Golden Gate Yacht Club (BMW Oracle), the challengers for the America's Cup, have confirmed that their radical trimaran BOR 90 will be re-named USA and will be the boat they will use in the 33rd America's Cup challenge. Following another appearance by both parties in the New York Supreme Court, the judge reserved her decision on when GGYC must produce the Custom House Registry for the vessel. However, by announcing that BOR 90 is the boat they will use, GGYC have ticked one more box in the on-going dispute.
Statements from the two parties following today's hearings are:
Tom Ehman, Spokesman for Golden Gate Yacht Club:
“We are very satisfied with today's court session and the discussion around the Custom House Registry. We're pleased to publicly confirm that the BOR 90 – which will continue to undergo modifications – is the boat that will compete for the 33rd America's Cup in 2010.
It's now clear that we can continue to modify the boat after submitting the CHR. Société Nautique de Genève asserted, once again, that they would not use the rules to disqualify our boat. We look forward to the Judge's decision.”
Lucien Masmejan, lead counsel for the Societe Nautique de Genevre:
“We are pleased that after almost two years of withholding the information, counsel for the GGYC disclosed in Court today that the boat BMW Oracle has been sailing for almost a year is USA, their America's Cup challenging vessel. USA must match the dimensions listed in GGYC's Certificate of Challenge.
While the judge reserved her ruling on when the GGYC must issue the Custom's House Registry, we are confident that the Court will uphold the Deed of Gift. We are pleased to have a further degree of certainty regarding the GGYC boat and we look forward to the 33rd America's Cup in February 2010 in Ras al-Khaimah.
As we told the Court, our goal is to have an exciting race on the water and we are willing to assist the Challenger with any queries it has with regards the measurement procedures so that we and GGYC can be sure USA matches the dimensions in the Certificate of Challenge. We want to get the America's Cup back to the water and out of the court.”
With both boats now known, the major area of dispute remains the venue. SNG has announced that the event will be held at Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, but GGYC has disputed their right to do so under the America's Cup Deed of Gift.
It would appear that this is one area where the Americans do have right on their side. They are maintaining that with the match being held in February, under the Deed the event can take place only at Valencia or in the Southern Hemisphere unless the challenger agrees otherwise. They also dispute that Ras al-Khaimah provides “ocean courses free from headlands” as specified in the Deed of Gift.
– Roger McMillan
