33rd America's Cup - Just one day to go

Greetings from Valencia less than 24 hours before the start of the 1st race of the 33rd America's Cup. It personally seems incredible that after 950 days of litigations, court hearings, affidavits and dozens of letters between the commodores of the two yacht clubs, a day would come that we would see the world's most extreme multihulls racing on the waters of Valencia.

Both BMW Oracle's USA and Alinghi 5 are currently training, probably making the last checks and test in view of tomorrow's race. According to the latest information (2pm Valencia time) USA is sailing some 15-20 miles south of Valencia while Alinghi 5 is almost at the opposite side of the immense race area, 15 miles to the north east of the 33rd America's Cup venue.

Wind conditions have been very light throughout the day, not more than 5-6 knots. It also seems that tomorrow's conditions as well will be quite similar, favoring Alinghi according to conventional wisdom. The forecast calls for a southwestern breeze, between 6 and 10 knots. Still, this is extremely vague, given the immense dimensions of the race course. I'll try to have something more precise later on.

The draw for the entry side was favorable to BMW Oracle. The Americans will enter from the starboard side and Alinghi from port.

There was a sight that caught my attention and took the picture. A couple of workers were rebranding the former +39 Challenge base to Green Comm Challenge. According to the rumor mill, the italian team lead by Francesco de Leo might become the Challenger of Record if Alinghi wins these races, so it makes sense to have the base rebranded quickly, in case it's over on Wednesday.

The +39 Challenge base being rebranded to Green Comm Challenge. Valencia, 7 February 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Golden Gate Yacht Club replies to CVG

Related PDF files

- GGYC writes to CVG, dated 28 July 2009

July 28, 2009

Mr. Lorenzo Rizzardi
President
Circolo Vela Gargnano
Via C.A. Bettoni, 23
25080 Bogliaco (BS)
Italy

Dear Mr. Rizzardi:

We are in receipt of your letter of July 20, 2009. As you know the only trustee for the America's Cup Deed of Gift is Société Nautique de Genève (SNG). We are not a fiduciary as a Challenger, despite your claims to the contrary. Please address any complaints that you have regarding fiduciary duties under the America's Cup Deed of Gift to SNG, the Trustee.

We know of no "pre-requisites" or "conditions" to which you refer in paragraph 6 of your letter. You should not assume that we share any opinions with you regarding that.

Our consistent position on your request has been set forth in our prior letter to you of May 26, 2009. To make it perfectly clear, our position is that we are not willing to hold an elimination series unless SNG agrees to a mutually consent protocol and all parties, including the Defender, are subject to the same rules. SNG is unwilling to do that, and without mutual consent we cannot go further with this.

As you would know from its press reports, SNG has declined to engage in a mutual consent process with us, and rather continues to assert that it has the right to promulgate rules for the upcoming event. Therefore, any actions which you decide to take in preparing for an event will continue to be at your own risk.

Sincerely,

GOLDEN GATE YACHT CLUB

Marcus Young
Commodore

CC: Ernesto Bertarelli
Brad Butterworth
Russell Coutts
Tom Ehman
Larry Ellison

Circolo Vela Gargnano sends GGYC yet another letter

Marcus Young
Commodore
Golden Gate Yacht Club
1 Yacht Road
San Francisco, California 94123

“Dear Commodore Young,

I am writing further to our latest correspondence.

We understand that GGYC has again requested the Court to address the issue of Alinghi’s compliance to the rules of the Deed of Gift.

Although we do regret that the America’s Cup future seems to be once again dependent on a legal dispute, we remain confident that, in your fiduciary role as the Challenge of Record, you will commit to go back in the water to return the America’s Cup to its original intent.

You have actually greatly contributed as a Challenger of Record to the 32nd Americas’ Cup to as to make that event the milestone in the history of the competition and you have subsequently consistently committed the GGYC to be open to a multi challenge event.
In the light of the above we wish once again to bring your attention to our request to take part to a Challengers’ Selection Series in relation to 33rd America’s Cup, as we have already indicated in our letters of May 22 and May 27, 2009.

