Russell Coutts was appointed yesterday (Tuesday 24 July) by Larry Ellison to be CEO and skipper of the BMW Oracle Racing team for the next America's Cup. Coutts, who parted from Alinghi with animosity, will be delighted to race his old team. "We will build on what this team had last time to produce a winner," he predicted.
But where and when that will take place is something of a mystery as Ellison's club, the Golden Gate YC of San Francisco, has an outstanding court action against the Cup's holder, the Societe Nautique de Geneve that questions the validity of a challenge lodged by a Spanish club. GGYC holds that the Spanish club that the Swiss has appointed as Challenger of Record is improperly constituted and does not meet the requirements of the Deed of Gift, the 1887 trust document under which the America's Cup is raced. In addition, it objects to the draconian Protocol that the Swiss has imposed in which it can dismiss any challenger at any time without reason or warning.
