The Larry & Ernie Experience

Ser ganska mörkt ut just nu. Det verkar inte som om parterna kan komma fram till något vettigt. Här är dagens subtila pressreleaser från respektive läger

Golden Gate Yacht Club säger:

Negotiations to resolve the next America’s Cup protocol ended today after the defender, Alinghi, rejected a resolution proposed by the Golden Gate Yacht Club. Alinghi also made it clear they would not disclose the new rule governing the size and design of the boats to be used in the next event.

“GGYC is very disappointed by this outcome,” spokesman Tom Ehman said. “On Wednesday we forwarded a settlement proposal to the defender. On Thursday the current challengers confirmed in a letter to Alinghi that they supported our proposal in principle and that a settlement was, to use their words, ‘incredibly close.’

“The other challengers have been very helpful the past few days. We appreciate their support. They, too, clearly felt we had a good basis for an agreement.”

“This is a simple question of transparency. But the defender has refused this. And in their latest letter, rejecting our offer, they have simply ignored our most recent request. In this light it lacks credibility for them to blame anyone other than themselves for the ongoing delay and any decision to postpone the next event.”

Ehman said the American club had repeatedly asked to see the rule. This had been denied without explanation, other than an indication from the challengers that Alinghi head Ernesto Bertarelli was personally opposed to it.

“We cannot understand why the defender insists it will only disclose the rule after we have committed to the next event. This amounts to asking us to buy the rule sight-unseen, which no one in our position would find acceptable.

“In previous America’s Cups the design and other rules have always been agreed by mutual consent well in advance of the event, not dictated by the defender.”

“It’s quite simple,” Ehman said. “Show us the rule and we can get this fixed. But unfortunately all we are getting back is legalistic correspondence that dodges this central point and seeks to shift responsibility.

“Three weeks ago we began to suspect the defender was not serious about settling this when GGYC offered a list of ten prominent people as possible mediators. The defender rejected all, and declined to forward any others – thus ending any possibility of mediation as had been suggested by New York Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn.

“For several weeks now the defender has been talking about delaying the event. We and the five current challengers remain firm in our belief that the event could and should take place in Valencia in 2009.

“Alinghi’s letter today now makes it perfectly clear to all that Alinghi – not GGYC or the other challengers – has kept this matter in court, with the resulting inevitable uncertainty and delay,” Ehman said.

Alinghi säger:

Over the past few months Alinghi, Defender of the 33rd America’s Cup, has been engaged in dialogue with BMW Oracle Racing (BOR) at various levels in an attempt to find a solution to the law suit filed by the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) against the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG). BMW Oracle, through Russell Coutts, has repeatedly shifted the discussion frame by adding new demands each time Alinghi moved to resolve the issues raised. Nonetheless, the last communication to BOR from Alinghi before their press release was an invitation to a private meeting in New York before the hearing to try and resolve the issue once and for all. This morning they confirmed their attendance at this meeting.

The Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) and Alinghi have done much to try to convince BOR to drop their law suit; the SNG instigated a Protocol review with the entered Challengers and, with the Challenger of Record, Club Náutico Español de Vela, agreed a number of amendments to satisfy the GGYC and BMW Oracle’s claims. At this point, Russell Coutts requested via the Challengers group, reassurance that Alinghi would not have a head start in designing their new boat and advised at least two challengers BOR would settle if Alinghi could prove it did not have a design advantage.

Alinghi responded by asking the entered Challengers to set the displacement, a fundamental parametre, for the new class. The Challengers did so, and were satisfied that this would negate any design head start. For BOR it still was not enough and they then wanted to analyse the displacement parametre in light of the full rules, not trusting the Challenger’s designers, who confirmed the parametre was crucial enough to provide the expected guarantees.

To the dismay of Alinghi and the Challengers, BOR, through Russell, sent a letter on 18th October to Alinghi with a further nine issues to be satisfied, including new points not previously raised. Several of these were completely against the fundamentals of the programme agreed by all legitimately entered Challengers and the cost cutting strategy presiding over the 33rd America’s Cup.

With regard to the rules disclosure, Grant Simmer, Alinghi design team coordinator, says: “Alinghi is working with the Challengers to develop the new class rule. This was started on the 15 September and the Challengers have stated that they are happy with this process. There are several key issues still being debated but we are working towards issuing the rule on 31 October. If BOR chooses to enter they will be welcomed into this process.”

Brad Butterworth, Alinghi team skipper, adds his positive comments on the situation: “We are driven by the vision to create a bigger and better event for everyone in 2009 with new boats but reduced costs and increased competition. Some may say we were too ambitious but since then we have undertaken a raft of measures to try and find a solution to this issue. We have consulted on the design of the new class, we have amended the Protocol and we have allowed the challengers to pick the displacement of the boat, as we were led to believe this was the last remaining issue for BMW Oracle. Despite not yet having issued the new class rule, they know a lot about the concept, plus they had the chance to agree the displacement. I firmly believe that there is still time left to agree a solution with BMW Oracle and for them to drop their law suit and join the other Challengers to help us make this an even greater event than the last. The last communication that we sent to them before their press release of last night was an invitation to a private meeting in New York on Monday morning before the hearing to have one last go at finding an agreement, something we still hope to do for the better of the event, the challengers and us.”