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VALENCIA, Spain -- Golden Gate Yacht Club on Friday appealed a New York court's decision stripping it of the role of Challenger of Record for the next America's Cup.
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On Tuesday, the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division ruled 3-2 that Spain's Club Nautico Espanol de Vela, not San Francisco's GGYC, should be the Challenger of Record, giving it the right to negotiate terms of the next competition with the current America's Cup holder, Alinghi of Switzerland, whose supporting yacht club is Societe Nautique de Geneve.
It was a reversal of a lower-court ruling that had given the right to the GGYC. The San Francisco club backs BMW Oracle Racing, a syndicate headed by Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison.
GGYC had contended in a yearlong court case that the Spanish club was a sham and that the Swiss were trying to tilt the rules for the next regatta in their favor.
The appeals court disagreed.
"We believe the Challenger of Record has to be a real yacht club," GGYC spokesman Tom Ehman said. "It cannot be something that is manufactured with a defender to set up a one-sided event. This decision would set an absurd precedent. We believe we have an excellent case for winning on appeal."
Until Tuesday's ruling, BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi had been preparing for a rare one-on-one showdown in giant multihull boats for the oldest trophy in sports.
If GGYC isn't successful in its last-chance appeal to the New York State Court of Appeals in Albany, the America's Cup would revert to a traditional multichallenger regatta.
"I'm disappointed that given the opportunity for a multiple challenge competition as a result of the appellate court decision, BMW Oracle has chosen to further delay the 33rd America's Cup," Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth, a four-time America's Cup winner, said in a statement.
Alinghi said BMW Oracle "clearly demonstrated its intent to win through legal maneuvering rather than accept competing fairly on the water.
"BMW Oracle was unable to advance to the final round of the America's Cup in the 31st and 32nd events, having been eliminated in the challenger series on each occasion," Alinghi said in a statement. "SNG and the entire sailing community is offended by BMW Oracle's attempts to accomplish through expensive litigation initiatives what it has never been able to do on the water, which is to be a finalist in the America's Cup.
"SNG, by contrast, won the 31st America's Cup by winning the challenger series and defeating the then Cup holder and then successfully defended the Cup in the 32nd America's Cup. SNG now seeks only to again defend the Cup against the opponent who proves worthiest by winning the challenger series on the water."
America's Cup rules specify that legal disputes on the competition be settled in New York state court.
