America's Cup opponents announce new era

The skippers of America's Cup opponents Oracle, the defending champions, and Mascalzone Latino, the challenger of record, announced a new era of consultation and co-operation in Rome yesterday.

In breaking with tradition, the first press conference in the build-up to the 34th America's Cup was held outside the country of the defenders and in the challengers' backyard instead.

And Russell Coutts, skipper of the US Oracle team, explained that this was the first step in an attempt to avoid the ugly disputes and court cases that marred the 33rd edition of the world's oldest sporting event.

It was only a few weeks ago that Americans Oracle and Swiss syndicate Alinghi agreed to drop all legal cases brought against each other dating back to mid-2007.

Coutts and Italian outfit Mascalzone's skipper Vincenzo Onorato, insisted no such scenes will sour the next competition.

The pair announced that a new set of rules would be created and agreed upon by all entrants before the start of racing while disputes and issues will be handled by an independent regulator. They will also introduce a new class of boat in an attempt to produce faster racing that can handle a wider range of weather conditions.

And there will be a series of regattas in the build-up to the America's Cup to offer commercial partners more races.

There will even be new innovations in the sport's television coverage to offer fans the chance to feel like they are on the boat.

"Diktat has been replaced by discussion and confrontation has been replaced by consultation," said Coutts.

"There are some fantastic things about this oldest trophy in sport but there are things we have to fix and one of these is having fair rules."

Before the press conference was held in Rome's Capitolini museums there was much speculation about what would be announced but neither a date nor a venue were among the information offered.

However, it is now known that the protocol for the 34th America's Cup will be issued by August 31, the design rule will be released by September 30 and the notice of race and sailing instructions are to be published by December 31, the same date that will see a venue confirmed, with San Fransisco the favourite.

Meanwhile, the challenge period will be open from October 1 until January 31, 2011.