AMERICA'S CUP : SEE YOU IN CANNES IN JULY 2008 !...

OK, America’s Cup 33 is dead. At least the one imagined by SNG, ACM, Alinghi and signed by their Desafio español friends, a challenger who have been uncapable to find a proper Yacht Club to support its action since 4 years now. Incidentally, it is this precise problem that has made the court action by BMW ORACLE possible, so the real fault of Alinghi was not to publish a one sided protocol – It is the defender, it’s America’s Cup, so what ? - but to do it without looking closely at the legal validity of their choosen challenger before going to war. Huge mistake !...

AC 33 protocol as published in july was a war declaration. When you know the total fighting spirit that prevails in AC circles were any smallest feature is a potential way of demolishing the opposition, this protocol was incredible to read. It was litterally falling off your hands and the only question at every line was “Why do they want do that ?...”. And each time the obvious anwer was : “To keep the Cup”. Even if the swiss later gave some explanations which were much more practical on certain points. But as they failed to communicate well and explain the reasons of their choices immediately, then it was too late, the war was on.





OK, now the decision for the immediate future will come from New York court. If Alinghi wins, BMW ORACLE will just have two choices : make an appeal, and this bring the whole thing in a 3 years procedure, so forget the America’s Cup for 10 years. Other possibility is that they will challenge like 6 challengers have done so far, and AC 33 as visioned by the swiss can start again. It could be held in Valencia, sailed on AC 90, but not in 2009.
Now if BMW ORACLE wins in New York, two choices again, as the swiss said they would not appeal. First one : BMOR ask the swiss to negociate a new protocol, with new dates, format, type of boat. This version could also be held in Valencia in 2010/2011, eventually on AC 90 yachts with a largely amended protocol giving more power to the challengers. But if Alinghi/SNG refuses to negociate anything, that’s becoming interesting !...
It will be down to a “Strict Deed of Gift America’s Cup” as in 1988 when both parties had no agreement on anything. The challenger will come with its boat, the defender will have his one, they can be totally different, and there will be 3 races.





But there is a difference from 88 : San Diego Yacht Club was established on the sea, so there were no questions about where to organise the races, which is not the case with SNG, established on a lake. So where the cup in 2008 would take place ?... Where the SNG organise its annual race on an arm of the sea, and that is...Cannes, south of France. If Alinghi does not want to have a mutual consent on anything, even the venue, that’s in Cannes bay where the start will be given july 4th 2008. Book your hotel now !...





And the boats ?... That’s the enthusiastic part of the thing : finally we will have the fastest possible boats in the world sailing in the America’s Cup. Hydroptere ? Catamaran with foils ? Trimaran with foils ? Pure small foiler ? with rig ? soft sails ? rigid sails ? kite sails ? The fastest size would not necessarily be at 90 ft. No sail limitation, no crew limitation, nothing. Just do the fastest sailing machine in the world. And with the ressources of both billionaires, I can tell you : it will be very very very interesting to discover their technical choices, knowing that there is a very limited time to builtd (is it worth to build something from scratch ?... od adapt an existing platform ?) and train.

Hopefully we’ll won’t have ISAF to do anything with it !...

By the way, “L’Hydroptere” which is now supported by a swiss armateur and close to EPFL - the top technical school in Switzerland largely associated with previous Alinghi efforts - on its technical side is now under major surgery. Anything to do with AC ?... Of course not...

And, also, there is a bunch of totally fast, spectacular, and immediatly operational 60 ft ORMA trimarans not really having a racing program for next year... Unfortunately, none of them have been built in the country of origin of the two protagonists, so they can’t race in the match, unless that obligation of the Deed is removed by mutual consent... Keep dreaming, baby !...