All the conditions and pre-requisites which you have indicated, have now actually been duly filled and occurred, and from the lack of your reply, we can only reasonably assume that you share this opinion.

We do therefore expect you to follow up with your previous statements in favour of a multi challenge event (statements that have also been repeated in Court at the hearing of May 14, 2009) and proceed accordingly without any further delay.

As I am sure, you will appreciate we have already been uselessly waiting for more than two months to engage in a formal discussion with you and we have even made ourselves available to travel to the Bay area to meet you at your convenience.

The present standstill has already created a status of uncertainty and the more time elapses without action on your side, the more difficult it will make it for us to build up a truly competitive challenge.

Therefore we wish formally to request you once again to meet without further delay and to start working on a Challengers’ Selection Series project. On this regard we wish to let you know that Francesco De Leo, Executive Chairman of Green Comm Challenge, will be in the West Coast from July 26th through August 27th.

As a matter of fact, we expect that on July 21, when attending the Court hearing, you will be addressing this issue as well, while sorting out your position vis-à-vis Société Nautique de Genève (to whom we are sending copy of this letter for their information).

We look forward to receiving your kind reply.

Your sincerely.

Lorenzo Rizzardi
President
Circolo Vela Gargnano”

Circolo Vela Gargnano sends another letter to GGYC

Related PDF files

- Circolo Vela Gargnano writes to GGYC, 27 May 2009

Marcus Young Commodore
Golden Gate Yacht Club 1 Yacht Road
San Francisco, California 94123
May 27, 2009

Dear Mr. Young,
Thank you for your letter of May 26.

We have duly noted its content and the reasons which, in your opinion, do not allow a multiple challenger event to take place, namely, the purported lack of the Defender’s interest and your worries about further delays.

For the sake of clarity let us first state that we never claimed that you have “an obligation” to consider other challengers under the Deed of Gift.

Actually we only stated that, in your capacity as the Challenger of Record, it is within the fiduciary duties of your role to address the issue of how to organize the Challengers’ selection and that we would therefore expect you to protect our interests by doing so.

As to the merits, it would be improper for us to discuss the grounds of your litigation with SNG which has not involved our Yacht Club.

We are however very pleased to acknowledge that the issue of the Defender’s interest and consent to a multiple challenger Cup in multi-hulls, which you have qualified in your letter, as being a “prerequisite for having multiple challengers” has, beyond any doubt, now been successfully overcome.

In fact in its letter of May 26 addressed to the Golden Gate Yacht Club, SNG actually indicates that: “SNG continues to urge you to allow other interested challengers to compete in a challenger selection series prior to the Match which at this stage will be held under the terms of the Deed… if for your own competitive reasons, you wish to maintain the present match schedule, the challenger series can be held beforehand. SNG remains happy to continue with the present scheduled date of the Match. SNG has been advised by several interested challengers they will be ready to compete in a challenger series with the Match as presently scheduled”.

Moreover, in its letter of May 26 addressed to our Yacht Club, SNG plainly represents that: ” SNG is continuing to encourage GGYC to accept SNG’s offer to give you and any ohter interested challenger, the opportunity to compete in the 33 America’s Cup”.

The above is quite self explanatory, and we believe it fully satisfies the prerequisite argument which you have correctly raised.

As to the second issue you raised, it is quite clear from our previous correspondence that we were and still are perfectly happy to meet the February deadline so as to keep the present match schedule you have set for the challenge with the Defender. It would actually be improper for us to seek to delay this match which, according to your own words “should have taken place in July 2008″.

Challengers series can indeed be held beforehand at your convenience.

We assume and trust that all of the above removes the conditions, the prerequisite, the objections and the worries you raised in your letter and that, consistently with your previous attitude, you would now be prepared to discuss the organization of the multiple challenger event without further delay.

On this regard we are prepared to meet at your earliest convenience.

