named his replacement (not a lot of people want to work under these conditions--no real job, everything's still in court, and everything else is up in the air.

Mr. Bertarelli's America's Cup Management "company," which he ownes outright, will continue to operate more or less in Valencia, Spain.

In trying to put a positive spin on this rumor, your Blogster is devoid of ideas......