RAK clings to last hope in Cup wrangle

Anna Zacharias and John Henzell

• Last Updated: November 07. 2009 1:22AM UAE / November 6. 2009 9:22PM GMT

Ras al Khaimah’s hopes of hosting the America’s Cup sailing race are hinging on decisions being made in a New York courtroom and in a San Francisco yacht club.

Alinghi, the Swiss racing syndicate representing the Société Nautique de Genève, chose the northernmost emirate to defend sailing’s oldest and most prestigious trophy. Ras al Khaimah subsequently began an ambitious infrastructure programme for the race, only to be disqualified by a New York court eight days ago on a technicality.

Alinghi went back to court on Thursday to appeal, but has also offered the challenger, BMW Oracle Racing, the option of shifting the race to an unspecified venue on the east coast of Australia on condition that it ends its legal challenges. A possible decision on the appeal at the New York state supreme court is due any time but no news had emerged last night.

If either BMW Oracle, representing San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club, agrees to the deal or Alinghi’s appeal fails, Ras al Khaimah’s hopes of hosting the race are effectively extinguished.

RAK is reported to have invested US$120m (Dh440m) in infrastructure, including $50m for modifications to Al Hamra Palace Residence and $1m around Al Hamra Marina.

“It’s really disappointing,” said Rath Mukiri, the reservation agent at the Cove Rotana hotel. “We were looking forward to it. We still have people making reservations. Even today I had an e-mail asking about that weekend.”

Brian Tagle, the group co-ordinator at the Hilton Ras al Khaimah, said losing the race would be an economic blow to companies such as his.

“We had a lot of inquiries coming last month, and some of the rooms were secured already,” he said. “We were looking forward to it because it’s so well known and for sure some celebrities would be here.”

Shops were also counting the cost of losing the prestigious race.

“All the apartments behind this mall were rented,” said Tamer Gebril, 30, a sales associate at Samir Optical in the Al Hamra Mall. “The hotels were booked and now they’ll be empty. We were expecting so many customers and were planning promotions.”

Mohamed Aslam, an associate at Vital shoe store, said: “We are facing a big loss. We have lots of people coming here asking about it. We had good business from them. People around here, especially the sales people, were very excited.”

Ras al Khaimah had also hoped to get a tourism windfall from the world exposure. Instead it had its security situation publicly questioned because of its proximity to Iran.

The Iranian issue was not mentioned in the ruling last week by Justice Shirley Kornreich of the New York supreme court, although some sceptics have wondered if it was influential. Rather, the decision was based on a clause in the 1857 Deed of Gift which established the competition, stipulating that the race not be held in the Northern Hemisphere during winter. At the time, the coasts of England and the northeastern United States were the only conceivable northern venues.

Although the dates proposed by Alinghi are in February, climate records show the average temperature in Ras al Khaimah for that month to be 26C, similar to that of Australia’s eastern coast.

John Bertrand, the Australian helmsman of the winning America’s Cup challenger in 1983, predicted that the Australian venue would be accepted.

“There’s a very strong likelihood now that the America’s Cup will be held on the east coast of Australia,” he was quoted as saying by the news agency Agence France-Presse.

Paco Lattore, an Alinghi spokesman, said from Switzerland that there had been no contact with potential Australian venues before the unexpected disqualification of RAK.

“Honestly, we haven’t even started discussions with Australian officials,” he said. “We’ve identified a region or area which would have suitable conditions for the America’s Cup. If they accept our offer, then we’ll go into detail.”

Alinghi still strongly prefers to hold the race at RAK, he said, and when Alinghi offered the Australian option in the hope of reaching agreement with BMW Oracle, it said only “the east coast of Australia”, which is thousands of kilometres long.

Mr Bertrand identified the Gold Coast in Queensland as an ideal location, but said he understood that Alinghi was scouting along the coast as far north as Townsville.

Speculation about the venue on yachting websites, such as sail-world.com, has centred on the need for the multi-hulled yachts to be in waters protected from ocean swells, as is the Arabian Gulf off Ras al Khaimah. This led to suggestions that the coast of Queensland inside the Great Barrier Reef was a likely venue, making Brisbane and Cairns potential sites for the race, along with Southport.

The Cairns Yacht Club commodore, Warner Ferguson, said the protected waters inside the Great Barrier Reef would be ideal for the multi-hulled yachts but that there had been no contact from Alinghi.

“I must confess I hadn’t heard of this, but of course it would be fine and we’d do whatever we could to support it,” he said. “The waters off the coast of Cairns and inside the barrier reef would be completely suitable and the breezes are consistent. February would be a good time, too.”

Mr Lattore said “that could be an option” but that other venues were also suitable. BMW Oracle has said it has requested more information from Alinghi on a possible Australian venue.

Ernesto Bertarelli, the president of Alinghi, had earlier criticised BMW Oracle, headed by the fellow billionaire Larry Ellison, for battling in courtrooms rather than on the water.

Mr Lattore observed that BMW Oracle had known of the Ras al Khaimah venue for several weeks before deciding to challenge the location, allowing infrastructure to be initiated.

“They waited two months after we announced the venue,” he said. “We had shifted our boat and started training, and then they contested it.”

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