AMERICA’S CUP: 48 FOOT CATS

 

PETEMELVIN

Pete Melvin: Writing the new America’s Cup Rule

Pete Melvin, a partner in Morrelli & Melvin Design and Engineering, was involved in writing the AC72 rule used in the 2013 America’s Cup, and in writing the AC62 rule that was released June 2014 for the 2017 America’s Cup.

But with the increasing concern about rising team budgets, Melvin was called up again to help downscale the boat further for. After a week of work, Melvin and his design committee members put forth a plan that was approved on March 31.

Melvin shares with Scuttlebutt the process for the change…


There was a desire to reduce costs of the boats, and after Oracle and Artemis sailed their AC45 Turbos test boats on San Francisco Bay in February, they found them to be good boats which would provide good racing. They came to realize that a boat of that size could reduce budgets, which would help those teams in need of funding, without reducing performance.

The new Class has a length of 48-feet, which we got to as a result of a couple factors. The Deed of Gift requires a load waterline of not less than 44-feet, and we wanted to stretch the boat somewhat to aid its performance in light air.

While I have not seen the performance numbers that were generated during their testing in San Francisco, my understanding is they were in the 45-knot range, and that the time to complete the race course used during the 2013 America’s Cup wouldn’t be much different than what was achieved with the AC72.

What we found in our work when developing the AC62 rule was that their projected performance of that boat was not much different than the AC72 either. With these foiling boats, speed is not derived through waterline length in the same manner as a boat that displaces water.

Additional advantages with the 48-foot size is in logistics. They require less manpower both on and off the water. For transport, all the parts, including the hull, will fit inside a 40-foot container. Like the AC45, this boat will have a removable section so that you can break it down to fit.

Performance wise, we are continuing to analyze what it is capable of this 48-foot Class. The task of getting to where we are now is just a week old, but based on the observations from Oracle and Artemis from their 45s, they seem confident that it will be a nice boat for the event.

This new Class rule is fairly similar to the A62 rule. There have been a few tweaks but essentially the concepts are unchanged.

The hull will be a new design specific for this boat, but the rule tolerances will be tightly constrained similar to a one design class. Each team will build their own hulls, with the hulls built in their country of origin, but the hulls each team builds must fit within tight margins. These tightly constrained tolerances will also be applied to the cross structures and the wing.

The area of open design options will be the foils, the rudders and daggerboards. There will be some rule limits, such as foil location and length of extension, but determining shapes and designs will be open. Also, the control systems for the rudders and daggerboards is open. Each team will determine how best to control their foils. There are some limits in how the system operates, such as manual or power, but the rest will be unique to each team.

There is still a lot of work to do. The shapes for the hull, cross-structure, and wing have yet to be finalized. We are now working with the teams as quickly as possible to define the geometry for those items of the boat. The final documentation for those items is due by the end of May.

SMALLER IS CHEAPER

America’s Cup organizers want smaller, cheaper boats

AP Sports WriterMarch 25, 2015 Updated 14 hours ago

 — In another sign that billionaire Larry Ellison’s vision for the America’s Cup is too expensive, organizers say they want to reduce the size of the boats to be sailed in the 2017 regatta in Bermuda.

While intended to help some struggling syndicates, the unprecedented move would also reduce the status and prestige of sailing’s marquee regatta, not to mention the sizzle generated when the 2013 America’s Cup was sailed in cutting-edge, 72-foot catamarans.

And it could be troublesome. Not all teams are believed to be in favor of going from plans to sail the 2017 America’s Cup in 62-foot catamarans to apparently sailing it in 45-foot catamarans.

A news release issued late Wednesday said the changes are being drafted and teams will be asked to vote before the end of March. Normally, a decision like this must be approved unanimously. It’s believed Italy’s Luna Rossa is against the change.

Harvey Schiller, the America’s Cup commercial commissioner, said in the news release that reducing the size of the boat was discussed last year, but only Oracle and Emirates Team New Zealand were in favor.

Now that teams have seen the new souped-up 45s on the water, “there is a clear majority of competitors who support the idea,” Schiller said. “I’d like to be able to say we have unanimous support from all the teams but that is not the case.”

Schiller did not return a phone call and email seeking further comment.

At the time Bermuda won the right to host the 2017 America’s Cup by pledging up to $77 million in financial support, plans called for the regatta to be sailed in 62-foot cats. That would reduce costs in part since they require fewer sailors. Some teams have already started designing their 62-foot catamarans.

