KEY POINTS:
Team New Zealand say they are watching developments as discontent continues to simmer over new rules outlined for the next America's Cup yachting regatta.
San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), who are represented by Oracle Racing, today continued their attack on the protocol for the next regatta.
GGYC said the document that Swiss defenders Alinghi agreed with a newly-created Spanish yacht club raised serious concerns in departing from fair competition.
They said the protocol would do away with neutral officials and would also relieve the challengers of their voting powers.
GGYC also wanted all participants, and not just Alinghi, to be involved in developing the design rule for the new, bigger boats that will be used in the 33rd America's Cup.
"For the first time in history, the defender not only wants to introduce its own new rule for the class of boat to be raced," they said on their website.
"It will be disclosed to challengers at a much later stage, putting all challengers at a huge disadvantage."
Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported this week that at least eight teams had backed Oracle in trying to get the protocol overturned.
However, the group would appear not to include South Africa's Shosholoza, who yesterday confirmed that they would be back for another shot at the Auld Mug under the new rules.
Shosholoza founder Salvatore Sarno also said he expected an announcement next week from Alinghi that Valencia would be retained as the venue for a 2009 event.
Two days after retaining the Auld Mug a fortnight ago, Alinghi released the protocol they had agreed with Club Nautico Espanol de Vela (CNEV), an entity set up a few days earlier.
CNEV gained the status of challenger of record, or the challengers' representative, by being the first to lodge a challenge with Alinghi after the Swiss completed a 5-2 victory over Team NZ.
However, there has been concern over the amount of control that CNEV ceded to Alinghi in their negotiations.
There are also questions over CNEV's credentials, because they hadn't run an annual regatta on an open water course on the sea, or an arm of the sea, as required by the America's Cup's deed of gift.
Oracle, headed by software billionaire Larry Ellison, last week submitted a separate challenge, describing the one lodged by CNEV as invalid and seeking to be the legitimate challenger of record.
Under cup rules, the winners decide where, when and how to race the next event, agreeing the details with the challenger of record.
The new protocol says there will be a change in the type of yacht will be used, but does not say what the class rules are, or when and where the next regatta will be.
Alinghi have said those details would be announced before the end of the year. In a departure from tradition, they have also reserved the right to sail in the challengers' series.
CNEV last week countered accusations that they were not bona fide challengers by saying that two regattas would be held this month.
A day later, the Spanish Sailing Federation announced that the first of those events would begin that very day - and involve children competing in Optimist dinghies.
Team NZ managing director Grant Dalton is due back in his Auckland office early next week, when the syndicate are expected to decide their next steps in preparing another cup challenge.
At the time the protocol was released, Dalton was comfortable with the changes envisaged, saying that Team NZ had lost the chance to control their own destiny when they were beaten by Alinghi.
- NZPA