We look forward to hearing from you

Sincerely

Lorenzo Rizzardi
President
Circolo Vela Gargnano

Valencia Sailing talks to Francesco de Leo, CEO of Green Comm

Valencia Sailing talked on Tuesday afternoon to Francesco de Leo, CEO of Green Comm, the Italian team that filed a challenge for the 33rd America's Cup, representing the Cirvolo Vela Gargnano. Our talk took place in the base of the 32nd America's Cup challenger +39 and covered a wide spectrum of questions such as Green Comm's agenda, its aim, its relation to Alinghi, its finances, its ability to design, build and race a 90ft trimaran in such a short time, or even its legitimacy.

Valencia Sailing: I have a lot of questions and I will start with the most direct one, asked by several of our readers. Are you a pawn of Alinghi, used in their quest to buy time in order to better prepare for the inevitable one-on-one race with BMW Oracle?

Francesco de Leo: No, we are absolutely not their pawns. This is a challenge that started with completely different objectives and has its own global agenda. It isn't a coincidence that we are called Green Comm and this has to do with my personal background. Probably your readers don't know it but I won the third mobile phone license in Spain when I was managing director of Telecom Italia, the youngest managing director of a listed company in Italy because at the age of 35 I was the managing director of M&A, of international operations, of business development as well as manager of our affiliates abroad. I was in charge of 12,000 employees and 9 billion euros of business.

Valencia Sailing: Let me rephrase the question. Is Green Comm's challenge a delaying tactic used by Alinghi?

Francesco de Leo: No. Look, I have no connection whatsoever with Ernesto Bertarelli...

Valencia Sailing: That was my following question. Are Ernesto Bertarelli or Alinghi, directly or indirectly, financing Green Comm?

Francesco de Leo: The answer is again no. I have to admit I'm also very surprised with these questions that your readers posted on your website. Let me clarify it once and for all. The reason I am talking to you today is to clarify that this is an independent, unrelated challenge and I am myself, Francesco de Leo, organizing it. Everything that is written regarding our association with any other person or entity has to be proven in court or otherwise it is false. I can assure you that tonight, I can call my lawyers in Madrid. In fact, yesterday I had a meeting with Niccoló Bastianini, head of our legal advisory team and one of the best lawyers in Italy. Bastianini is in constant contact with my lawyers in Lausanne and one has to be aware that if one decides to make affirmations not substantiated by evidence, they will have to be accountable.

Valencia Sailing: Still, is it a coincidence that the world headquarters of Simtone, the first sponsor you publicly announced, are in Vevey, Switzerland, close to Serono's facilities and the Décision boatyard?

Francesco de Leo: I will tell you everything about Simtone. If you go to the company's website, www.simtone.net, you'll see that I form part of its advisory board. Simtone is the creation of Mario Dal Canto, one of the initial managers of Sun Microsystems, together with founders Scott McNealy and Bill Joy. One of my dearest friends and mentor, Sol Trujillo, CEO of US West, then Orange and now Telstra, was one of Dal Canto's financial backers. I know Mario since a very long time. He's an Italian with a very strong presence in the US and creator of what is probably the world's most powerful cloud computing platform. This technology will also be of use to me for our challenge.

Valencia Sailing: Yes, but let's consider the following fact. You are the only team or yacht club to have officially challenged, after BMW Oracle, for an America's Cup that will definitely be sailed in huge multihulls. I haven't seen, at least publicly, a challenge from any of the French multihull legends, that, undoubtedly, have the expertise and knowhow to be competitive in such a race. You have to admit this creates serious doubts about your ability to be competitive in such a short time.

Francesco de Leo: I understand your question because I was the first one to ask it myself but we have to take things into perspective. When I was managing different businesses, I was handling investments worth 2-3 billion euros and making acquisitions worth 7-8 billion euros. When now you ask me how difficult it is to have a 28-million euro budget I realize it is a big number in sailing but it's only a day's revenue for a telecom operator like Wind. As a result, you have to take into consideration one's background. Secondly, in order to make this a successful challenge it's not only necessary to have a design team or winning design ideas. It's even more important to come from a country that has a high-level aeronautical industry...

