Sturdy voices request (politely) inclusion

Burgees of the Cross of St. George

and Companion Crown and Star

Today, commodores representing yacht clubs who are deeply vested in America's Cup declared themselves for a multi-challenger event and urged Société Nautique de Genève (SNG) of Lake Geneva, current Defender, and Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) of San Francisco, Challenger of Record, to negotiate an agreement to achieve it.

Baron Iliffe of Yattendon, Royal Yacht Squadron (UK), and Messers. David Elwell, Jr. (New York Yacht Club), Mark Fitzhardinge (Royal Perth Yacht Club), Andrew La Dow (San Diego Yacht Club), and Scott Colebrook (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron) sponsored and co-signed an open letter to request -- and if they had the power, we are sure, to require -- the two clubs to come to a similar conclusion.

The letter, however, neatly parsed the participants.

Authors of the epistle were clubs that either "set the America's Cup in motion" (Royal Yacht Squadron), or "have been a former trustee of the Cup" (New York, Perth, San Diego, and New Zealand).

Notably excluded from this cohort, of course, Société Nautique de Genève, current defender.

You would have to say SNG was deeply vested, and a trustee; after all, they won it twice. Defending it once is enough.

Perhaps the letter should have read -- 'from all trustees except SNG'. 

Yet that would be impolite, and the commodores are gentle people.

But it's interesting that the First Lords of America's Cup felt the need to express themselves. 

At the highest level, of course, all of us endorse their sentiments. 

All of us want a multi-challenger event, especially for sailors and their families; sooner, rather than later. All of us love Valencia; we want to return there, as soon as possible. All of us love a fabulously competitive event, and we always prefer a multitude of flags and burgees -- some of them with elements other than the Cross of St. George (which we respect mightily, and against which, we might add, we hold nothing).

Consistently, if it's America's Cup, we aver, its about the world. Nations, boats, and sailors, from all over. Fans worldwide. Many voices, many faces. It's just better that way.

On another level, we must admit, there is also this astonishing 90-foot raptor trimaran that America's Cup fans have called DoGzilla, which was built by Larry Ellison (USA) of BMWOracle, the racing team sponsored by GGYC. 

This utterly amazing vessel is a fabulous innovation and a new threshold in multi-hull design. We are enthralled by its power and potential. 

Apparently, there is also the Swiss Myth, an equally amazing multihull that exists firmly in the imagination and secrecy of a conspiracy of European designers, builders, fabricators, assemblers, riggers, painters, tent builders, building owners, and trucking firms, which some say is hidden in Villeneuve, in the Alpine Nation. Nobody has ever seen it.

All of us would love to watch these vessels race. Nobody more than us.

For the Cup, we hope it never happens.

Let's watch these vessels race, by all means. But let's ask Rolex to create a new class for the event.

Meanwhile, on yet another level, we wonder about the motivations of the Alta-class of America's Cup Trustees. Yes, of course, they want global racing. Yes, they love America's Cup. And no, there is no doubt about their motivations. They love the Cup.

At the same time, they are laying in place an assertion, a fact, an event in time and place, that could easily be extended, with repetition and emphasis, and endorsed and expanded by attorneys, that could lead to an event that none of us would ever want to see, ever again, ever in our lifetimes.

That's when the Titans of the Universe Clash Without Resolution and Plunge the Cup into Litigation Yet Again.

If that ever happens, we can be assured of one thing.

The Eminent Trustees of America's Cup Exclusive, acting as a majority in the Courts of New York, will seek to restore the Deed of Gift to its originator or to some other mutually agreed defender (to be defined).

Now, we can't imagine that a club like GGYC, that has consistently demanded a protocol that requires fairness, independence and fair competition, would seek to invoke the Wrath of the Pennants of St. George and Companion Crown and Star.

But if a club like SNG is determined to act like the idiot its representatives have consistently presented since July 2007, we can be assured of it.

The Trustees Exclusive will act.