There might be a thaw coming in the long, bitter America's Cup legal fight between defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland and American challenger BMW Oracle Racing.

Apparently with some prompting from a New York State Supreme Court justice, the powerhouse syndicates agreed Friday to meet during the weekend to discuss their dispute over where to sail their best-of-three series in their fast, monster multihulls.

They are to report back to Justice Shirley Kornreich on Monday.

The syndicates announced the development after Kornreich left the lawyers in the courtroom and met in her chambers with the syndicates' principals, Lucien Masmejan of Alinghi and Russell Coutts, a three-time America's Cup winner who's the CEO and skipper of BMW Oracle Racing.

This story continues below
Advertisement

Masmejan, a spokesman for Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli, is a lawyer but hasn't been arguing the case.

Masmejan told The Associated Press that he and Coutts agreed not to discuss what was said in chambers.

Both sides said the hearing was productive and expressed optimism.

"Maybe there's good chance to make progress over the weekend," Masmejan said. "You never know what happens but I'm entering into this discussion with a very positive mind."

Tom Ehman, a spokesman for Golden Gate Yacht Club, which backs BMW Oracle, echoed Masmejan's thoughts.

"We are hopeful an agreement can be reached," Ehman said in a statement.

The racing appears headed to either Valencia, Spain, or Australia's east coast. Alinghi originally picked Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, but Kornreich ruled last week that the Persian Gulf port was ineligible based on the 19th-century Deed of Gift.

Alinghi has appealed Kornreich's ruling. On Thursday, the Swiss offered the compromise of sailing in Australia.

That compromise came with a stipulation, though. The Swiss said that if the Americans dropped their legal proceedings, they would select a specific location within 10 business days.

GGYC, noting that Australia's east coast is 2,500 miles long, responded that it needed to know a specific venue in order to determine whether it would be possible to prepare on short notice.

Also pending is GGYC's breach of fiduciary duty complaint seeking to remove Alinghi's yacht club, Societe Nautique de Geneve, as America's Cup trustee.

Racing is scheduled to start Feb. 8.

BMW Oracle Racing has been testing its 90-by-90-foot trimaran in San Diego since last fall. Alinghi's equally immense catamaran, Alinghi 5, has been in RAK for several weeks, along with the sailing team and some 100 support personnel.

The carbon-fiber giants are capable of sailing at 2 to 2 1/2 times the speed of the wind. BMW Oracle Racing had a temporary setback on Tuesday when its 200-foot mast came tumbling down, breaking in two as it hit the aft beam during a sail on the Pacific Ocean. No crewmen were injured.

After listening to arguments at Friday's hearing on the venue spat, Kornreich called attorneys for both sides to the bench. The lawyers then told Coutts and Masmejan that Kornreich wanted to talk with them in private.

"I think this is a positive movement, pushing for this, and I think it is a very smart move," Masmejan said.

Sailing's marquee regatta has been beset by a two-year legal tussle between bickering billionaires Bertarelli and Larry Ellison, the Oracle Corp. CEO who owns BMW Oracle Racing.

Coutts sailed unbeaten through three straight America's Cup matches, the first two with his native New Zealand and again with Alinghi in 2003. He had a falling out with Bertarelli and was fired in 2004.

Coutts was barred from sailing for anyone else in the 2007 America's Cup. Ellison hired him shortly after that regatta ended, perhaps adding an extra layer of bitterness to this feud.