Valencia Sailing: I will interrupt you again, but there is no multihull experience in Italy, unlike France where you have legends such as Franck Cammas, Loïck Peyron or Pascal Bidégorry, just to name a few.

Francesco de Leo: You are absolutely right, but if you go to Google and type "multihulls" you will have much more information than what I had myself 20 years ago when I was doing my PhD in California. The world has changed and people still don't understand it. They think we are in the 1980's. If you have the right contacts and the right people, you can build any challenge you want. Let me give you an example. Sol Trujillo, with whom I'll dine on Friday in Venice, covered the entire Australian territory, 98% of its population with a broadband wireless network in 10 months. You are obviously aware that Australia is as big as Continental Europe.

How did he achieve it? Certainly not by doing the things the usual way in the telecom sector. He reviewed all processes, the roles of each person, saw where time savings could be made and carried out his plan. People now ask me, "How can you build a catamaran before February?", my answer is simple. Trujillo covered the entire Australian territory in 10 months and we will not able to build a multihull in 3 months? It depends a lot on your starting point. I come with a different background and a managerial experience. I'm sorry to see people are very surprised but they shouldn't be surprised at all.

Lorenzo Rizzardi (left), president of Circolo Vela Gargnano, and Francesco de Leo, CEO of Green Comm Challenge. Valencia, 26 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Valencia Sailing: But even Alinghi and BMW Oracle, two high-level professional sailing teams, had to use the expertise of French multihull specialists and you can't deny there are dozens of years of racing yacht design experience in both of them. In addition, Green Comm being, let's say, the continuation of +39...

Francesco de Leo: Wait, stop here. Lets make things clear. There is no relation between +39 Challenge and Green Comm Challenge. I understand that +39 has been a complicated and difficult situation but in 2007 I was NOT in Valencia, I was in another part of the world doing something completely different. If anyone still claims we are a continuation of +39 makes a big mistake. The only contact point is the fact we are representing the Circolo Vela Gargnano.

Valencia Sailing: Why did you choose to represent that yacht club?

Francesco de Leo: I come from Bergamo and the Circolo Vela Gargnano is just an hour away from home. As a result, I have the ability to be there as long as necessary. Secondly, we are building a WiMax network in that area that will enable us to connect the sensors we have installed on some yachts, monitoring their speed and performance. That was an important factor. In order to be able to carry out these innovative tests with telecom technology we needed a basin of that nature.

In addition the Circolo Vela Gargnano is one of Italy's most prestigious yacht clubs and this year, next September, will hold the World Tornado Championship. This will be a great experience for us and we'll be able to see all these young multihull sailors. That's yet another reason for me to be there.

Last but not least, the people I have met in that yacht club have understood that this has to be a challenge completely different from the past.

Valencia Sailing: Nevertheless, right now we are in what is, or at least was, the base of +39 Challenge, right here in Valencia. There must be some relation.

Francesco de Leo: We are talking with the president of the Consorcio Valencia in order to enter in this base and use it in full right. We have chosen this particular base because we consider it to be the most appropriate for our activities.

Valencia Sailing: What about the alleged debts +39 Challenge has or had with its employees or the Spanish state?

Francesco de Leo: [Laughs] Lorenzo Rizzardi, a very serious person, has to close the chapter of the 32nd America's Cup but Francesco de Leo of Green Comm has nothing to do with that. Honestly, I don't understand why we keep talking about these things.

Valencia Sailing: Let's then move back to the yacht and her designer. You haven't announced any name.

Francesco de Leo: Look, our approach this time is very different from the past. There has always been a lead designer that from the start gave the guidelines regarding what the boat would look like. I have a different experience. I come from a business environment and what counts is the team. We have Professor Nani Lombardi from the University of Pisa, the biggest calculation center in Italy, who is in charge of CFD. We also have the Polytechnic of Turin, one of Europe's most important centers for ICT studies. Microsoft has 400 researchers there in charge of developing broadband mobile access technologies. We also have UCLA, where I am a visiting scholar of the Computer Science Department. As you see we have a very powerful team. This is a different challenge that requires knowhow and components very different from the past because nobody before has designed catamarans such as Oracle's or Alinghi's.

