Part II: What Ernesto must do now

Let's review.

(1) Ernesto (Bertarelli, SUI) said let's race big 90-foot boats.

(2) Let's only build one boat, and race one boat, per team.

(3) We all sail together, defender and challenger alike.

(4) A Spanish Yacht Club, Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV), will be challenger of record.

(5) We eliminate the role of all challengers to decide anything, including the challenger series, and give them no voice in anything that has to do with the Cup, except their decision to compete.

That was Ernesto's 'plan'.

Now it's a big mess, admittedly. But before we dismiss it, or diss it yet again, let's give Ernesto the benefit of some objectivity.

Let's grant him big boats. Let's grant him the idea that we all sail together, just like every team that participates in a global sporting event like World Cup Rugby, for example, where everyone is equal, including the last winner, and ultimately, only one team, the best team, prevails. Let's even, for the moment, grant him CNEV (but only temporarily).

What's wrong with this picture?

A lot is wrong with this picture. But mostly -- and gravely -- the alignment of the protocol is wrong.

If Ernesto truly desired to reinvent America's Cup for the 33rd Edition, he made a humongous bruta figura in converting the traditional protocol to support it.

That was a total non-starter, and subsequent events have proven it. Now chaos and confusion reign.

In contrast, if Ernesto truly desired to stage a different America's Cup, he had two obligations:

(1) Clearly explain his new AC33 concept. That means pre-selling it to potential participants (to get their goodwill and their participation) and selling it publicly (so the media gets the story right) long before the wording of the protocol is even contemplated.

(2) Develop an entirely new protocol that supports the new concept. A new, fair and reasonable protocol for the new event, not an old protocol corrupted from the Deed of Gift.

Unfortunately, Ernesto did none of this, not even close.

Now, frankly, he must make amends.

He must absolutely make a mid-course correction, and do it before October 22, when the new concept risks a calamity in the New York Supreme Court, and a fierce burning to the waterline, torched in effect by a protocol (and a Deed of Gift) that describes a markedly different event.

And, maybe, we have to grant Ernesto some leeway, some headroom, some respect, to do what must be done.


What Ernesto must do now

Hypothetically, Ernesto must hold meeting of challengers and prospective challengers at a suitable, neutral location, say Dubai.

Let's imagine him welcoming his guests:

Fellow sailors, thank you for coming. I am here to do two things.

One, I want to better explain my idea for America's Cup 33, and two, I want to ask for your support and participation in what I know will be an exciting event for all of us, and for sailing fans around the world, including a lot of new fans who discovered America's Cup for the first time, in the waters off Valencia, as well as on television around the world, this spring.

But first I want to apologize -- not for my idea for AC33, which I love, and which I think you can love and support also. But rather for the confusion, anger and frustration that our planning has created, particularly regarding the protocol.

I regret these unintended consequences, and I know you do, too -- but I think our meeting today can resolve these issues. In fact, I know it can.

My essential idea for the Cup is pure.

I want us to race big boats, which Brad (Butterworth, NZL) says reminds him of the big, beautiful J Class boats of yesteryear. I'm excited about these big boats. Many of you are, too. I know we can design and build these big boats in two years. I know you and your great teams can, too.

Regarding the racing, however, that's a totally different idea.

What must be understood -- and what hasn't been understood about my concept -- is that there is no defender and there are no challengers.

Believe me.

We are all going to be equal. Alinghi is a contender. You are all contenders. We are all contenders together. One of us will win -- I hope it's me, but it might be you. So good luck to you. And good luck to me.

My big mistake, I now admit, was not inventing this concept for AC33 -- but in using the old protocol to make it happen. That was a huge mistake. Looking back, I cannot believe we did that.

What we really intended to do was to create a new idea for AC33.

To be authentic, I now see clearly, this new idea must have its own protocol.

As a result of this meeting, therefore, I want us to consider the implications of a new protocol, and in fact, I want us to lay the foundations for a new protocol.

Basically, what we must consider today is this:

Since we are all 'contenders', the idea of 'defenders' and 'challengers' is now obsolete. We are competing together. There is no 'defender' (although we at Alinghi won AC32). There is no 'challenger', because we are all challenging, Alinghi included.

Therefore, we are all racing together.

Therefore, if we all race together, our new protocol must acknowledge this.

If we race together, we must design the boat together. It must be our shared formula.

If we race together, we must appoint committees together. These committees must judge all of us.

If we race together, we must design our course of events together. That means deciding where we want to race together, how many events, what system of points will accrue to participants and victors. And so on.

If we race together, we must decide this together.

I cannot think of a system that would be more pure, more authentic, more democratic, or more equitable.

Ostensibly, I know that this idea may be in conflict with the original Deed of Gift, as we understand it, and as many people understand the conventions of America's Cup.

But I am asking that all of us to come together on these precepts to make America's Cup 33 a different kind of America's Cup.

In so doing, I want us to make it a stunning success -- which I know it can be -- given that we have an exciting new concept, with exciting new boats, entered by the nations of the world, Switzerland included.

Personally, I believe that my America's Cup concept can be our America's Cup concept.

Personally, I also believe that this Cup can live in the spirit, if not the letter, of the Deed of Gift.

After all, it was a contest of nations that inspired the original America's Cup, and all subsequent contests.

All of us represent fantastically committed nations, and their premier yacht clubs, and I must admit, some new clubs that I know will rise to greatness.

Regardless, my deepest wish is a sincere one.

Let us make this edition of the America's Cup succeed.

If America's Cup succeeds, we all succeed.

And, as we consider these new ideas, let us also consider these footnotes.

If we believe this event is a workable context, I am assured by Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV) that they will return their acceptance as challenger of record, and join all of us as a contender.

My special wish is that we grant them the status as "Host Yacht Club" and that we honor them, their city and their nation, as our esteemed and gracious hosts for America's Cup 33.

If we believe that this event is a workable concept, and if we agree that these ideas are viable, and if our friends in San Francisco are in accord with these ideas, I invite the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), and my great competitor, Larry Ellison (USA), to consider the alternatives available to them, regarding imminent proceedings in the Supreme Court of New York.

My fellow sailors, whatever has been said about me, and whatever I have said about you, one thing remains. I am one of you.

I'm an entrepreneur and a businessman, like Larry, and many of you, and I live in the business world.

But my love is our world, sailing and racing.

I hope that the confusion, frustration and fears created by a new idea, which I now agree was creatively and imaginitively birthed, but inadequately introduced, can be effectively remediated and that we can work together to create the greatest America's Cup the world has ever seen.

Even greater than the brilliant event we just concluded.

Please join me in making this happen.

Thank you.