A New York appeals court has ruled that a Spanish yacht club will be an official challenger in the next America's Cup yacht race. This is a significant victory to the defending champions Alinghi.
The 3-2 ruling reversed a lower court ruling declaring invalid a challenge by the Spanish club, Real Federation Espanola de Vela, in favour of a challenge by the United States syndicate BMW Oracle.
Swiss-based Alinghi, which is sponsored by the Geneva yacht club, has sparred for months with BMW Oracle over how, when and where the next race series should be held.