If teams switch to 45-footers, that’s the same size boats used in warmup regattas prior to the 2013 America’s Cup and in warmup regattas this year and next. It’s also a foot longer than the minimum size allowed by the 19th century Deed of Gift.

Two-time defending champion Oracle Team USA, which is owned by Ellison, has blurred the traditional lines between the defender and challengers, so it wasn’t clear who initiated the latest talk of reducing the size of the boats. Despite being one of the world’s richest men, it’s believed that Ellison has grown weary of pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the America’s Cup and wants it to become more self-sustaining.

But teams and the event authority have struggled to raise money. There’s been speculation that two of the current five foreign challengers could drop out because of the staggering cost of competing, which would leave an embarrassingly small field of three challengers like in 2013. Team Australia dropped out last summer, citing the high costs.

Skippers from three foreign challengers — Ben Ainslie Racing of Britain, Team France and Artemis Racing of Sweden — were quoted in the news release as being in favor of the move to a smaller boat.

Team France skipper Franck Cammas called it “a game-changer. We will be able to have a very competitive team for about half the budget.”

Ainslie and Artemis’ Iain Percy alluded to the change helping the future of the America’s cup.

However, neither Emirates Team New Zealand, whose stunning collapse in 2013 allowed Oracle to keep the Auld Mug, nor Luna Rossa were mentioned in the release.

A Luna Rossa spokesman didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.

Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton referred to a statement on the team’s Facebook page. That statement said the Kiwis suggested a reduction in boat size last year. “Since then time has passed with teams well advanced in their design process now and any ideas around change will need the full consultation and support of all the teams,” the statement said.

A smaller boat could save Team New Zealand. Struggling to raise money, the Kiwis could be forced to drop out if they don’t land a qualifying regatta in Auckland. European teams are known to be unhappy about the cost of shipping 62-foot catamarans halfway around the world to New Zealand. The 45-foot cats are easier to ship because they can be disassembled and loaded into containers.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/03/25/4446961_americas-cup-organizers-want-smaller.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW

A Sailor’s Salary: $300,000, If He Works for Larry Ellison

Lawsuit sheds light on America’s Cup spending by Oracle founder

Oracle Team USA during the 2013 America's Cup, which it won in a dramatic comeback.
Oracle Team USA during the 2013 America’s Cup, which it won in a dramatic comeback. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

A lawsuit against Larry Ellison ’s sailing squad, which has led to the seizure of one of his million-dollar boats, is also revealing how much the Oracle Corp. founder is willing to spend to win the America’s Cup: $300,000 a year for a rank-and-file sailor.

The litigation is the latest in a series of legal battles that have surrounded the billionaire’s sailing successes.

On Monday morning, two federal marshals walked into the San Francisco waterfront base of the sailing squad, Oracle Team USA, and seized three gray, whale-size containers holding the disassembled parts of a 45-foot-long, seven-story-tall yacht called an AC45, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer and a U.S. Marshals spokesman.

The marshals tagged the three containers, which can’t be moved until a judge issues a ruling on the seizure or allows the team to post a bond on the boat. The vessel, a smaller version of Oracle’s victorious 72-foot-long boat in the 2013 America’s Cup, is being held as a lien, or collateral, in the case. The plaintiff asked for the seizure.

The plaintiff is Joe Spooner, who spent a decade as an Oracle sailor until the team dismissed him in January. A 41-year-old New Zealand native, Spooner in February sued the team for $725,000 in wages over a 2½-year span, as well as double-wage penalties, punitive damages and legal fees, alleging the squad wrongfully discharged him without cause.

Larry Ellison in September 2013 after winning the America’s Cup.Larry Ellison in September 2013 after winning the America’s Cup. PHOTO: REUTERS

A team Oracle spokesman declined to comment, citing pending litigation. A spokeswoman for Ellison, who is Oracle Corp.’s executive chairman, also declined to comment.

“It is a match race and Spooner has the lead at the first mark!!!!!” Patricia Barlow, Spooner’s lawyer, said in a statement shortly after Monday’s arrest of the Oracle yacht. A match race is a head-to-head contest between two competitors.

Court filings show that Spooner signed a contract with the Oracle team that would have paid him $25,000 a month, which equates to $300,000 a year, from July 2014 to the end of the next America’s Cup, the world’s most prestigious yacht race, which is scheduled to be held in Bermuda in 2017.