As a result, the innovation margin is very high to do things that apparently look very difficult but are performing very well on the water.

Valencia Sailing: So, you claim there is no need to have a lead designer with long and solid experience in multihulls.

Francesco de Leo: Some people might choose to have a lead designer in charge of the entire process while in this case we have chosen a different path with a team of highly-experienced people that come from aerospace or Formula 1, put together to design a boat that is different from what we have known so far.

Valencia Sailing: But that's exactly my point, you are designing a sailing yacht, not an airplane or an F1 car. You never mention an expert in yacht design.

Francesco de Leo: We do have that expert. It seems you don't know who Nani Lombardi is. He's one of the biggest experts in naval design. He's never been the lead designer of a team because he'd rather be doing research.

I'll make it clear that I'm in a position to call anyone I want who can give me an insight on how to design such a yacht. In addition, don't forget that this is not a reality show, as some people think, and some of our choices remain unrevealed. We aren't here to come every day and talk about something.

Valencia Sailing: Let's assume you design a 90ft multihull. This yacht must be built in Italy as per the Deed of Gift. Is there such a knowhow? Where would you build it?

Francesco de Leo: Of course there is the knowhow in Italy. In Italy there are companies like Finnmecanica, Finncantieri or Alenia Spazzio that not only are leaders in aerospace or defense but have also made acquisitions throughout the world. Let's not forget there are boatyards that, starting with the Moro di Venezia, have built a number of America's Cup yachts. We have extraordinary knowhow in carbon fiber and it's only 50km away from my home.

Valencia Sailing: Let's again, hypothetically, assume that BMW Oracle agrees and accepts you challenge. That would mean you would have to race a Challenger Selection Series some time in January. Your time window is even smaller. Would you still have the time to develop realistically something competitive?

Francesco de Leo: It's clear that we are not doing something that is absolutely normal. In fact, the management's mentality is to manage a "mission impossible". We know we have until the end of July before we definitely freeze the boat design. We also know we can accelerate the construction process, within certain limits. We will certainly not have the time we would have wished for to test her in order to optimize her. We will substitute this with the wireless electronic sensors and the sensor networks that will allow us to process data that today we are not even able to collect.

We just have to wait and see what are the decisions taken by others.

Valencia Sailing: On May 11th you sent a press release announcing exactly the starts of these sensoring tests...

Francesco de Leo: No, the tests started much earlier than that. In fact they continue as we speak and one of my tasks this summer will be to put in place the WiMax network I told you about. This network will allow us to have a real wind tunnel not a virtual one. You can always do as much simulation as you want but at the end of the day the boat will have to go on the water and sail. Water is very noisy as far as the information is concerned and for that reason yo have to be very selective.

Valencia Sailing: You are carrying out these tests on a small and antiquated C-Class catamaran built in the 1970's. This is also a source of doubts about your seriousness.

Francesco de Leo: Look, I'll explain. Do you know what I consider the important for me as head of the team? To challenge the rest of it to go beyond conventional wisdom. The reason we chose that yacht was to prove that in the 1970's someone was able to design a yacht ahead of its time. As a result, I told the people working for me that if such a yacht was built in the 1970's, what we'll see in February has to be far more sophisticated.

There is also another important factor. BMW Oracle has shown a trimaran. It might not be the one they race with but at least we are clearly able to see what they have been working on, what evolutions they have made. Similarly, regardless of what they are building now, we will also see Alignhi's yacht in July. We will study both yachts and some times it's better to be a late comer, you have an advantage over your adversaries.

Valencia Sailing: These yachts are also very expensive. Tom Ehman, last December here in Valencia, publicly stated that the cost of building BOR90 was "more than 10 million euros". This is very vague and it could be 20 or 50 million and doesn't include the current modifications. Let's hypothetically say it's 20 million. They have a well-oiled machine that has been working for years while you start from scratch and will probably need more than that. Do you have these 20-30 million euros available?

