MADRID-- The legal wrangling over the 33rd America's Cup has been a significant step backwards for sailing's most prestigious prize, Ernesto Bertarelli, president of holders Alinghi, was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
"From the point of view of the event, the public and the sponsors, yes there has been a very big step backwards," the Swiss entrepreneur told Spain's Marca sports daily.
"From the point of view of the sport, no, because I believe that for young people sailing is about speed," he added.
"The Cup has the fastest boats between two buoys in the world, they are the Formula One of boats."
Swiss team Alinghi and challengers BMW Oracle of the United States have been in dispute over rules since Alinghi retained the trophy by beating Team New Zealand in 2007.
Uncertainty about whether the competition would take place ended on Friday when a New York court said it would not hear a complaint from BMW over the origin of Alinghi's sails before the best-of-three match, which starts on Monday in Valencia.
The teams were still at odds over some of the regulations on Tuesday and an International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Jury ruled overnight on five requests from BMW for redress.
The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), under whose colours BMW sail, said the Jury had given race official Harold Bennett discretion over what will constitute fair and safe conditions for racing.
The GGYC had claimed wind limits imposed by Alinghi's club, the Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG), would give the Swiss team an unfair advantage.
"This brings some degree of commonsense back to the rules," said GGYC spokesman Tom Ehman.
"It puts the decision back in the hands of the race officer so we won't have any artificial limit that helps Alinghi because their boat is better in light winds."
BMW had also been cleared to use onboard wind-detection equipment and friction-reduction technologies, Ehman said.
Alinghi said the Jury had confirmed their chosen race start time of 0906 GMT and also that SNG's race committee would be responsible for determining whether to start or continue a race.
"We welcome the Jury's involvement and decisions for the sport," Alinghi team skipper and tactician Brad Butterworth said in a statement.
"We are confident racing will go ahead as scheduled on Monday -- weather permitting -- and we are looking forward to finally getting this competition on the water."
