Sacked America's Cup skipper Russell Coutts says he will take legal action, following his dismissal by Swiss syndicate Team Alinghi last month. Coutts, the most successful skipper in America's Cup history, was dismissed after refusing to sail for the team in several recent regattas.
The New Zealander was sacked for "violations of his duties" but Coutts says he will fight back.
"I am going to defend myself through the legal system," he said.
"I have not given up hope of taking part in the next Cup in 2007 in Valencia," he told a Swiss newspaper.
Coutts, who led Alinghi to America's Cup victory in Auckland last year, is determined to fight the validity of new rules designed to stop sailors swapping teams.
The regulations state that anyone who has worked for a team for 180 days since the last event finished cannot work for any other team.
The 42-year-old also alleges that his contract was not honoured by syndicate boss Ernesto Bertarelli.
"Ernesto guaranteed me more involvement, not only as skipper, in the next America's Cup campaign," he said.
"He never honoured that pledge."
MMIX
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