America's Cup litigation drags on...
Five weeks out and still squabblingThe next America's Cup regatta is due to start in Valencia, Spain, in five weeks but the threat of more legal action again hangs over the eagerly awaited clash between a giant American trimaran and a giant Swiss catamaran.
Both of the yachts arrived on ships in Valencia at the weekend and are being reassembled for their first test sails this weekend.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club's (GGYC) trimaran, BMW Oracle, and the Societe Nautique de Geneve's (SNG) catamaran, Alinghi, are due to start their best of three races on February 8 but the GGYC has thrown a spanner in the works by indicating they are going to protest Alinghi's sails.
The rules governing the America's Cup say that the challenging boat and the defending boat must be built in the country of origin of the two yacht clubs competing.
GGYC has alleged that Alinghi's sails were not manufactured in Switzerland but by the North Sails loft in Minden, Nevada, and therefore can't be used.
The vice commodore of the SNG, Fred Meyer, disputes the claim, saying the sails were manufactured in Switzerland. He claims the GGYC is continuing with its attempts to win the America's Cup in the courts rather than on the water.
It would seem that the Swiss made the sails using computer-designed sail cloth manufactured by North's loft -- the only place in the world capable of building such pre-moulded sails.
But the SNG argues that the origin of the sail cloth doesn't matter and the sails were manufactured in Switzerland.
When the matter goes to the International jury charged with running the regatta (and perhaps then the New York Supreme Court), SNG may have some Australian help.
Way back in the 1970s, when Sydney media tycoon Sir Frank Packer was challenging for the America's Cup with his yachts Gretel and Gretel II, the only suitable sailcloth for 12 metre yachts was manufactured only in the United States.
It was ruled that Australia could use the sailcloth so long as the sails were actually made-up in Australia. SNG is clearly aware of this ruling.
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