Emirates Team New Zealand go to court

Any hopes of an early end to the hiatus in America's Cup development were dashed today when Emirates Team New Zealand announced that they were taking Alinghi to the New York Supreme Court in pursuit of compensation following the decision to scrap the event for 2009.

Grant Dalton, head of ETNZ said on local New Zealand television this morning that no public or sponsor money would be used in the case. "We have friends," said Dalton who said that he had been working for some time on preparing the case.

What Dalton considers to be the unfair protocol drawn up by Alinghi for the next event and the fact that Alinghi pulled the plug on the 2009 Cup when ETNZ felt there was a suitable framework in place to run the Cup has left him and his team with no option but to go to court.

Commenting on Alinghi's decision to call off 2009 when ETNZ had invested in preparing for their next challenge Dalton said: "They just can't do that," saying that he had no option but to go out and "get something back".

Meanwhile a skeleton team of designers and sailors remain in place keeping the ETNZ team in tick over mode.

David Glenn/Yachting World, 6 March 2008

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