Francesco de Leo: Absolutely. I'm amazed each time somebody asks me whether it's difficult for us to find a budget of 30 million.

Valencia Sailing: It might be peanuts for a multinational telecom group, but in sailing, especially under the current tough environment, it's difficult to find such an amount. Don't forget that in the best-case scenario you might be only racing for 10-15 days.

Francesco de Leo: Your question is legitimate but I think that the major error you commit is that you can't manage the America's Cup thinking it's just a sailing event. The America's Cup is a business. The choice we have made since the beginning is to have a green agenda, our statement that this will become the cornerstone of the new economy whose aim is to save the environment. It's true we are going through a crisis but we don't come to Valencia saying we are going to a regatta. It has to become a public agenda, a global media platform where we say, "Yes we are in Valencia because we want to sponsor a multihull team" but a the same time we talk about our company, about what we do, our technologies, how we satisfy the needs of our clients. The America's Cup is by far the most appropriate event but if I run the event without such a global agenda, it then becomes more difficult.

Valencia Sailing: So, if I understand well, for you the actual race or the sport of sailing is secondary, a side dish. The America's Cup for you is a show rather than a sport event.

Francesco de Leo: No, maybe I din't express myself correctly. The things we are doing will help a sector face a problem whose solution will require a lot of time. Sailing is undoubtedly the sport that best embraces the same ideals. Our mission is much more complicated and the people that work with us are aware that we have an additional task; to work in a green low carbon-emission manner.

Valencia Sailing: All these ideas are indeed appealing but you still depend on whether BMW Oracle accepts you. Have you officially received a reply?

Francesco de Leo: No, we still haven't received a reply [Note: The interview was conducted before the letter from GGYC was sent].

Valencia Sailing: Have you set a deadline? You certainly can't wait too long.

Francesco de Leo: This is an issue we are taking into consideration with great attention, both in the design process as well as legally. It isn't, let's say, nice to send letters and then wait for a reply for days. Having said that, this is a problem of BMW Oracle. When they decide what their position is we will accordingly set ours. We, unlike others, respect entirely the rules of the game.

Valencia Sailing: Russell Coutts stated last Thursday during his press conference that holding a Challenger Selection Series in multihulls early next year wasn't "practical". If the final official answer from GGYC is negative how will you react?

Francesco de Leo: Green Comm will hold its steering committee and talk to its legal advisors in Los Angeles, Madrid and Milan in order to take a decision. That decision will then be made public through our official communication channels. I can't tell you right now what our position will be. We will certainly take into consideration the results of such a delay.

Valencia Sailing: If I'm not mistaken they have no obligation whatsoever to accept a second challenger. It's a privilege they have under the rules.

Francesco de Leo: I'm not an expert on that issue and I will rely on what my lawyers tell me.

Valencia Sailing: In your latest letter to GGYC, dated May 22nd, you indicate that the statements made by Coutts and Ehman are "under scrutiny" by your legal team. Do you consider bringing them to justice?

Francesco de Leo: No later than tomorrow [Wednesday] morning I will have a meeting with our legal team in Madrid. Niccoló Bastianini, our chief legal advisor, is preparing a report and as always I will follow their advice because I show esteem for all the work they have done. I will only repeat one thing: When one makes affirmations and is not able to substantiate them with evidence, they have to imagine that at some point they might be held accountable.

Ask your questions: Francesco De Leo, CEO of Green Comm Challenge

Valencia Sailing will meet with Francesco de Leo, CEO of Green Comm Challenge, in Valencia on Tuesday. Green Comm represents the Circolo di Vela Gargano and presented a challenge for the 33rd America's Cup.

Similar to what we did with the BMW Oracle press conference, if you have any questions you would like to have answered by Mr de Leo, just leave a comment.

Green Comm Challenge comments on yesterday's BMW Oracle press conference

Related PDF files

- Letter from Green Com to GGYC, 22 May 2009

Commodore
Golden Gate Yacht Club
1 Yacht Road
San Francisco, California 94123
May 22, 2009

Dear Commodore Young,

I am writing to you once again further to my previous still unanswered letter dated May 11, 2009 in which I clearly informed you, in your capacity of Challenger of Record, of our request to meet you and discuss the possibility and the rules of a Challenger Selection Series in relation to the 33rd America’s Cup.

