The Judge Hath Spoken
Justice Cahn rules in favor of Alinghi
By David Schmidt

On Monday, May 12, Justice Herman Cahn ruled in favor of Alinghi’s most-recent appeal regarding the timeline for the 33rd America’s Cup, ruling that the next Cup shall be fought out in 2009. As some readers may remember, there has been considerable debate (read: massive legal bills) between BMW/Oracle and Alinghi as to when the next Cup will take place, with the American challenger looking for a match as early as July of 2008 and the Swiss-flagged defender hoping for a longer period in which to build their (probably) 90-foot by 90-foot trimaran. Cahn hath spoken, and the Swiss can relax, at least a little bit. Could that be responsible for this rainbow over the Alinghi compound in Valencia?

What remains to be seen is what these 90-foot by 90-foot behemoths will look like, how fast they will sail, and of course, can they produce even a semi-legitimate 33rd Cup so that real sailing can begin afresh with the 34th match. For their part, BMW Oracle Racing has recently announced that their design team will consist of Vincent Lauriot Prevost, Marc van Peteghem, Mike Drummond and Mick Kermerac. To date, the Alinghi camp has been quiet as to who is doing their designing, but as always, the rumor mill is spinning.

Meanwhile, we’ll have to console ourselves by watching the billionaires throw around large amounts of cash on boats that might be raced only two times. It's a best-of-three match this time, and there's no reason to think that these boats have much future beyond Race 3, if it goes that far.

Posted: May 13, 2008