America's Cup team plans huge "Dogzilla" vessel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The challengers for the next America's Cup revealed preliminary details to race an enormous vessel nicknamed "Dogzilla" that is nearly the size of two basketball courts.

The 90-foot-by-90-foot (27.4-meter-by-27.4-meter) trimaran will challenge defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland in the next edition of yachting's most prestigious race, off the United Arab Emirates in 2010, the U.S.-based BMW Oracle team said in a statement on Monday

"We're pleased to publicly confirm that the BOR 90, which will continue to undergo modifications, is the boat that will compete for the 33rd America's Cup in 2010," BMW Oracle said.

"Dogzilla" has an overall waterline length of 100 feet. The mast is 185 feet. The three sails are 6,800, 6,700, and 8,400 square feet (632, 622 and 780 square meters) -- each about 30 percent bigger than the sails used in the last America's Cup in Valencia, Spain, in 2007.

"The power-to-weight ratio is unbelievable. Nothing any of us have seen comes close to the amount of power this boat generates -- the sail plan, the mast height, and just the limits we're pushing," said helmsman James Spithill. "It has been a massive learning curve for all of us."

Sailing rivals BMW Oracle and Alinghi have been locked in a more than two year legal fight over the terms of the race, now scheduled to take place in February 2010 in Ras Al-Khaimah, one of the United Arab Emirates.

Lawyers for both teams were in New York State Supreme Court on Monday to argue when BMW Oracle, which flies under the colors of the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), should be expected to produce certification, known as a Custom-House Registry, for the boat it plans to race.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich reserved a ruling on that issue, but the team did offer general details about the boat.

GGYC said it has been testing the boat in San Diego and that it plans to continue making modifications.

Defending champion Alinghi, which is backed by biotechnology billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli and the Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG), does not need to disclose details of its yacht until just before the race.

Under America's Cup rules, a challenger proposes to race the defending champion, and together they plan the terms of the next race.

Alinghi initially agreed to race Club Nautico Espanol de Vela, or CNEV, a Spanish team that formed as a club just days before submitting its challenge for the America's Cup.

But BMW Oracle contested CNEV's challenge in a lawsuit filed in 2007. New York state's highest court earlier this year rejected the Spanish team as the challenger and picked BMW Oracle as the official challenger.

(Reporting by Edith Honan, Editing by Daniel Trotta)