Enclosed to the letter you received as well the Notice of Challenge that we addressed to the Defender, and I indicated to you that we would be pleased to have the opportunity fully to inform you about our financial backing and the structure of our Challenge and whatever else would have been of interest to you, so as to satisfy yourselves as to our independence, readiness and commitment. I am sure you will remember that, to this purpose we even offered you to meet one of our advisors in San Francisco.

Now, let me say that we are very surprised by the lack of any reply and even acknowledgment by you as we would have expected, not only as matter of good manners but also as one of the main duties of your Yacht Club in its capacity of Challenger of Record to protect the interests of all other challengers.

We must point out that this passive attitude is now causing undue delays to our organizational plans.

Having said that, I am sure that you will understand our very unpleasant surprise in reading in the news today what has been stated by two BMW-Oracle employees, namely Mr. Russell Coutts and Mr. Thomas Ehman during a press conference held yesterday in Valencia. The two of them actually made untrue, inaccurate, unverified and unacceptable statements and hints which are clearly misleading the press and the general public about the activities, the independency and the goodwill of Circolo Vela Gargnano and Green Comm Challenge.

The statements and allegations which were reported by a number of sources, included the audio registration, and attributed to the two employees are such as materially to prejudice the interests of our Yacht Club and damage its challenge and its sponsors and are, therefore, presently under scrutiny by our legal advisors.

Needless to say that each of the two BMW Oracle's employees will be held directly and personally responsible for the consequences arising from such behaviour and that we shall protect our interests in every jurisdiction where we have or will suffer damages.

Moreover the above is unproper because all our communications have been so far and very correctly so, addressed only to you as the Commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, the only party from whom an answer would have been proper.

We expected and do still expect the Golden Gate Yacht Club to be consistent with all the public statements, including the ones which can be read in the Transcripts of the Court Hearings in New York (May 14), where it supported a multi challenger event. Because of such repeated and vocal support of a multiple challengers event, we have invested significant time, money and resources to speed up our America's Cup campaign to be ready for February 2010.

The Golden Gate Yacht Club has a fine tradition of sportsmanship and fairness and, as the Challenger of Record, has also a fiduciary responsibility to defend and preserve the rights of all the challengers interested in attending the America's Cup selection series.

We do therefore once again friendly request you to cooperate by setting up a meeting at your earliest convenience, possibly in Valencia, to address and solve the issues listed in our previous letter without any further delay and with the purpose of bringing back the original spirit of "a friendly competition between nations".

I look forward to hearing from you,

Your sincerely,

Lorenzo Rizzardi
President
Circolo di Vela Gargnano

Green Comm secures new sponsor

[Source: Green Comm] SIMtone Corporation, a privately held company delivering Universal Computing, today announced that it is sponsoring the Green Comm Challenge, also known as Circolo di Vela Gargnano-lago di Garda, a team that recently submitted its challenge in the 33rd America’s Cup Race. As a technical partner, SIMtone’s Universal Computing platform will allow the Green Comm Challenge team to access data, applications and information services from the cloud, on demand and on the fly, on water and land.

SIMtone is one of several technical partners including Sofinnova and Wave Group. The technical and research team is being led by Professor Mario Gerla with UCLA’s Computer Science Department and Professor Giovanni Lombardi with the Department of Engineering at University of Pisa, in cooperation with Polytechnic of Turin.

“We are delighted to support the first America’s Cup boat driven by a world-changing innovation and scientific mission and completely aligned with our vision” said Mario Dal Canto, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of SIMtone Corporation.

