Dec 28 2009
2+ Years of Court Wrangling Results in AC33
So, lets see if we’ve got this right… Even though the US Entrant, BMW Oracle Racing, did not come in second place at the 32nd Edition of the America’s Cup, held in July of 2007, they are what is known as the “Challenger of Record”. This “Challenger” has come about because BOR’s, Golden Gate Yacht Club, contested the legitimacy of the Swiss Team’s, Alinghi, aligning itself with a “sham” yacht club so that it could be allowed to compete as the Defender in the 32nd AC. Alinghi ultimately won AC32 which created the legal entanglement that has continued to this day. If you want to see how serious GGYC is about upholding the rules governing what is called the “Deed of Gift” Challenge, GGYC has outlined the 2.5 years of legal wrangling to bring it to this point.
BMW Oracle Racing testing their solid wing sail in San Diego
This is the not the first time the Americas Cup has found itself in court. But at some point, Alinghi, as Defender, was granted the ability to declare the measurements of the intended race boats. The Swiss proclaimed that the boats could be no longer than 90 feet and no wider than 90 feet. So BMW Oracle built a 90×90 trimaran early on and has been testing her for more than a year now. In the Summer of 2009, Alinghi unveiled their 90×90 catamaran and had been testing it since then in Saudi Arabia, where they declared the race should be held. That decision was thwarted and the race is currently set to go off in early February back at Valencia.
BMW Oracle gets packed to ship overseas for the challenge
The oldest active trophy in international sport has only seen a Deed of Gift Challenge one other time in its history when Dennis Conner raced his catamaran against the New Zealand challengers in 1988. New Zealand did not have enough time to build a catamaran of their own and was beaten soundly. Like then, this will be a best-of-three race series where the winner will be awarded the Defender of Record title. This is a critical time for the America’s Cup in that the series is woefully in need of a new boat design to keep the competition interesting to the sailing community which has made so many technical advances since the 1992 IACC design rule was implemented.
Not many videos of Alinghi’s top secret catamaran are available
There is no telling how many tens of millions of dollars have been spent to get Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing to this point for the three races that will determine who has the rights to control the future of the race. But for me, at least, its fun to watch these billionaires duke it out on and off the water.
