Nov 4, 2009 - 9:07 PM
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SAN DIEGO(AP) -- With just more than three months to go before the start of the most contentious America's Cup ever, a shore crew in San Diego focused on spars on Wednesday while the bitter legal sparring dragged on in a New York court.
In San Diego, challenger BMW Oracle Racing was trying to figure out why the 200-foot mast on its monster trimaran came crashing down on Tuesday during a test sail on the Pacific Ocean. The syndicate said it planned to debut a new rig next week anyway, so it's possible it will lose only two to three days of sailing. No one was injured when the carbon-fiber mast crashed onto the aft beam, breaking the spar in two.
In New York, two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland got one more chance to push for Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, as the venue for its showdown against BMW Oracle Racing. Racing in giant multihulls is set to begin Feb. 8.
The Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division granted an expedited appeal of a lower court judge's ruling last week that RAK is not eligible to host the best-of-three series because of stipulations in the 19th-century Deed of Gift.
Barry Ostrager, a New York lawyer who represents Alinghi's backing yacht club, Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG), said briefs are due by the end of next week and oral arguments will be held before Thanksgiving.
In a convoluted case between bickering billionaires that seemingly won't end, Alinghi is basing its appeal on an order by a now-retired judge that the Swiss could sail the match in Valencia, Spain, or "any other location selected by SNG."
Last week, Justice Shirley Kornreich of the New York State Supreme Court ruled that RAK wasn't eligible to host the America's Cup because the Deed of Gift says it can't be held in the Northern Hemisphere between Nov. 1 and May 1.
Although Valencia is in the Northern Hemisphere, neither side objected earlier in the court fight to holding the best-of-three series in the Spanish port. Valencia hosted the 2007 America's Cup.
"The word 'any' means 'any,"' Ostrager said.
SNG failed in its attempt to get a stay of Kornreich's order, which BMW Oracle Racing considered a victory. BMW Oracle Racing is owned by software tycoon Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. and backed by San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club. Alinghi is owned by biotech mogul Ernesto Bertarelli.
While BMW Oracle Racing opposed the choice of RAK based on the Deed of Gift, it also cited safety concerns due to the little-known port's proximity to Iran.
"For two years Alinghi has attempted to turn the America's Cup into the Alinghi Cup," GGYC spokesman Tom Ehman said in a statement. "For the ninth time, the court has said 'No.' GGYC remains more determined than ever in its efforts to return the America's Cup to an equitable competition with normal rules and procedures."
BMW Oracle Racing design team coordinator Ian Burns was quoted on the syndicate's Web site as saying the most likely cause for the mast failure was pushing the boat hard.
"The boat was loaded heavily as it always is," Burns said. "The crew push right to the limits that we provide for them and everything was on the edge of the red line which is where we always sail. We know that sailing at full capacity is close to the limit. But that's how you have to design and sail these boats."
BMW Oracle Racing hasn't said what specific part failed.
One possibility is that the bowsprit failed, causing the forestay to fail and leading to the mast falling backward.
Burns said the mishap is not a major setback.
"When these things happen, there's an incredible feeling of loss," Burns said. "You had a beautiful, well-engineered, working thing one second and the next second you've got a hunk of carbon fiber. So there is a feeling of loss. But you have to move on. We've got the right team to overcome this hurdle."
