Imagine you had a time machine and flew to September 2008. Would the following pictures be what you would have shot?

Originaly from Source

Todays decision against the validity of the Club Nutico Espaol de Vela (CNEV), the Challenger of Record, is a disappointment to the Socit Nautique de Genve (SNG), AC Management (ACM), Alinghi and the seven entered Challengers affected by the outcome.

There will now be a thorough review of the Judges decision and an analysis of the various options offered by the Deed of Gift.

Ernesto Bertarelli, President of Alinghi, says: We are disappointed that a technicality made the CNEV invalid and we are now looking forward to discussions with the Golden Gate Yacht Club to keep the Americas Cup functioning.
Originaly from Source

Valencia, Spain, 27 November 2007: The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) today welcomed a ruling by the New York State Supreme Court that its challenge for the 33rd Americas Cup was valid.

We are very pleased by the decision as it enables everyone to focus on getting the Cup back on track quickly, said Russell Coutts, CEO of the clubs BMW ORACLE Racing team.

He said GGYC wanted to see a conventional Americas Cup regatta in Valencia and is planning to speak with Alinghi as soon as possible to organize a meeting seeking a mutual consent challenge. Read the rest of this entry »

You can read here the complete decision of Justice Cahn in PDF format.

It will be interesting to see what the CNEV and Desafo Espaol have to say on that matter. It is now almost Tuesday midnight in Valencia and there hasn’t been any official press release.

Last Saturday, Manuel Chirivella, President of the CNEV, had publicly stated in Valencia’s largest newspaper that he was considering appealing if Justice Cahn ruled in favor of GGYC.
Originaly from Source

[Source: Barcelona World Race] The elapsed time for PRB from Gate 2 to Gate 3 is 8D 7H 14M, for an average speed of 10.78 knots. Her elapsed time since the start is 16D 15H 49M for an average speed of 8.6 knots.

Paprec Virbac 2 reached the Fernando scoring gate at 20:04 GMT for an elapsed time from Gate 2 to Gate 3 of 8 Days, 13 Hours and 03 Seconds, making an average speed of 10.47 knots. From the start, her elapsed time is 16D 08H 04M, for an average speed of 8.55 knots

Veolia Environnement crossed the scoring gate on 28/11 at 05:15 GMT, for an elapsed time from Gate 2 to Gate 3 of 8D 9H 24M and an average speed of 10.66 knots. Her elapsed time from the start is 16D 17H 15M, for an average speed of 8.35 knots. Read the rest of this entry »

The 1st edition of the Trofo Desafo Espaol started on Saturday in Valencia. The annual regatta the Club Nautico Espaol de Vela has to organize was held for the first time with a total of 88 participating boats and under very light conditions. We were obviously there to witness the event, given its peculiarity. Some of the journalists presentswere jokingly commenting this was the most important sailing event in 2007, worldwide.

Most of the participating boats were from Valencia but there was also a number of them coming from a radius of 200 km. Of course we didn’t expect a major international event with TP52’s and GP42’s but it didn’t have to be either. It was an ordinary local regatta that could have been organized by any yacht club. Out of the total 88 boats, 80 were cruisers and 8 were Platu 25. Read the rest of this entry »

[Source: RNZYS] Rod Davis with his Emirates Team New Zealand crew of Tony Rae, Grant Loretz, Chris Ward and Richard Meecham have done the impossible have beaten Dean Barker in the finals of the New Zealand Match Racing Championships on the Waitemata harbour today! It was nail biting racing as Davis won the first, Barker the second, Barker the third, Davis the fourth as the final went down to the very last race in the best of 5 series.

The start was even and during the day the breeze had increased to over 20 knots. This increased breeze tested the crews and Daviss crew were up to the challenge. At the top mark Davis was around first but Barker was close behind, just a boat length in it. Davis had a good hoist and as the spinnaker set, the boat lurched towards the bottom mark. Barker and team did the same and were right on Davis transom. The spectators watching around Westhaven marina and from the Members Bar deck at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron were leaning out over the rock wall and balcony to gain a better line of sight! The race was extremely close! Read the rest of this entry »

Listen to Grant Simmer, Alinghi’s design coordinator, commenting on the decision by America’s Cup organizers to postpone the 33rd edition of the event. Note, the mp3 file is provided by Alinghi and has not been recorded by Valencia Sailing:

[Source: Alinghi] Alinghi is disappointed that AC Management has been forced to make this decision, we had been working hard towards a 2009 event, but we understand the logistical and financial realities resulting from the uncertainty created by BMW Oracles law suit. We also understand the importance of running the next event to the same high standard as the 32nd Americas Cup for sailing fans worldwide and for our partners who shared with us the great excitements of the last edition. Read the rest of this entry »

[Source: UITG] Jochen Schmann, Co-CEO and team leader of United Internet Team Germany considers the latest announcement of the Americas Cup Management (ACM) to postpone the 33rd Americas Cup as a severe backlash for the event and the future of the Americas Cup. ACM decided to adjourn the event indefinitely due to the uncertainty of the result of the law suit.

We are extremely disappointed. During the recent weeks, we did our utmost by discussing with all parties to secure the holding of the 33rd Americas Cup in 2009. Unfortunately, we did not succeed. We will keep our Team in Valencia together, to review our strategy and to discuss the latest situation with our business partners.
Originaly from Source

Update: In addition to the previously issued press release from GGYC, there is a statement from Tom Ehman, with whom we talked on Thursday evening, that clarified the intentions of BMW Oracle. According to Ehman, “like all challengers we still support a conventional America’s Cup race in monohulls in Valencia in 2009, and we will keep working towards that. It has never been our preference to race in mutihulls in 2008″.

[Source: Golden Gate Yacht Club] Valencia, Spain, 22 November: The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) said today the decision to postpone the next Americas Cup by Alinghi was unfortunate and unnecessary. Read the rest of this entry »