Press report: Bertarelli to push for RAK to host 34th America's Cup
Greetings from Kuala Terengganu, venue of the Monsoon Cup. We are about to leave and return to Valencia after one week of exciting racing. The local organizers together with Peter Gilmour and the World Match Racing Tour have set up an event that is definitely one step above the rest of regattas we have been to but we will have more on that later this week when we write about the many things we liked and the very few things we think could improve.
As the title of the post implies, there has been an article on the National, Abu Dhabi's main newspaper, that Alignhi's owner Ernesto Bertarelli said on Saturday, "he would push for Ras al Khaimah to host the 34th staging of the America’s Cup if they defend their title next year."
According to the same article, "should Alinghi win the most prestigious trophy in sailing for a third time in the port city of Valencia – where the series will be held if the New York Supreme Court dismisses Alinghi’s appeal this week – then Ernesto Bertarelli and his team will again nominate the Emirates as host of their next defence."
It is interesting to notice that the article's author talks about holding the 34th edition of the world's oldest sports trophy in May or September but doesn't specify the year. In addition, Bertarelli states that "it will have brought the idea of staging the America’s Cup here, this has further consolidated our belief that this is a great place for racing, especially in this kind of boat." Does that mean the 34th America's Cup, should Alinghi win next February, will also take place in giant multihulls? We asked Ben Ainslie, one of the world's greatest match racers, about that possibility and his answer couldn't be any clearer. For Ainslie, "it would be a shame" if that happened.
Our full coverage will return on Tuesday afternoon, hopefully with the Appellate Division's ruling on Alinghi's appeal.
Labels: 33rd America's Cup, 34th America's Cup, Ras al-Khaimah, Valencia
20 Comments:
I guess EB doesn't get it that 1st go round RAK was not Deed Legal and that 2nd go around will be that RAK is not legal under NY State Anti-Discrimination Law. 3rd will be RAK is too close to Iran were they just detained 5 Brits on a Bahrain boat & they are still holding 3 USA hikers who had a similar problem as the Brits. Bottom line it's not the Alinghi Cup & more like Ainslie will speak out about Alinghi.
If Betarelli was shitting electricity, he'd be a walking powerhouse. The guy needs to step back and look how he is seriously screwing The Americas Cup.
He is not the owner,just tempory guardian of the cup.Just like all the other more powerful yet more realistic holders of the cup.
Ernesto, no body under estimates you...pls...do not under estimate all of us. We are NOT stupid. You are saying so because you want to put more smoke in the eyes of the RAK authorities. Ernesto, you are saying that because you are suppose to pay so much money in fines to let A5 and your team leave the Emirates to go to Valencia. You think you can leave the UAE easily? No way and you know that. You are simply trying to give RAK a hope while you know that you will never come back there. Multi hull in the 34th? Do not be silly. All the sports have start putting the investment cost down while you want to put it up? In addition, from reliable sources, your team does not feel comfortable with the new BOR90 wing that with 6 knot breeze is already on one hull. 95% of the wind conditions allowed in Valencia 4-15 knots...you are behind. Not your fan, not BMW fun, but enough is enough. Create your own cup and let the other have fun with the AC like the old days.
Clearly EB has lost his mind. Inficting even more damage to the AC as a viable event. I am sure any potential sponsors are running for the hills at this press report.Even die hard Alinghi supporters are laughing at him now.Oracle must take the cup off him and return the event to an AC32format.
When is SNG - the real AC trustee - going to stand up to Bertarelli? How much longer are they going to let Bertarelli disgrace SNG and the Cup? I thought GGYC's Breach of Fiduciary lawsuit had no chance of success, but now I am not so sure.... Origin Fan
EB is talking about the 34th AC and every body already knows that if Alinghi win the 33rd AC, the next one will be on multihulls. Where is not so important but RAK looks great.
And if Alinghi win the 33rd AD, it's mean that BOR was wrong with Valencia.
Important stil remain to win on the water not only on NY Courts.
Match Races as it used to be are probabely over and it's a good thing as the frenchies will rush in the new format. Besides we could finally say bye bye to the anglo-saxon world, ... ouf.
Just one more reason why I hope, BMWOracle is going to beat them on the water
Ernesto!
going on with these machines in ACC will make the way to very very small fleets. There are not many billionaires who will spend this money for sailing on gian multi hulls.
Fleetrace would be nice, but with these machines itcould be very dangerous.
I think ACC will step back to monohulls, but much more powerfull boats than these existing outdated ones
If you want to race furtheron with multihulls, what i would like to see, than you should start a new event for this. I do not think matchracing is made for these giant machines.
