Friday, October 05, 2007

Alinghi and BMW Oracle have allegedly already reached an agreement

It seems there is light at the end of the tunnel, or at least this is what one of Spain's most prominent and well informed sailing journalists claimed yesterday.

Pedro Sardina, a veteran in Spanish sailing journalism, claimed in his article in Thursday's ABC (Spain's second largest newspaper) that Brad Butterwoth and Russell Coutts have already reached an agreement concerning the 33rd America's Cup.

According to Sardina, the two kiwi sailing legends have been acting as informal mediators and finally managed to sort out the dispute after making several concessions:

- Desafío Español will remain the Challenger of Record and BMW Oracle will abandon any ambition to substitute the Spanish team.

- The proposed 90-foot boat will not be abandoned and will be the yacht the 33rd America's Cup will be raced with.

- The America's Cup will be postponed till 2010. This will give challengers an additional year to work on the new boat and try to reduce Alinghi's advantage. Always according to Sardina, Thursday's announcement by ACM about the possibility of postponing the 33rd America's was nothing but smokescreen in order to masquerade the deal.

Sardina claims that his very reliable sources have informed him the deal would be announced on October 10.

Dubai 2011

Finally, always according to Sardina, the fact the 33rd America's Cup is postponed by a year and takes place in 2010 will not be in conflict with the alleged agreement Ernesto Bertarelli has with the Arab Emirate. Sardina claims that Alinghi's owner has signed a deal with Dubai to hold the 34th America's Cup in that city in 2011 (if of course he wins in Valencia) and a pre-regatta (or Act as they were called) for the 33rd edition of the event.

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