In Spooner’s termination letter, team Oracle general manager Grant Simmer said Spooner asked for raise to $38,000 a month to relocate from San Francisco to Bermuda. Simmer said in the letter that the team wasn’t prepared to modify the squad’s relocation policy specifically for Spooner, and that the team also declined to increase his pay.

“For these reasons, and in the light of the stated position that you will not otherwise relocate to Bermuda, this letter constitutes prior written notice of termination” of Spooner’s contract, Simmer wrote.

Spooner was one of six grinders on the 11-man Oracle team that won the 2013 America’s Cup. In sailing, grinders are the equivalent of football offensive linemen, cranking hand-powered winches to power a boat’s hydraulics system. They are typically the lowest-paid members of a sailing team; the people who adjust the sails and helm the wheel can get paid double, or even more.

Larry Ellison, center, congratulates members of Oracle Team USA after winning the America’s Cup.
Larry Ellison, center, congratulates members of Oracle Team USA after winning the America’s Cup. PHOTO: REUTERS

Oracle is the world’s top sailing squad, having won the past two America’s Cup contests, and Ellison has spent lavishly to retain the world’s best yachtsmen. The managing director of Emirates Team New Zealand, the runner-up in the 2013 Cup, has estimated that his sailors got paid half as much as Oracle’s, an appraisal that other sailing experts this week said sounded accurate.

Ellison spent at least $115 million overall on his team’s 2013 America’s Cup campaign, the Oracle team’s chief executive has said.

During Ellison’s recent Cup victories, his lawyers have taken the field almost as often as his sailors. He first captured the 2010 Cup after a 2½-year legal battle over the competition’s rules. Among other accusations, the Swiss team Alinghi alleged it caught a man who was hired by Ellison’s crew to spy on Alinghi operations. An Oracle spokesman said at the time that those were trumped-up allegations that had nothing to do with the legal matter at hand.

Another team Oracle grinder, Matt Mitchell, has sued the team for $68,000 in legal fees that he said he accumulated while fighting allegations that he helped alter an Oracle racing boat in preliminary competition before the 2013 Cup. An Oracle team spokesman declined to comment.

An international jury had concluded that Oracle was guilty of making illegal modifications to the boat and forced the team to start the first-to-nine-wins 2013 Cup races with negative-two victories. On the brink of defeat, Oracle ended up winning the final eight races of the 2013 contest to stage one of the most dramatic comebacks in sports history.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: DIRK DE RIDDER

This is a story that I have followed with interest. I have always felt that the punishment handed out to Team Oracle during the America’s Cup was very strange.  A punishment handed out for something that occurred in a series that actually had nothing whatsoever to do with the America’s Cup event.

I also have trouble believing that Dirk de Ridder could have approved changes to a boat without higher authority approval. I am pleased for Dirk de Ridder.

 

Dirk De Ridder Suspension Reduced To 18 Months By The CAS
Lausanne, Switzerland: The Dutch sailor and former member of Oracle Team USA, Dirk de Ridder, has had his three-year suspension reduced to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Mr de Ridder filed an appeal at the CAS in June 2014 against the decisions taken by the Disciplinary Commission (DC) of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and the ISAF Review Board in relation to the sailor’s alleged involvement in the manipulation of the weight distribution of AC45 yachts used in the inaugural America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) and the 2013 America’s Cup. The ISAF DC found that he had committed a gross breach of the rule which requires boats to comply with class rules, as well as of good sportsmanship, had brought the sport into disrepute and was therefore open to sanction. The ISAF Review board concurred and imposed a period of ineligibility of three years.

In appealing to the CAS, Mr de Ridder sought to overturn such decisions on the grounds that they were based on insufficient evidence, that the imposed sanction was disproportionate and that the ISAF lacked jurisdiction.

The CAS Panel found that the ISAF had jurisdiction to issue its decisions, and also found, to its comfortable satisfaction, that Mr de Ridder gave instructions, express or implied, to add weight to the forward king post of boat 4 at the Newport Regatta, part of the ACWS competition, held in June/July 2012. However, with respect to the sanction, the Panel found that a period of ineligibility of 3 years was disproportionate in light of the circumstances of the case and compared to previous sanctions imposed by the sailing federation in similar matters.

FIVE CHALLENGERS FOR THE AMERICA’S CUP

AC 45  8 21 12  138036 ac33

For me, the America’s Cup has become a parallel universe; so removed from sailing that it is really set apart. As I have stated before; I had been told the day that Hamilton Yacht club announced it’s intention to challenge and would be the challenger of record, that it was only a straw challenger and would not be there in the end. Seems someone knew what they were saying.

