America’s Cup promises decisive yachting duel

After two years of legal jousting, Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing are set to square off Monday in waters off Valencia, Spain in the first of three races for the 33rd America’s Cup yacht race.

The Geneva-based two-time defender, owned by Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, faces the American challenger, owned by another billionaire - software tycoon Larry Ellison.

The two sides - represented respectively by the Societe Nautique de Geneve and the Golden Gate Yacht Club - have spent as much time haranguing in courts as sailing the Mediterranean Sea.

Indeed, Alinghi initially wanted to stage the competition in the Persian Gulf from the Emirates before the US challenger won a court ruling to have the venue returned to Valencia, where Alinghi won the 32nd Americas Cup.

The Americans earlier successfully manoueuvred through the New York courts to gain challenger status after a ruling scotched Alinghi’s bid to install a Spanish yacht club as the official opponent.

Judges have been called onto referee the organization of the yacht race because its is governed by an arcane set of rules set out in a “Deed of Gift” dating from 1887.

Nothing is old-fashioned about this year’s competition, which involves three races, two with a length of 40 nautical miles and one totalling 39 miles.

The Golden Gate club, as the challenger, had the right to choose the kind of vessels to be used, and it decided on 90-foot long multihulls rather than the smaller, conventional sloops that had been used in previous races.

The confrontation next week promise to be dramatic, with Alinghi 5, a sleek high-tech catamaran, pitted against USA, a giant trimaran using a semi-rigid wing sail.

Both vessels are reportedly capable of speeds exceeding 25 knots.

The weather could be a wild card, given the high winds that can suddenly whip up in the Mediterranean at this time of year.

At stake is the prestige that goes with winning the most famous competition in yachting, dating back to 1851.

For more than a century US teams held on to the cup before Australian, New Zealand and Switzerland boats scored successes.

Now the Americans are eager to win back the trophy.

The Swiss team is equally determined.

Bertarelli this week disclosed that he would be personally taking the tiller of Alinghi 5 along with French sailing veteran Loïck Peyron.

The Alinghi patron taunted his rival Ellison and Oracle’s New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts for not sailing about Oracle’s boat during the race.

“They’re going to experience that (the competition) on a motor boat with a mug of coffee in hand,” the Tribune de Geneve quoted Berteralli as saying.

“I have the impression that with them they are sending the young ones to court disaster. Personally, I really like to go the limit of things. I would never want to abandon the team.”

The Americans meanwhile, have complained that Alinghi is breaking the rules because it is using sails made in the US rather than Switzerland, a claim the Geneva team denies.

The Golden Gate club sought a judicial ruling on the issue but the New York Supreme Court has set a date for February 25 to hear the case - after the competition is over.

“We would have preferred that the question mark over Alinghi’s sails had not become a question mark hanging over the result of the 33rd match,” said Golden Gate spokesman Tom Ehman.

The Americans note that the “Deed of Gift” requires the competing yachts to use sails made in the country they represent.

“The best way to resolve this issue is for our yacht USA to beat Alinghi 5 on the water,” said Ehman.

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