Yachting: Fill-in regattas planned while everyone waits for America's Cup

Emirates Team New Zealand are not saying whether they will attend Alinghi's pre-regatta, scheduled to be held in Valencia in July in the wake of BMW Oracle's court victory over the Swiss holders of the America's Cup.

Earlier indications from within the Team NZ camp were that any journey to Valencia to race against Alinghi and other Cup challengers would be called off if the Swiss lost the court case.

However, Team NZ sailing manager Kevin Shoebridge said the syndicate was in "wait and see" mode; waiting to discover if

Alinghi and Oracle could reach a compromise that would result in a multi-challenger America's Cup regatta. "We have to wait and see what these two guys (Alinghi's billionaire owner Ernesto Bertarelli and Oracle's multi-billionaire boss Larry Ellison) agree to. We are not 100 per cent sure of anything right now," said Shoebridge.

However, he did scotch earlier suggestions that the resolution of the court case was an awkward result for Team NZ financially because it would lead to more delays and stretch sponsors' purses.

The team was financially supported through to the end of 2010 and thereafter to the next America's Cup, he said.

"We have always planned for this situation. We haven't just sat around and hoped it wouldn't happen. This was one half of what could have happened and we always planned for this and the other scenario."

Shoebridge also denied a suggestion that the America's Cup team might now look at competing in the Volvo Round The World yacht race while waiting for the next full Cup regatta.

"We have close ties with that race. There are a lot of guys in this team who have done it and a lot of interest in it and Grant and I flew up to the start of the last one. But that was just because we were personally interested; no one should read too much into that.

"Anyway, that's why we have got involved with things like the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and the TP52 campaign in Europe. I'm not saying we couldn't do a Volvo but it's a big thing - and so dependent on big things like finance and timing before you even get to the question of a new boat."

However, Shoebridge was warmer towards the idea of more Louis Vuitton regattas if challengers were denied America's Cup racing or if it was significantly delayed further. An "even boat" event at Rhode Island is a possibility using Oracle's and possibly Team NZ's Cup boats.