 

America’s Cup: Entries close but 2017 line-up remains mystery
1:04 AM Sat 9 Aug 2014 

 

‘Golden Gate Yacht Club – Defender the the 35th America’s Cup’    © Richard Gladwell    Click Here to view large photo


America’s Cup organisers issued an innocuous statement after the close of entries for the 35th America’s Cup.

A strong line-up of teams has submitted entries to race in the 35th America’s Cup ahead of the initial deadline of midnight on August 8th.

America’s Cup organizers are now working through the second stage of the entry process with each of these teams. This is expected to finish by August 20th.

Following the confirmation of entries there will be a press conference to introduce the teams and their skippers in London on September 9th.

Entries closed just before midnight on August 8th in San Francisco. The statement did not specify the number of entries received, and seemed to have been written ahead of the close of entries.

Only one team, Team New Zealand, have announced that they have lodged an entry.

Four other teams, Luna Rossa (Italy), Artemis Racing (SWE), Ben Ainslie Racing (GBR) and the Franck Cammas led Team France attended Competitor Meetings in Los Angeles and London.

Next step in the process is a vetting of the teams for compliance with the Protocol and also the Deed of Gift the 19th-century document which governs the conduct of the America’s Cup.

Given that Team New Zealand represents a Club that is a former America’s Cup Trustee, and are on their ninth America’s Cup in just under 30 years, the team are expected to have few problems in the vetting process.

Luna Rossa and Artemis Racing being previous Challengers are also expected to fly through.

Ben Ainslie Racing may face a more intensive level of investigation, given that they have announced that they will be challenging through a new yacht club Yacht Squadron Racing, described as a club affiliated to the Royal Yacht Squadron. The latter was the host club for the original race for the 100 Guinea Cup, won by the schooner America, and was renamed the America’s Cup.

New yachts club have a very chequered history in the recent America’s Cup, sometimes not meeting the requirements of the Deed of Gift. One of those requirements is that the Club must have held an annual regatta on the sea or arm of the sea. YSR organised the racing for the Panerai British Classic Week in July. Whether that event is sufficient for the Deed of Gift is yet to be determined.

Team France will sail under the burgee of the Yacht Club de France, founded in 1867 under the patronage of Emperor Napoleon III. It is one of the most-prestigious yacht clubs in France, and their 12metre yacht, France 3, sailed in the 1983 Louis Vuitton Cup.

No date has been set for the America’s Cup Match, neither has a Venue been named. The supporting regattas being the America’s Cup World Series are also yet to have their venues named along with dates.

The close of entries, and the announcement of accepted Challengers sets in place a train of events and decisions to be made under the terms of the negotiated Protocol.

Competitors have to meet to select a Regatta Director, on the basis of the preference of a simple majority. ACEA

Once the Accepted Challengers have been named, the organisers will need to determine whether a Qualifying Series is required – specified in the Protocol to be necessary if there are more than four Challengers. Under the Protocol, that series must be held in a different venue from the Match and will involve additional expense and logistical complication.

The Host City, Venue and Dates of the 35th America’s Cup must be named by December 31, 2014 but is expected in October 2014.

The Protocol does allow the Golden Gate Yacht Club to accept additional late entries at their discretion.

 

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT?

BY BERNIE WILSON, Associated Press
Americas Cup Suspension SailingFILE – In this Feb. 11, 2010 file photo, BMW Oracle Racing wing sail trimmer Dirk de Ridder from The Netherlands, attends a press conference in Valencia’s, Spain. Dirk de Ridder is suspended for five years by sailing’s governing body, the AP is told. He was part of the Oracle Team USA crew and disqualified from the 2013 America’s Cup for illegally altering boats in warmup regattas. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza, File)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — America’s Cup sailor Dirk de Ridder has been suspended from sanctioned events for five years by sailing’s international governing body, two people with knowledge of the decision said Tuesday.

The people spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the suspension is being appealed.

Unless a review board or the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturns the suspension, it effectively ends de Ridder’s sailing career. Not only is the 41-year-old de Ridder banned from the 2017 America’s Cup, but he’s unable to accept a $500,000 contract to sail in the Volvo Ocean Race, which begins later this year.

Word of the suspension came less than a week after two New Zealand attorneys criticized the international jury that punished members of America’s Cup champion Oracle Team USA, including de Ridder, after investigating the illegal modification of boats used in warmup regattas.

