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Round Two For Judge Cahn

On Thursday, December 27, 2007, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, New York attorneys for Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG) filed a motion to renew and reargue in front of the court in the case opposing GGYC and SNG on the 33rd America's Cup.

The document as well as the affidavit of Fred Meyer, Vice-Commodore of the Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG), are to be found in PDF versions here below.

Lucien Masmejan, lead counsel for the SNG, responds to few questions allowing a better understanding of why this has been done.

Why are you filing this motion to the judge?

LM: In substance, we have seen the CNEV rejected as Challenger of Record because of the date of the holding of their annual regatta. The judge appointed then GGYC as Challenger of Record without further instruction, but no one - including the judge - brought its attention on the fact that GGYC challenge was not receivable due to a major flaw in their boat certificate, a key document as per the Deed of Gift.

Furthermore it is our conviction -and also the opinion of the highest Court in the state of New York- that New York courts should not interfere with the complex rules associated with organizing and administering the America's Cup. It would be best leaving this to the sailing community. * See editor's note below...

What is the purpose of the boat certificate and what actually is wrong with GGYC certificate?

LM: The purpose of the boat certificate is to give the Defender a precise idea of what the challenging boat will be in order to prepare its Defence. The history of the Cup has shown how important was the adequacy of the certificate with regard to the validity of the challenge.. Now, the document submitted by GGYC describes a keel yacht, which is by definition a mono-hull, with a size of 90 feet X 90 feet. We want to make sure this is the boat they would show up with and not a multi-hull, or their challenge would deem to be invalid.

What would then happen?

LM: Assuming CNEV would no longer be the Challenger of record and GGYC Certification proven defective, other challengers would then have priority over GGYC as Challenger of Record. The list of competitors has now no less than 12 challengers who entered before the deadline of December 15. All these competitors are looking for a multi challengers competition along the lines of the Protocol and the Rules and Regulations presented in November and that they committed to.

What is your ultimate objective and why such a procedural process?

LM: Our objective is quite simple and we recurrently expressed it. Have a 33AC with a multi challengers' selection series in AC90 Yachts. As the date cannot be 2009 anymore, we would be looking towards 2011.

LM: To answer the second part of your question, I would reiterate that we are not the ones who chose the legal path. Now, we simply continue the process, so the GGYC has to comply with the same level of details they required from CNEV.

Affidavit of Fred Meyer

Memorandum of Law

* Your humble narrator also feels that complex rules regarding property ownership and taxation are likewise outside the purview of the courts and are best left to me. An argument of equal validity to that promulgated by SNG's counsel.

* Richard Gladwell comments in Sail-World.com:

Having engaged a new legal team, SNG seem to be of the view that there are grounds for further action, before Judge Cahn writes and issues the Final Settlement Order – which would normally trigger the 30 day Appeal period.

Before taking the SNG claims too seriously, it must be borne in mind that this is the same group who argued that the words in the Deed of Gift 'having for its annual regatta' meant some future intention, rather than a past fact. That interpretation was not upheld by Justice Cahn. The current claims, while appearing to have some merit on the surface, do not really stand up to examination.

The principal claim relates to the use of the words 'keel yacht' in the opening paragraphs of the Notice of Challenge lodged on 11 July by Golden Gate YC. By joining up the dots in a very unique way, Fred Meyer of SNG, in his affidavit, attempts to have the construction put on Notice of Challenge that GGYC's 90ft by 90ft yacht must be of one hull only, since that is what a keel yacht means.

He then quickly links the term 'keel yacht' to the ISAF term 'keelboat'- which is one of four ISAF class types, used for categorising International and Recognised classes. By then deducing certain characteristics of these classes (ie keelboats are monohulls using external ballast in a keel to provide righting moment), Meyer then asks the Court to accept that an America's Cup Challenger described as a keel yacht should have the same characteristics.

In supporting his claim, Meyer's affidavit leapfrogs across a number of ISAF documents to prove these characteristics. However he ignores the fact that the term 'keelboat' is not a defined term in the ISAF Regulations, and that the Golden Gate YC's Notice of Challenge provides all of the required information specified in the Deed of Gift.

* And the Golden Gate YC's response:

A new motion lodged today by the Defender seeking to re-argue the New York State Supreme Court's decision lacks merit, the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) said today.

