Let's Go Back to Auckland

Or how about Perth? I've never been there but I've heard its lovely.

Earlier today justice Herman J. Cahn of the New York State Supreme Court issued the ruling that everyone in the world of sailing--or at least those who haven't tired of the legal battles surrounding the America's Cup--has been waiting for.

Maybe it's just me, but I have to think that few people could've predicted he would've picked March for the next America's Cup match.

But that's what he did, noting that Alinghi's legal challenges to the validity of the BMW Oracle Racing challenge did in fact pause the required 10-month waiting period between the issuing of the challenge and the match and that the 10-month clock has officially started with the issuing of Justice Cahn's order on May 12, 2008. That would mean that the first race of the 33rd America's Cup would take place on Thursday, March 12, 2009.

Now, anyone who's spent some time reading the Deed of Gift that governs the Cup competition knows that there's a prohibition in it against the race taking place between November 1 and May 1 in the northern hemisphere. Not to mention the fact that March in Valencia is not the best time for a sailboat race. Remember what a tough time we had in April last spring?

So will Alinghi be forced to pick a venue south of the equator? Will Russell and Brad, and their assorted Kiwi mates, return to the scene of past glories and battle each other on the Hauraki Gulf while Ernesto and Larry shoot 1,000-meter death stares at each other in the opening dial-up?

Well, we'll have to see. Cahn did leave a slight opening in hs decision, adding that "GGYC and SNG may engage in a mutual consent process and make any arrangement satisfactory to both as to the dates, courses, number of trials, rules and sailing regulations..."

Given how acrimonious this battle has become, I can't think of anything that would get these two teams to find some common ground. But maybe the thought of racing in Valencia in March is enough. We'll have more on this decision in the coming days, stay tuned. In the meantime, you can find a PDF of the decision and a GGYC press release at http://www.ggyc.com/acnews.php. For Alinghi's reaction to the decision, as well as a statement about pursuing further clarification of the timing of the races with regard to the deed's prohibition about racing in the Northern Hemisphere in March, see http://www.alinghi.com or http://www.alinghi.com/en/news/news/index.php?idRubr=&idIndex=656&idPage=1