In this letter, SNG concluded that GGYC had put themselves in a position where their challenge for an America's Cup Deed of Gift (DOG) race was inalterably "void and invalid," and that SNG had no other alternative than to conclude that GGYC had "waived its challenge."
Therefore the DOG event was dead.
SNG's argument identified GGYC's failure to provide a "custom house-registry of the vessel" -- which apparently was BMWOracle's amazing raptor trimaran.
Read the letter (here).
Does SNG's letter sound like a yacht club that is aggressively building, or has built, or has designed, is designing, will build, soon will build, or ultimately will build a competitive vessel to meet GGYC's nominated team (in an extraordinary raptor 90-by-90 trimaran) in a Deed of Gift race?
We don't think so. We don't think SNG is building anything other than . . . lunch.
On the one hand, we have eminently worthy members of the Alpine Yacht Club (SNG) seeking to eliminate a competitor on the basis of flimsy paper evidence.
On the other, we have a serious competitor (GGYC) who has built an extravagantly brilliant vessel and is ready to sail and compete.
Look at it this way.
If you already had a fabulous, competitive vessel under construction, somewhere on the cold water lakes of the Alpine nation, and you felt you had a chance to win, would you be seeking to legally neuter your competitor and keep everything quiet? Destroy them legally? Remove them from the stage, by any means possible?
No, we don't think so. You would be challenging, threatening, and baiting your competitor. One sailor to another.
After all, if you had a competitive vessel, you would be ready to clean their clock.
But if you had no boat, no plans to build a boat, and you were out of funds, and you were afraid of losing any kind of multihull race, and you wanted to delay any kind of reality, any kind of truth, and therefore any kind of reasonable discussion among reasonable people, then you would probably ask M. Firmenich and M. Tournier to write a letter to GGYC.
Here it is again, the (letter).
We think the Little Prince of Alinghi, Ernesto Bertarelli (SUI), and his yacht club (SNG) are out of bullets, out of desire, out of ambition, and frankly, have left the DOG series behind.
They want to ignore it, and make it a myth.
They think M. Firmenich and his cohorts, actually, can clear the decks.
Therefore, there's no need whatsoever for them to worry about the DOG.
Given that, Brad Butterworth (NZL), Alinghi skipper, has been charged with making a "new" AC33 happen -- with new teams, new rules, new class rules, new agreements.
What other proof do you need that the DOG is dead?
Not much.
However, if for some reason we are wrong about SNG's multihull, or about the slate-cleaning "new" AC33, one question remains -- has anyone on the planet seen Alinghi's Deed of Gift boat?
We don't think so.
We think the DOG is dead.
We would love to be proved wrong.
1 comment:
You are so clueless its embarrassing
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