As the legal dispute raging between Alinghi and Oracle, the challengers seek to navigate increasingly murky waters.

"Grant Dalton, the Emirates Team New Zealand managing director, has allegedly told his team that if the dispute is not resolved by the end of the year and the final race is not held in 2009, his team will close", Britain's The Times has reported.

The problem is, nobody is any clearer as to when the 33rd America's Cup will take place; the original date of 2009 looks dead in the water, but with court-case judgments pending and appeals likely, the future of the challengers is at stake.

Things are not quite so apocalyptic at Britain's Origin, begun and led by Keith Mills, but operations seem likely to be scaled back or mothballed, and, if there are no guarantees that the cup will take place in 2010, the team may break up.

"It is not about when it is, it is more about knowing for certain what the date will be," Origin communications manager Marcus Hutchinson said. "We're a few weeks away from a decision like that. If we knew it was going to be in 2010, then we can change the plan, but if nobody is sure and it might be 2011 or 2012. The uncertainty is a big problem."

The seven challengers are now hoping for a judgment from Justice Herman Cahn of the New York state court (which has jurisdiction over the America's Cup) very soon.