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As the debates are focused on
the validity of the CNEV, the last news from Valencia
sow seeds of doubt in minds of Cup fans.
Macarena Lainez, a well-known sailing journalist
in Spain and director of the monthly magazine "Barcos
a Vela", wanted to write an article on the required
procedure in order for someone to become member
of the CNEV (Club Nautico Español de Vela) and inform
the general public about the organization, activities
and services of the yacht club that challenges Alinghi
in the 33rd America's Cup.
Nevertheless, what was supposed to be a simple task,
gather some basic information, turned out to be
an odyssey. Lainez finally had to talk to the CNEV's
president, Manuel Chirivella, mostly because the
club has only a handful of members; Manuel Chirivella
(President), José María Martín Puertas (Vice president),
José Ángel Rodríguez (Treasurer and Secretary) and
Luis Merino (Director), all of them vice presidents
of the RFEV (Spanish Sailing Federation).
According to Chirivella, they are "working" on the
issue of the club's organization and their aim is
to have all of Spain's yacht clubs as affiliates
of the CNEV, adding that it was not born in order
to compete with them. As for the issue of having
private members, Chirivella said they were "studying"
it but at some stage the club will have private
persons as members.
Meanwhile, the CNEV being the Challenger of Record
has the obligation, according to the Deed of Gift,
to organize an annual regatta. After weeks of procrastination,
the Notice of Race of that regatta, dated 8 October,
has been made public. But it's now claimed that
the RFEV (Spanish Sailing Federation) clearly breached
its own rules by designating this event as "Alto
Nivel" (Upper level), given the fact the normal
procedure would have required the regatta to be
submitted for approval before 30 June 2006.
So it only remains for ACM to hope that the judge
Justice Herman Cahn don't spend lot of time on Internet.
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