BMW Oracle and Mascalzone Latino to outline 34AC schedule in May

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Russell Coutts talks about the 34th America's Cup during the presentation of the Valencia RC44 Cup

It was supposed to be a press conference where the local Valencia authorities and Russell Coutts would strictly talk about the "Valencia RC44 Cup", to be held from July 27 to August 1, but when you have the CEO of the current America's Cup Defender sitting in front of you it's obvious that the questions about the world's foremost sailing event would start to fly.

After praising the city that successfully played host to two editions of the America's Cup, Russell Coutts started answering, very diplomatically, the questions about the future of the event. Well, apart from the headline of this article, we didn't get out of the press room any wiser.

Coutts' replies were vague and left most of the questions unanswered. The key words in his talk were always "plan", "discussions", "options" and "consensus" and always in the future tense. BMW Oracle for example is "discussing all options", there is an "ongoing discussion process", they are "planning a meeting to start refining some of the boat design issues", etc. According to Coutts, nothing has been decided yet regarding the venue, the calendar, the format or the boat to be used. He also added that no decision has been taken yet as to what is NOT possible.

Nevertheless, Coutts confirmed that sometime in May, BMW Oracle and Mascalzone Latino will hold a joint press conference in order to "outline the key dates for when things will be announced", because, as Coutts stated, they "recognized the time was coming near to advise and update the public on what has been happening up to date". It's not sure yet where the press conference will be held, although I was told that I won't be able to go there by bike, so it will be somewhere that suits both parties.

At least, we were told that in approximately one month from now, we will be told when we will be told the venue, format and dates of the 34th America's Cup.

Russell Coutts during the presentation of the Valencia RC44 Cup. Valencia, 22 April 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing