Nobody can say this America's Cup is boring.

What used to be an insulated sport for fabulously wealthy men named Lipton and Vanderbilt has morphed into something out of a James Bond movie or a Tom Clancy novel, all wrapped up in two of the fastest, most-extreme boats ever to cut through — or in this case, literally fly above — the sea spray.

When two-time defending champion Alinghi of landlocked Switzerland picked little-known Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, to host its nautical grudge match beginning Feb. 8 against an American crew led by Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp., it did more than make people click on Google Maps.

The stodgy sport suddenly sailed into a maelstrom involving: bickering billionaires Ellison and biotech mogul Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi, who once were pals but are now bitter rivals; Ras al-Khaimah's proximity and suspected ties to Iran; a concerned congressman; and a lawyer who couldn't win for Al Gore but beat Microsoft.

Court filings that had argued arcane rules spanning the 158-year history of the America's Cup now raise fears of terrorists in speedboats attacking a 90-by-90-foot trimaran named USA as it sails some 80 miles off Iran's coastline.