Enough, says Mascalzone Latino

Yesterday, with great diplomacy, Vicenzo Onorato (ITA), the enthusiastic, ebullient chief of the Italian America's Cup team Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia, ('Italian Rascals'), announced a counter-proposal to Alinghi's draconian protocol for the 33rd America's Cup.

Let's run America's Cup 33 with the protocol from the recent series, said Sig. Onorato. Let's restore fairness, objectivity and impartiality to the Challenger series, and to every aspect of America's Cup racing. For the next series, let's use the AC boat class we have now and allow teams to built a new boat if they wish, also rennovate an exisiting boat. It will save money. It will protect the interest of sponsors. And while we understand and accept that Alinghi wants to elevate the excitement of America's Cup with bigger boats, let's introduce the proposed 90-foot class for America's Cup 34, giving everyone (not just Alinghi) a fair chance to design and build competitive boats.

That's certainly fair.

Delicately avoiding any mention of the legitimacy of the Challenger of Record, the Spanish Club Nautico Espanol de Vela (CNEV), Onorato's proposal focused largely on fairness and management issues. And it would be difficult for reasonable people to refute his suggestions. But America's Cup Management (ACM), Alinghi's captive management group, surely will find a way.

In truth, larger syndicates like Oracle and Team New Zealand may disagree with Onorato about the existing boat class. Having exhausted the potential of the current design, they probably agree with Alinghi. Let's build the 90-footers now. But to be fair, let's have time to design and build them. And let's do two boat testing, just like we've done before. Currently boat-on-boat testing is prohibited by the new protocol.

Interestingly, Valencia Sailing (www.valenciasailing.com) asked Russell Coutts (NZL), newly-appointed skipper and CEO of Oracle, about Onorato's proposal. Reportedly, Coutts said if Onorato's proposals were accepted by Alinghi, the Golden Gate Yacht Club would probably withdraw its lawsuit in New York.

Overall, a promising development. Ben fatto, Mascalzone Latino!