"If these arguments were valid they would have been presented months ago," Tom Ehman, the GGYC's spokesman said.

"But unfortunately they now look like a rather desperate measure by Alinghi's new lawyers. We are confident they will be rejected by the Court."

The notice of challenge delivered by GGYC on July 11, 2007 complied fully with the requirements of the Deed of Gift, he said. This fact has always been accepted by the Defender who up until now has never raised an issue on this point.

The second new argument is equally unfounded. Under the Court's November 27th decision granting summary judgment to GGYC, it does not matter whether or not CNEV allegedly conducted a regatta in November, as this was still more than four months after its invalid challenge. -- http://ggyc.org

* And this just in at press time:

The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) said today it will compete for the next America's Cup according to the basic rules of the Deed of Gift, and will seek to have an upcoming Court Order confirm the regatta for October 2008.

"It is time to move on and know where we stand," Russell Coutts, CEO of the club's BMW ORACLE Racing team, said.

"We had hoped to negotiate a conventional regatta under the Deed's mutual consent provisions. But the Defender has made it clear to us and the America's Cup community that they will not negotiate. We are now fully committed to a multihull event in 2008.

"If we are able to win, and Valencia and Spain are supportive, we would return to a conventional America's Cup regatta in Valencia in 2011 with fair and transparent rules agreed with the challengers by mutual consent," he said.

On January 14th the New York State Supreme Court will review the Court Order to give effect to its November 27th ruling in favor of the GGYC. The club wants to have the Deed of Gift regatta as soon as possible and has asked the Court to provide for this.

The club has made a number of attempts before and since the Court's November 27th ruling to negotiate a conventional regatta, but the Defender has declined on each occasion to take up these offers. -- http://ggyc.org

An Overall Winner Emerges at Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
At left: Roger Sturgeon, STP65 Rosebud owner with the Tattersall's Trophy for overall handicap win. Photo by: Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.

The Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Matt Allen this afternoon formally announced the US STP65 Rosebud, owned by Roger Sturgeon (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida), as the provisional overall IRC winner of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The win is only the third by an American yacht, with the previous winners being Ted Turner's American Eagle in 1972 and Kialoa III (Jim Kilroy) in 1977.

Meanwhile, the skippers of the yachts denied their chances of winning the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race's major prize, the Tattersall's Cup for the overall IRC winner, due to overnight calms, and variable and transitional winds in Storm Bay, were reflective but getting on with life at crew lunches today.

While the eventual winner, Roger Sturgeon's STP65 Rosebud from the USA, with an early evening finish was tied up at Elizabeth St Pier, Syd Fischer's TP52 Ragamuffin, which placed second, Ray Roberts' Cookson 50 Quantum, placed third, and Geoff Ross' Reichel/Pugh 55 Yendys were rounding Tasman Island into a wall of uncertainty.

Quantum Racing was leading the IRC standings from Ragamuffin and Yendys approaching the island, running hard before a strong nor'westerly. The soft winds and calms over the final 41 nautical miles to the finish scrambled that order and handed the win to Rosebud.

The three finished closely under spinnakers before a wafting south-easterly just after 3:00am, with Quantum Racing beating Yendys across the line by two seconds and Ragamuffin another 6min 42sec behind, beating them both on corrected time.

In the end, Rosebud won on IRC corrected time by 1hr 21min 33sec from Ragamuffin with another 36 minutes to Quantum Racing.

At 6pm, 21 boats had finished and 58 were still racing.

www.rolexsydneyhobart.com

Seahorse Sailor of the Month
Last month's winner:

Rohan Veal (AUS)
Some unusually strong feeling this month. 'Know this: Rohan Veal is in the vanguard of high performance sailing. We think Rohan is cool because we think that high performance sailing is cool.

We think high performance sailing is the future and we want you (ISAF) to get out of the way of its progress' - David Carter.

This month's nominees:

Guillaume Verdier (FRA)
Thank you for lobbing some fresh thinking into the world of Open Class design. Verdier teamed up with VPLP to create Marc Guillemot's innovative Imoca 60 Safran, and was also the designer of Giovanni Soldini's rapid Class 40 Telecom Italia. With a 1st in Class 40 for Soldini in the TJV and a close 2nd spot in Imoca for Safran, Verdier's path of light weight and efficiency vs sheer power has created quite a stir.

