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The America's Cup continutes to teeter between compromise and court action, but there are some sailing developments - including BMW Oracle's seeming capture of hotshot young Australian skipper James Spithill - which promote the notion there could yet be racing sooner rather than later.
The Cup remains stalled in court, awaiting the judgement of New York Supreme Court Judge Herman Cahn who is expected to rule within three weeks on Oracle's legal challenge.
Attempts at compromise continue. However, it is not always clear whether they are genuine attempts to defuse the court action or public relations efforts aimed at positioning the two protagonists, Oracle and Alinghi, as the 'good guys' and forcing the other syndicate to take action.
Either way, many observers increasingly feel Oracle are in a strong position and might succeed in the legal argument or in forcing Alinghi into compromise. Oracle are preparing for either eventuality and the sight of Spithill jousting on the water with new BMW Oracle skipper and CEO Russell Coutts has surprised few.
It is an open secret that Spithill is on his way to, or is already on, the Oracle payroll - something reinforced when he was spotted by an American sailing website last week.
The Lecrtronic Latitude website reported: "If you were out on the [San Francisco] Bay this past weekend, you might have noticed two BMW Oracle Swedish Match Racing Boats out sailing, looking as if they were practising match racing starts.
"We couldn't help but notice that James Spithill, helmsman of Luna Rossa in the last America's Cup, was at the helm of one boat, and Russell 'Mr America's Cup' Coutts, the new honcho for BMW Oracle, was at the helm of the other.
"Despite the fact it was a busy weekend of racing on the Bay, and the two were seen by hundreds of sailors, we were contacted and asked not to reveal this information.
"It was sort of like Britney not wearing panties to The Ivy restaurant and then having her publicist ask all the patrons not to tell anyone. Ridiculous."
In addition to Spithill, former Team New Zealand grinder Andrew Taylor is also thought to have joined Oracle. Taylor was also a member of the now defunct Luna Rossa challenge in Valencia, where Spithill earned a big reputation during the challenger series for his starting skills.
So Oracle are continuing to gear up for racing. It is another sign that the syndicate, funded by billionaire Larry Ellison, feels it has a strong legal case.
If Oracle win the Supreme Court action, they also win the right to force Alinghi into a head-to-head duel in 90-feet catamarans or trimarans next September, freezing out all other Cup challengers including Team NZ.
Oracle's Tom Ehman, an international sailing rules expert who has been involved with the America's Cup for 27 years, told American reporters this week that Alinghi's billionaire owner Ernesto Bertarelli was taking that possibility seriously.
"Within hours of the time we issued our challenge, they were on the telephone to the same multi-hull experts we've been talking to. In fact, for a while there was a kind of bidding war going on," said Ehman, who has been a regular thorn in Alinghi's side.
Those giant multi-hulls would be capable of getting up to 80 km/h downwind and Ehman said: "That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for the America's Cup. I think a lot of people would love to watch giant multihulls dicing around the turn marks at 30-40 miles per hour."
However, Oracle's public position has always been that they would prefer an America's Cup populated by other challengers and governed by rules seen to be fairer than those cooked up by Alinghi for the next regatta and which were widely viewed as self serving.
If the Swiss lose the court case they could negotiate, Ehman said, to involve all of the challengers and the defender in selecting a new monohull design for a cup off Valencia in 2010, rather than have two syndicates race giant multi-hulls.
"But if they lose and won't negotiate, then we are ready to build the multi-hull and race next September.
"We have a design team and a build facility, and we are ready to push the button," Ehman said.
Oracle's confidence has also been underlined by the fact that Coutts and his former sailing buddy, Brad Butterworth, have reportedly fallen out over compromise plans. As reported in the Herald on Sunday, the pair were thought to have found a way to solve the impasse but may have been thwarted by the intransigence of their billionaire owners.
Since then, however, Coutts is understood to have come out with a hard line - shoring up the Oracle action. He and Butterworth are no longer on the same wavelength, according to sailing sources.
But many observers are still predicting that compromise will rule the day. However, that all depends on whether Oracle are sincere in their declared interest in involving other challengers or whether their eye falls rather more keenly on the 'big boat' challenge.
That would effect the most bizarre Cup regatta since the Sir Michael Fay venture of the same name in the late 80s.
Those are the options - a conventional regatta but far more influenced by Oracle's terms in 2010 or possibly even 2011; or a one-on-one giant multi-hull contest in September.
