By MICHAEL VIRTANEN
Associated Press

ALBANY - An American sailing club argued Tuesday before New York's top court that it is the legitimate Challenger of Record for the America's Cup, not the Spanish association that was selected by the Swiss club that currently holds the trophy.

The case before the Court of Appeals pits San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, which backs BMW Oracle Racing, and Societe Nautique de Geneve, the Swiss club that backs two-time defending champion Alinghi.

Each accuses the other of trying to get an edge through maneuvering on dry land. The Swiss are accused of choosing an easy challenger who negotiated race terms favoring the champions. The Americans are accused of angling in court for the negotiating rights so they can eliminate other competitors.

Both say they want to win on the water. The court case will determine which club, as the Challenger of Record, negotiates race terms with the defending champion.

"GGYC has cynically calculated it has a better chance of reaching America's Cup finals in court than it does in defeating 18 other yacht clubs in elimination," Societe Nautique attorney Barry Ostrager said of the American club. He said Golden Gate wants a match race with its $20 million multihull boat against the Swiss champion, instead of competing against 18 other clubs.

Golden Gate representatives rejected the accusation, saying they envision an America's Cup race with many competitors in single-hull boats. They also accused Societe Nautique of choosing the new sham club as challenger in order to issue rules that favor the Swiss, including the rights to hire all the officials, participate in the preliminary race and even change the rules.

After defeating a New Zealand crew to defend the cup July 3, 2007, in Valencia, Spain, Societe Nautique immediately accepted a challenge from a new association, Spain's Club Nautico Espanol De Vela. They planned to hold the next regatta in Valencia, but it has been postponed for more than a year by the lawsuit. Ostrager said 19 clubs are now preparing for a warmup regatta in July following a lower court's ruling.

"CNEV had never held a race of any kind, let alone an annual regatta," Golden Gate attorney Maureen Mahoney told the six Court of Appeals judges Tuesday. "Anyone could challenge for the most prestigious cup in sailing even if they'd never held a race of any kind."

Golden Gate claims the Spanish club was ineligible, having never held annual regattas, as required of challengers under the 1887 Deed of Gift that established the race.

The Challenger of Record, representing all challengers, and the defender set the format for the 33rd America's Cup regatta. Golden Gate, the challenger of record for 2007, submitted its own challenge six days after Club Nautico.

Attorney David Rivkin, representing Club Nautico, said it was formed by a longtime Spanish sailing federation and has held two regattas since issuing the challenge. The requirement for "having" an annual regatta can be satisfied by "a bona fide intention" and then holding a regatta before the actual America's Cup match, he said.

The case also pits billionaires and one-time pals Larry Ellison and Ernesto Bertarelli, who sail aboard the sloops they own. Ellison has built a fast multihull boat, and his representatives said Bertarelli is doing the same.

While both sides say they want the traditional multichallenger America's Cup, Bertarelli and BMW Oracle Racing CEO and skipper Russell Coutts have said it would be exciting to have a one-on-one showdown in the 90-foot multihulls, which can sail at 2 to 2½ times the speed of the wind.

Ellison, of BMW Oracle Racing, is founder and CEO of business-software giant Oracle Corp. Bertarelli, a biotech tycoon, owns Team Alinghi.

Under the Deed of Gift, the America's Cup was donated to the New York Yacht Club in 1887 to serve as "a perpetual challenge Cup for friendly competition between foreign countries."

A trial judge sided with Golden Gate.

Then when the Americans and Swiss couldn't agree to terms for a conventional regatta, it appeared that they were headed toward a rare one-on-one showdown, or Deed of Gift match, in giant multihulls.

But in a reversal in late July, a midlevel appeals court, divided 3-2, reversed the decision. That appeared to send the Cup back to its traditional format of several challengers vying in monohulls for the right to face the defender in the America's Cup match.

The midlevel court's majority agreed with Societe Nautique and Club Nautico, finding that the annual regatta phrase is ambiguous, "subject to conflicting interpretations."

The America's Cup Arbitration Panel had concluded that the Deed of Gift did not require a challenger to have held an annual regatta on the sea before lodging its challenge, nor that it hold a regatta more than once.

The two Appellate Division dissenters found no ambiguity in the language and said the donor's intent was to clearly allow for challenges from established yacht clubs.

Bernie Wilson contributed to this report.