Justice Herman Cahn (USA)
In among the America's Cup mayhem Justice Cahn seemed to take a matter of moments to see straight through the obfuscation of those who would divert and delay the 33rd Cup for the benefit of the few rather than the many... Cahn left little room for doubt in his judgement in November; clearly he wished for the boys to take their toys someplace else. Sadly some of the boys seem not to have yet grasped the message...

Seahorse Sailor of the Month is sponsored by Harken McLube, Dubarry and Henri Lloyd.

Cast your vote at seahorsemagazine.com

The Amazing Francis Joyon - Around Cape Horn
At 11 PM 31 minutes French time, Francis Joyon rounded Cape Horn and is now headed north to the finish line. Joyon's time has shattered that of Ellen MacArthur who took 44 days, 23 hours and 36 minutes to reach that same point. Joyon did it in 35 days 12 hours and 36 minutes, an astounding lead of 9 days and 11 hours over what was previously the best time for that distance sailed solo. Joyon has travelled 17,900 miles with an average speed of 21 knots.

www.trimaran-idec.com

The Lost Fleet
At left: The Dublin Bay 21 by Charles Pears

Sailing Column Centenary celebrations have been joyful occasions on Dublin Bay recently, opportunities to reflect on the capital's rich sailing tradition - and all a far cry from the sad reality of seven vintage yachts rotting in a farmyard.

But the fate of the Dublin Bay 21-foot class represents far more than the loss of a single class; it is bad news for the bay's yachting heritage at large.

Dun Laoghaire has these past 20 years turned a blind eye to the plight of the oldest intact one-design keelboat fleet in the world.

As originally designed by Alfred Mylne in 1900, the distinctive 21s, crewed by five or six, carry an astonishing 600 square feet of sail...

Hurricane Charlie finally ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August 1986. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as their sister ship four years earlier; Estelle actually sank twice, once on her moorings and once in a near-tragic downwind capsize.

Despite their collective salvage from the sea bed, the class decided the ancient boats should not be allowed suffer anymore. To avoid further deterioration and risk to the rare craft all seven 21s were put into storage in 1989 under the direction of the naval architect Jack Tyrrell at his yard in Arklow.

While two of the fleet, Garavogue and Geraldine sailed to their current home, the other five, in various states of disrepair, were carried the 50-odd miles to Arklow by road. Nineteen years later the work is yet to start...

Raising the finance is only one part of the 21 restoration story. If it is not feasible to restore the entire fleet surely a consortium of clubs and entrepreneurs could set sail in one or two? A change of attitude is all that is needed to put these boats back on the bay again.

The full story by David O'Brien is available to subscribers to the Irish Times

On The Coffee Table This Weekend

Gipsy Moth IV' : A legend sails again, by Paul Gelder. 254 pages, hardcover. Published by Wiley Nautical.

A lovely book, with hundreds and hundreds of full colour photos tracking the history of this sailing icon from her days with Sir Francis Chichester to its renovation, the circumnavigation which sadly included hitting a reef in the South Pacific, and her triumphal return to Plymouth to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Chichester's famed solo circumnavigation.

Paul Gelder, editor of Yachting Monthly magazine, launched the Gipsy Moth project in 2004, to rescue the famous 53ft ketch, rotting away in dry dock at Greewich, and sal her around the world for a second time. For the success of the campaign (which also celebrated Yachting Monthly's centenary), he was presented with the Ocean Cruising Club's Award of Merit (2006) and the magazine won 'Campaign of the Year' from the Printing and Publishing Association in 2006.

The book is priced at 25 pounds and although available from all good bookshops, if purchased through UKSA includes a 12.50 pound donation to the Gipsy Moth IV project, enabling more young people to participate in adventurous sailing experiences aboard Gipsy Moth IV.

For an exclusive look at The Restoration and Relaunch chapter of the book, see media.wiley.com/assets/1326/49/GMIV.pdf

To place your order and contribute to sailing experiences for young people contact the UKSA shop on +44 (0) 1983 294941 or e-mail Alan Elliott on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Last Word
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork." -- Seldom Seen Smith