Alinghi sailing near Valencia 21 January 2010 (photo: GJ, Alinghi)

Left to right: Ricardo Peralta, Spanish government delegate; Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi team president; Alec Tournier, SNG general secretary; Rita Barberá, the mayor of Valencia and Vicente Rambla, vice-president Valencia regional government (Photo: Alinghi)

New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) – New York Justice Shirley Kornreich told Geneva-based Alinghi and San Francisco sailing team BMW Oracle Friday in a telephone conference call Friday 29 January that she will not rule on the legality of sails used by Alinghi in the America’s Cup sailing race before the scheduled start to the competition.

The America’s Cup, generally considered the most prestigious race in the sailing world, is scheduled to be raced in 10 days in Valencia, Spain.

Kornreich has presided over a series of legal battles that have threatened the race since Alinghi won the last one in July 2007.

Alinghi promptly announced that the race “is free to proceed as ordered by previous New York rulings: in Valencia on the 8, 10 and 12 February.”

BMW Oracle, whose latest legal move has been to accuse the Swiss team of using sails made outside its home country, did not immediately respond. Alinghi insists its sails are made in Villeneuve, in canton Vaud.

The sterling silver cup for which both teams are vying has been kept in Switzerland since 2003, when Alinghi won the race and brought the America’s Cup back to Europe for the first time since the 150-year-old competition was begun. Friday it arrived in Valencia, ahead of the race which now looks likely to take place.

Once the legal battles are put in the background all eyes will be on both the racers and the new technologies used by both boats, a tradition almost as old as the race. They range from the basic materials used for the massive Alinghi mast, developed at EPFL in Lausanne, to such new tools as Catch the Wind’s “Racer’s Edge”, which BMW has signed on to use. It is described by the US company that makes it as “the world’s first portable laser wind sensor that provides instant, accurate wind speed and direction measurement for both competitive and recreational sailing.”

Long-term weather forecast for Valencia:

• 10-day, from weather.com and msn.com for 7 February: highs of 14C, sunny, no precipitation and – critical factor – light breezes up to 12mph.
• Spain’s national weather service provides only shorter-term forecasts but Weather Underground provides wind projects.

Legal issues and weather forecasts to date show few signs of smooth sailing on the horizon.

Links to other sites: Alinghi, BMW Oracle

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