Yachting-Live

Not Fair
Remember the key point from the Mercury Bay decision was that a Match doesn’t have to be fair - just in compliance with the strict interpretation of the Deed of Gift.

Cahn has followed this view all through his deliberations. Club Nautico Espanol de Vela missed the requirements on a couple of points and was struck out; Golden Gate YC did comply as a challenging club and had lodged a valid challenge - it was in; there was no requirement in the Deed for a challenging vessel to be described in worlds - so calling a 90ft x 90ft multihull a ‘keel yacht’ didn’t matter; Challenger gets to name the date of the Match and provide the required measurement of its yacht - again no problem, according to Cahn. But none of his decisions have shaped the event in any way - all just pure intrepretation.

For its part Alinghi can name the venue, and turn up in any yacht it likes, provided it is more that 44ft long on the Load Waterline and is built is Switzerland. Doesn’t have to be a multihull, could be a canting keelboat, doesn’t have to be a new boat.

BMW Oracle may well have come up with a boat that is very quick in a straight line, and in compliance with the Deed of Gift. However they also have to comply with a couple of maxims of yacht racing - namely to finish first, first you must finish. And with a muilthull constructed under tight timeframes, and probably sailing in a heavy air venue the chances of breakdown are high. As we saw in the 2003 America’s Cup with NZL-82, the event is very unforgiving of gear and boat breakage - and gimmicks.

The other edge held by Alinghi is that it can go counter cyclic. That is instead of trying to match a multihull with another multihull - inherently difficult to manoeuvre in the prestart - Alinghi could put up a feisty monohull and go after the Challenger in the pre-start, looking for a rule infringement.

Remember that under the terms of a Deed of Gift Match there is no requirement for mutual consent on anything - so the consequence of a rule infringement is disqualification.

Imagine trying to avoid being caught in a luffing match in a 90ft ’square’ multihull against a souped up ACC yacht, that can spin on a dime, with a crack match racing team aboard?

The first phase of any America’s Cup Match is a match racing event, only once the yachts have started can it become a speed contest.

Then of course there is the matter of organisation of the match - which is also the prerogative of the Defender - who is entitled to sail the races according to ‘its rules and sailing regulations’. Nothing in those words, or the Deed of Gift, to say that the Match must be ‘fair’.

And it would seem that Alinghi also get to chose the race officials and Jury, which gets us right back into the mid-sixties when Sir Frank Packer said of a New York Yacht Club protect committee ‘it’s like complaining to your mother-in-law about your wife!’ — Richard Gladwell, his full editorial in Sail-World.com: www.sail-world.com

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 9:02 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.