Tuesday, April 21, 2009

BMW Oracle: Two alternatives for a multi-challenger 33rd America's Cup

[Source: BMW Oracle] The Golden Gate Yacht Club and its team, BMW ORACLE Racing, remain committed to a multiple challenger, mutual consent regatta.

In preparation for our meeting with Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) this Thursday (23 April) in Geneva, Commodore Marcus Young sent a letter to his counterpart at SNG today reiterating our commitment and outlining two proposals for a multiple-challenger AC33.

We believe it is important to be clear and transparent in our respective positions. We are asking SNG to respond with their position in writing to avoid any confusion.

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April 21, 2009
Commodore Pierre-Yves Firmenich
Société Nautique de Genève
Port Noir
CH-1223 Cologny
SWITZERLAND

Dear Commodore Firmenich,

We remain committed to a multiple challenger, mutual consent regatta. To that end, we have ceded full authority to our delegation to negotiate an agreement with your club, and we seek confirmation that your delegation has similar powers.

We also believe that the process can be accelerated by highlighting our position to you in writing ahead of the meeting, thereby giving your team time to discuss the options and prepare. Henceforth, our AC33 proposals will be in writing and we respectfully request your responses be in writing as well.

Our proposal for AC33 is for a multi-challenger regatta under a Protocol and rules (racing, technical, commercial) agreed by mutual consent, at Valencia in 2011, in your "AC33" class based on:

- AC 32 rules and format with cost cutting measures; and
- the Board of ACM agreed by mutual consent.

or, alternatively

- a traditional format for a separate Challenger Selection Series organized at your venue by Louis Vuitton (if they agree to this role); i.e., the Challengers will provide the winner of the LV Cup, and the Challengers will re-assume the financial and organizational responsibilities for this series.

On Thursday our delegation is going to Geneva to discuss the foregoing with your representatives. We look forward to your written response to these proposals within a week of the Geneva meeting.

We suggest there be a neutral observer at the meeting able and willing to brief the potential Challengers and the press afterwards. We invite your suggestions on who this might be

Sincerely,

GOLDEN GATE YACHT CLUB

Marcus Young
Commodore

cc: Ernesto Bertarelli, Team Ainghi
Brad Butterworth, Team Ainghi
Russell Coutts, BMW Oracle Racing
Larry Ellison, BMW Oracle Racing

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17 Comments:

At 3:36 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Stupid arrogant Americans! They think that they rule the world. Instead of making demands they should try a less confrontational approach ....

 
At 11:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think that the proposal is pretty fair. They are not arrogants, they just won the case and they are asking for some fair rules as we had before, so nothing wrong with that, I would say. Also, I would say that avoiding insults is the best way to start fixing all this. And, just in case, I have nothing to do with any if the contenders.

 
At 12:36 PM, Anonymous Boat4U said...

How are the Americans Arrogant! They offered Alinghi/ACM a fair option. The multi challanger event is the way to go!

 
At 3:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where are the Yankees willing to go?? They propose a MC to show the world their fair intention, but wouldn't be surprised if after all they would rather prefer to bring in Gozmilla instead

 
At 3:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Never bods well if you state preconditions (or alternatives) before you even sat down to talk ....

 
At 5:26 PM, Anonymous Rennmaus said...

GGYC didn't state a precondition but a proposal, well, two proposals actually.
They chose to not let the other side guess what they would like to have as result. It's a normal negotiation process to define the desired outcome before the conference/meeting.

 
At 6:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This isn't about SNG & BOR anymore it's about the yachting & AC communities. Why do you think the 5 Trustees wrote their letter.

Expect more letters from the yachting & AC community if SNG sticks to their statements about DoG only.

 
At 7:22 PM, Blogger Norby said...

they won in court. they have the law by their side. they could be acting arrogant and prepotent but they prefer to offer options to alinghi and give alinghi a decent scape route from the shitty position ernesto's stubborness and arrogance has put them. now it's on alinghi/sng/eb to accept to discuss the alternatives or remain with their bs.

 
At 8:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

One does not start a "friendly" negotiation by demnading "neutral" observers who then "report to the outside world".

Wasn't it LE how wanted initially keep it all private between the parties? Looks like he changed his mind (again), and is setting up for PR stunt .... the one that leads directly to his Godzilla match!

Americans always have ulterior motives or hidden agendas!

 
At 10:33 PM, Blogger Norby said...

otoh eb's agenda is completely transparent: to grab the ac for good no matter what or how.

 
At 10:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Norberto: EB has the AC! He doesn't have to grab it, its HIS!

And of course that's pissing the Americans of, because they haven't won an AC since 1992!

 
At 11:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous 3:25pm
You're asolutely right. Oracle tells the the world about willing to multichallenge but the only thing they do is work on the DoG match:
2 VX40s, experimental sails on the VX40. Plenty activity on the trimaran with new parts being build. New trimaran session coming...
Do you see any sign of AC33 work done? Or any work between Oracle and the other challengers? No, because Oracle only wants to slow down or confuse the defender with this multichallenge bs talking.

 
At 1:46 AM, Blogger Norby said...

to the 10:43pm anonymous:

no, it isn't his, not in the sense he can do whatever he likes. he - the sng, in fact - is a mere trustee, so there are trustee obligations to be fullfilled. and if they're not, than the trustee can be reliefed from duty.

 
At 8:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous 11:40 PM -
Happy to see that others do also agree that LE is just willing to gain time again, to confuse the world, and finally come out with Gozilla. Don't forget the States aren't the World

 
At 2:45 PM, Anonymous WetHog said...

I agree us Americans are trying to rule the world and I think we should stop. That means withdrawing troops/assessts and stop handing out taxpayer money to useless countries. Let the all powerful, and noble, EU take the reigns for now. lol

As for BMWO being the cause of this and that, who cares anymore. I"d like to see a MC event but at this point I just want to see some kind of AC racing. Based on money spent and the resources produced by BMWO it should be a DoGy match. It would be a fabulous spectacle.

 
At 5:16 PM, Anonymous Norberto the imposter said...

Yes, a truly fabulous spectacle - two (or three) 30 minute races, and thats it. Finished.

Followed by 3-4 years of waiting time for the next multi-challenger AC.

Fabulous spectacle ....

 
At 11:04 PM, Blogger Norby said...

yes, fabulous spectacle indeed. provided by ernesto's greed and stubborness.

 

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