GGYC is still working hard to resolve the deadlock

According to statements from the Golden Gate Yacht Club, the claims made by Alinghi regarding the causes that lead to the end of negotiations are unfounded. "We are still working hard to resolve this and have made some big concessions in continuing talks with challengers, but these recent claims are excessive and have to be addressed," Tom Ehman, GGYC's spokesman said.

"The claims that talks ended because of new GGYC demands are at odds with what was being said in the negotiations at the time. They also overlook the fact that Alinghi introduced significant new regulations at a late stage of the negotiations and invited us to discuss these new items," Ehman said.

According to Ehman, their claim relating to two-boat testing being a new issue is not correct as it was part of their "nine-point" settlement proposal of October 17.

Concerning other points related to issues covered in that letter or to the Competition Regulations introduced on November 8th, "the Regulations are a substantial document. Ernesto Bertarelli's lawyer, Lucien Masmejan, invited us to raise any concerns about the new regulations so that we could resolve them directly. We had scheduled a meeting to work through those few remaining points with Alinghi's sailing and design team on the day they abruptly canceled talks," added Tom Ehman.

"Several other claims, including one by Hamish Ross that GGYC sought to exclude the defender from the semi-finals format, are simply false. It should also be noted that the alleged concerns about new demands were not mentioned in the letter Alinghi sent ending negotiations, nor in their press statement the same day. We keep trying," he concluded.