America's Cup dispute widens

As the gap between the two protagonists in the stalled America's Cup - Swiss holder Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi and San Francisco challenger Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle - appeared to be widening to the nearly 10,000 miles which separate them, a new way forward was yesterday being floated by the Americans.

Bertarelli and Ellison were due to meet in Europe last weekend for a second head to head session - the first was in San Francisco - but Ellison flew home from a regatta in Trieste without the meeting ever taking place. It appeared that hopes of a way through the legal wrangle, which had shunted the Cup and its structure into the New York courts, had real foundation and momentum. The talks then appeared to have stalled, that the optimism of fans around the world had been unfounded.

Both sides blamed the other, Alinghi saying that Bertarelli was ready and waiting only to read on the Golden Gate Yacht Club (Ellison's official challenging vehicle) website that the meeting would not take place, Oracle saying that Bertarelli had failed to turn up. Also in Trieste were Ellison's skipper Russell Coutts and his long-time friend, and Bertarelli's skipper, Brad Butterworth. They spoke, but, apparently, not about progress on the talks.

Both sides said that neither had since contacted the other, though Alinghi claims that Bertarelli has e-mailed Ellison. Both appear to feel that the ball is in the other's court.

But Oracle has also made it clear that it would back an America's Cup summit, to be attended by Alinghi and all the other credible challengers, to thrash out a communiqué that would contain an outline blueprint of a race and boat building programme for the next two to three years.

If Oracle has softened its position at all, it is to say that a line by line return to the protocol which governed the last America's Cup, won by Alinghi 5-2 over New Zealand in Valencia in 2007, is not what they demand.

Rather they want any new protocol to be along the same lines, taking in a democratic approach to modifications and developments, involving all the parties and potential teams. "We just want fair rules," says Coutts.

Bertarelli has been holding separate talks with the bosses of various other teams, including Sir Keith Mills of Britain, Patrizio Bertelli of Italy and Ignacio Sanchez Galan of Spain, still the most likely host country of America's Cup 33. These now include Ellison, or did, and it is the bringing together of these talks, with a written proposal on the table, which Oracle says it wants.

Alinghi has admitted that the presentation of a new protocol in July last year for the next America's Cup was botched but claims considerable modification has been made since then and that Ellison has privately agreed that a simple return to the 2007 structure, itself much criticised at the time, is not necessarily the way forward. That is news to Ellison.

But Alinghi is unlikely to volunteer to take part in a one against eight meeting without first having ensured that it was a rubber stamp rather than a negotiating affair. Instead it is thought to be trying to organise its own America's Cup fleet regatta in Valencia next year using the same boats that competed in the 2007 challenger and cup series.

If the row cannot be resolved by the protagonists in the next few weeks, and the next dates for depositions to the New York Court of Appeals are mid-to-late November but the case would not be heard before January, At the end of that month Louis Vuitton stages its Pacific Series in Auckland, climaxing on St. Valentine's day.

Oracle is still saying that, even if it wins its court case to be Challenger of Record and be awarded a one-on-one best of three match against Alinghi in 90-foot trimarans, it would first seek to negotiate, instead, the kind of multi-challenger America's Cup it would prefer.

Alinghi says it would like to accept the invitation from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron to take part in the Louis Vuitton regatta and, despite lots of niggling conditions, the boss of Team New Zealand, Grant Dalton, appears to be prepared to drop his own law suit against Alinghi. That would clear the way.