The chances of the America’s Cup taking place in 2009 look distant after last-minute attempts to reach an out-of-court settlement failed yesterday, with Alinghi, the defending team, being accused of secretly wanting to postpone the event for commercial reasons.

On Tuesday, Alinghi gave BMW Oracle, one of their challengers, until 5pm New York time yesterday to accept a settlement. But Alinghi immediately rejected a joint-proposal from Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC), BMW Oracle’s base, and three of the five other challengers for the next cup. Emirates Team New Zealand, beaten by Alinghi last July in the America’s Cup match, Team Origin, Britain’s new entry, and Team Shosholoza, of South Africa, had worked with BMW Oracle to bridge the differences.

BMW Oracle said they had gone back on their demand for two-boat testing in the next cup and would drop their case – on which a judgment from New York is expected soon – if Alinghi accepted the proposal.

But Alinghi quickly rejected it, via a letter, and Russell Coutts, the BMW Oracle chief executive, referred to the allegation that Alinghi want to postpone the race for commercial reasons. “Alinghi’s rejection of this is a disgrace and can only be taken to indicate they reached a point probably long ago where they do not want the event to go ahead as planned,” he said. “Their actions can only mean they have decided to delay the event and use the GGYC as the excuse. It will come as no surprise if they do this fairly soon.”

According to BMW Oracle, owned by Larry Ellison, the software billionaire, Alinghi’s choice of DesafÍo Español as official challenger, which allowed them to negotiate the disputed format of the next cup, is illegal.

Alinghi announced that they would defend the cup for the second time in a best-of-nine series raced off Valencia from July 18, 2009. The cup was due to start next summer, but with both sides likely to appeal against the judgment should they lose – a process that would take at least six months – a postponement looks likely. It leaves the challengers in limbo and with serious financial repercussions as Team Origin, owned by Sir Keith Mills, have employed nearly 100 people already.

On the sea, the thirteenth day of the Transat Jacques Vabre race proved to be an unlucky one for Mike Golding and Bruno Dubois, on Ecover 3, as they drifted in the Doldrums.

The boats to the west of Ecover 3 have found the more consistent breeze and will emerge from the dreaded zone first. Ecover 3 seized a lead of more than 50 miles and held it for five days until last weekend, but yesterday they continued to lose ground and were in fifth place, 56 miles behind Michel Desjoyeaux and Emmanuel Le Borgne, on Foncia.

However, all is not lost for Golding, who has finished on the podium four times but never won the biennial race in five attempts. With 1,000 miles to go in the 4,500-mile event from Le Havre, in France, to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, the boats to the east may have the faster angle to the finish as they emerge from the Doldrums.