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Exciting America’s Cup Inaction

By Richard | December 14, 2007 | The Mind of Ernesto Bertarelli |

The America’s Cup inaction has been moving along at a furious pace.

After BMW Oracle won their court case against Ernesto Bertarelli and Alinghi on November 27 —  which meant the default became BMW Oracle racing the next America’s Cup in 90-ft (presumably) multihulls against Alinghi — BMW Oracle suggested a meeting with Alinghi to negotiate a more traditional America’s Cup, with as many participants as possible. Alinghi reacted by twice having their representative fail to show for meetings with BMW Oracle. Sticking their head further in the River Denial, Alinghi then met with the New York YC over the longer term vision of the America’s Cup, seemingly ignoring a much more immediate decision they have to make.

Coming off as the good guys in all this have been Larry Ellison and BMW Oracle. Despite having been stood up several times, they have remained polite but firm, reminding Alinghi that they can’t hold off the decision of whether to build a monohull or (presumably) a multihull much longer. But still nothing from Alinghi.

You might remember that Bertarelli had said that he would not appeal the New York court’s decision because they "had the best lawyers." Well, Alinghi has just hired a new legal team in New York and is apparently threatening to appeal after all. That’s what you can do if you’re the richest man in Switzerland. The New York court’s November 27th decision was to be finalized today, which means that Alinghi would have 30 days to appeal before the clock runs out.

Is BMW Oracle serious about building a multihull? Our man in Brittany reports that Franck Cammas, skipper of the maxi tri Groupama that’s about to go after the Jules Verne record, has been hired as a consultant by BMW Oracle. Cammas, however, refuses to say whether or not they are considering building a catamaran or a trimaran. We’d bet ya a nickel it would be a trimaran.

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