And who is responsible for this mess, who started all this: Russell Coutts with his blind hate of Ernesto!and...there has never been a mutual consent about Valencia in Febr. Valencia is not deed legal! The british sailors have been absolute amateurs...
well done, eb. i can see the bofd train approaching at high speed. after you've done and dusted, don't come claiming you have no idea of what has hit you.
You guys should travel more and be more open-minded.
NY State doesn't rule the world.
Anti-Discrimination? Are you American? please, don't make me laugh!
I've lived in UAE for many years and I´ve never had any problem.
Do you think Valencia is a more secure place? Do you know ETA? Have you heard about Al-qaeda bomb attack in Madrid? Any bomb attack in RAK?
Stop manipulating and spreading the panic. UAE is not Iran.
Maybe huge multihulls isn't the best option for the America's Cup (Larry Ellison started all this multihull thing, so I don't know what are you talking about)but UAE and RAK are definitely safe places.
BTW Congratulations for the blog.
Suerly this is good news. It gives deffenders lots of time to prepare. GGYC must be pleased that it will be their boat of choice, multihulls and RC is a great advocate of sailing in the UAE.
Anyway, it will be interesting to read what RC announces at the WYRF when he gives his vision for the AC. At the end of the day it will all be different in six months time so why not relax and enjoy Christmas.
BTW:
Alinghi vs. Oracle ACC Results Summary
All races sailed:
Total of all races sailed between Alinghi and Oracle: 84
Alinghi wins: 52 races (62.6%)
BOR wins: 31 races (37.4%)
Races voided by Jury: 1
America’s Cup Official Races2:
Total America’s Cup official races sailed between Alinghi and Oracle: 54
Alinghi wins: 39 races (72.2%)
Oracle wins: 15 races (27.8%)
America’s Cup Official Events3:
Total events: 16
Alinghi wins: 11 events (68.75%)
Oracle wins: 2 events (12.5%)
All Match Races sailed (2002 - 2009):
Total match races sailed between Alinghi and Oracle: 48
Alinghi wins: 29 match races (60.5%)
Oracle wins: 19 match races (39.5%)
All America’s Cup Official Match Races sailed (2002 - 2007):
Total Official America’s Cup match races sailed between Alinghi and Oracle: 19
Alinghi wins: 16 match races (84.2%)
Oracle wins: 3 match races (15.8%)
Last time Oracle defeated Alinghi in a Match Race:
4 October 2005 4
All Fleet Races sailed:
Total fleet races sailed including Alinghi and Oracle: 35
Alinghi finished ahead of Oracle in 23 fleet races (65.7%)
Oracle finished ahead of Alinghi in 12 races (34.3%)
Outright Fleet Race victories5:
Total fleet races sailed including Alinghi and Oracle: 35
Alinghi wins: 14 fleet races
Oracle wins: 7 fleet races
Any comments?
Way to go, EB!!
Exciting boats. Exciting racing. To hell the boring match racing in slow boats. Multihulls are the future. Give them wings and put them on hydrofoils on the 34th AC, please. Then the AC will trully be the pinnacle of sailing.
Yes with the Emirates. Great sailing conditions, reliable steady breeze, one of the safest places in the world (americans are safer there then in their own country).
Keep trusting your vision, EB. If you'd listen to people like B Troublé you'd still be racing 12M and pretending that's the pinnacle of sailing...
If the next AC is a multi-challenger event in multihulls, it will be the most exciting America's Cup ever.
Most of the cost of an AC campaign is the people, not the boat itself. There are a lot unknowns still, but there is no reason why a multihull campaign would be necessarily more expensive than a monohull campaign.
1.11pm. You are wrong. If Alinghi had stuck to the deed, then Russell and Larry would never have been given the opportunity to make Oracle the Challenger Of Record. Let it be a lesson. If you give Larry an easy ticket, he will take it! So you can blame Alinghi for that.
to 4:37 PM anon
Impressive record for Alinghi but this is all in the past and has nothing to do with AC33.
Besides, all empires eventually collapse and Alinghi's best times may not lie in the future. February 8th will give the answer.
to 5:24 PM Anon,
if I am not mistaken, it was LE's "vision" to challenge with a multihull. EB simply responded, trying to stay competitive with the cat.
3:02 PM - LE offered EB to DoG or MC under similar rules to the 32nd AC several times.
EB chose DoG & toasted all the others. There is so much paperwork on this it's not funny but SNG fans continue to ignore the facts.
3:20
you do not know anything about this bad game and the relationship Russell-Ernesto. It all started in Newport, when Russell decided not to go onboard...
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