Lorenzo Rizzardi (left), President of Circolo di Vela Gargnano, and Francesco De Leo, CEO of Green Comm, in the +39 Challenge base in Valencia. Photo copyright Green Comm

“SIMtone transforms computing into a low cost service usable anywhere, via any network, with non processing devices, radically reducing end to end power consumption and the overall carbon footprint. SIMtone will make Green Comm "go faster" by eliminating complexity in the organization and by enabling the entire team to work together simply and safely everywhere. And with SIMtone, the only carbon involved with the Green Comm challenge will be in the hull!”

“With SIMtone’s simple to use yet massively scalable network computing solution, we are able to minimize our information systems carbon footprint while delivering un-matched performance, mobility and flexibility to the team of the Green Comm Challenge on demand, anywhere they need it” stated Lorenzo Rizzardi, President of Circolo di Vela Gargnano.

About Green Comm Challenge

Representing Italy, the Green Comm Challenge aka Circolo di Vela Gargnano formally submitted its challenge to Société Nautique de Genève, the defender of the America’s Cup on May 11, 2009, which begins on July 10, 2009 in Valencia, Spain. The 90x90 foot vessel is one of several teams aiming to compete in the America’s Cup.

Is supported by Ucla (Universirty Califfornia Los Angeles), Universirty of Pisa (Italy) and Politecnico of Turin (Itally) and other International Companies.

[Note: All spelling, grammatical or factual errors that might appear come from the original press release. It has been republished as is.]

Société Nautique de Genève welcomes 33rd America's Cup Notice of Challenge from Italy

Related PDF file

- Notice Of Challenge GreenComm

[Source: Alinghi] The Defender of the 33rd America's Cup, the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), today received an official Notice of Challenge from the Circolo di Vela Gargnano (CVG) with a certificate for a 90x90foot vessel as per the Golden Gate / BMW Oracle challenge for the 33rd America's Cup.

SNG welcomes the Italian entry; CVG was a challenger in the 32nd America's Cup and is world renowned for its prestigious Centomiglia regatta. It has now challenged with a multihull as per the Golden Gate challenge.

SNG and Alinghi have always supported a multi-challenger event and continue to do so. At a meeting on 23 April, the Swiss Defender asked the American Challenger of Record to open the challenger selection series. SNG continues to encourage a 33rd America's Cup with multiple teams from different nations; however the decision to accept the Italian challenge in a multihull lies with the Golden Gate Yacht Club and BMW Oracle Racing.

Green Comm Challenge starts catamaran tests

[Source: Green Comm Challenge] Professor Mario Gerla, from UCLA, Computer Science Department (University of California Los Angeles), and Professor Giovanni Lombardi, Department of Engineering at University of Pisa, met the Green Comm Challenge Team at Circolo Vela Gargnano. The meeting took place to analyze the data collected through a number of routine tests carried out by training aboard a catamaran class C, the glorious "Signor G" which took part in the "Little America's Cup".

The "Green Comm" crew is going through a selection process headed by Angelo Glisoni, past world champion in the Tornado olympic class, coach of the Italian Team at the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

From left, Mario Gerla (UCLA), Giovanni Lombardi (University of Pisa), Francesco De Leo (GreenComm Challenge CEO), Lorenzo Rizzardi (Circolo Vela Gargnano). Photo copyright Green Comm

Gerla and Lombardi, in cooperation with the Polythecnic of Turin, will collaborate with "GreenComm Challenge" Team and the Circolo Vela Gargnano for the challenge launched at the 33rd America's Cup, the race that, according to the dictates of "Deed of Gift", will be taking place aboard multi-hulls of 90x90 feet (27 meters). In this occasion the role of Challenge of Record has been attributed to the team of "BMW Oracle" in Los Angeles [sic].

The meeting was attended by the Chairman & Ceo of "Green Challenge Com" Francesco De Leo, by the representatives of the technical partners, "GreenComm", "Simtone Corporation", "Sofinnova" and "Wave Group" with Massimo Sgrelli who explained the details of the district technology Lake Garda "Green Wave". This organization embraces 25 companies (medium and small sizes), in addition to the University of Brescia, Comunità Montana Parco Alto Garda Bresciano (Community Park of Alto Garda Bresciano) and Comune di Gargnano (city of Gargnano).