De Ridder said via email from his home in the Netherlands that he couldn’t comment on his case. He was banished from the 2013 America’s Cup and Oracle Team USA was docked two points by the international jury four days before the opening races of the regatta in September on San Francisco Bay. Oracle twice trailed Emirates Team New Zealand by seven points before staging one of the greatest comebacks in sports by winning the final eight races to retain the Auld Mug.

Jerome Pels, secretary general of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), said via email that he couldn’t comment on either de Ridder’s case or on the report that was issued last week on behalf of Yachting New Zealand, in which two independent attorneys criticized the America’s Cup International Jury for “significant” procedural shortcomings and raised numerous concerns about evidence and the jury’s reasoning.

In that report, which was based on transcripts of the jury’s investigation last summer, the attorneys said two Kiwis on Oracle Team USA — grinder Matt Mitchell and shore crew member Andrew Walker — shouldn’t face further discipline by Yachting New Zealand. The international jury had barred Mitchell from the first four races of the America’s Cup match and expelled Walker.

Likewise, de Ridder had been cleared of further punishment by his national governing body before the ISAF Disciplinary Commission issued the five-year suspension.

Russell Coutts, CEO of Oracle Team USA, declined comment on de Ridder’s case.

However, Coutts said on his Facebook page last week that “The ISAF jury appeared to be on a crusade to ‘save the America’s Cup’ and I believe they may have allowed that belief to cloud their judgment.”

Paul Henderson, a former ISAF president and former International Olympic Committee member, told the AP by phone from his Toronto home on Tuesday that he’d never heard of such a harsh penalty, and that the case raises serious questions of whether de Ridder and others received due process.

“If you’re Ben Johnson and you won a gold medal and then got caught doping and were only banned for two years, and A-Rod is only out for a year, and then there’s somebody that it’s questionable whether he had anything to do with it, I don’t understand,” Henderson said.

Henderson said the New Zealand attorneys wrote “an excellent report. You read it and say, ‘Oooh. I’m not sure due process was done.”

Henderson said de Ridder’s case needs to be heard by the CAS.

On Aug. 27, after the America’s Cup International Jury had begun its hearing, the ISAF Disciplinary Commission approved rules of procedure that, among other things, allowed hearsay evidence.

Henderson said another problem is that the jury “has become a very incestuous group.” Some of the members of the America’s Cup International Jury are included in pools used to form review boards and disciplinary commissions. “It’s a lot of conflict,” Henderson said.

Pels said in an email that no one would sit on a panel if they were involved in an original decision.

Besides raising questions about the jury’s procedures, the two New Zealand attorneys wrote that they were “troubled” that the jury didn’t include an allegation of gross misconduct against Oracle’s Simeon Tienpont, who, according to the report, signed an interview record sheet stating that he helped Mitchell modify a 45-foot catamaran that was skippered by British sailing star Ben Ainslie, who was a key member of Oracle’s sailing team.

Tienpont sailed in the America’s Cup.

Coincidentally, Ainslie is Pels’ brother-in-law. In 2012, ISAF declined to further punish Ainslie after he grappled with a TV cameraman during the 2011 world championships and was disqualified from two races. That allowed Ainslie to sail in the Olympics, where he won his fourth straight gold medal and fifth games medal overall.

ORACLE FINED, BREAKING THIER OWN RULES

Team Oracle “Spy” Penalities

December 31, 2012

By 

scales of justice
The America’s Cup Jury has announced the  penalties for Team Oracle’s “spy mission” against Luna Rossa.

Luna Rossa claimed Oracle violated the so-called “espionage” clause of the race protocol (more on that HERE), the Jury agreed, and told Oracle it would be penalized, fined, and made to return any photos.

According to Jury documents, Oracle returned 10 photos (no videos).The fine was set at E 11,500, and Oracle won’t be allowed to sail either of their AC72s for five days at the end of the next sailing period (Feb 1 to May 1 – in other words, Oracle can’t sail 26 April to 30 April 2013)

Both Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand asked for much stiffer penalties: Luna Ross said a “financial penalty would be meaningless”, and asked the Jury to reduce the number of sailing days from 30 to 15 between February and May, make Oracle give up two spare daggerboards and one wing.

ETNZ gave the Jury a smorgasbrod of penalties to choose from “A loss of a point or points in the Match… a reduction of Wing Spar Sections… or permitted Daggerboards… a reduction in permitted sailing days….” and an order of no more “recon” missions.

Back To Main Page

Here’s what the jury had to say:

29th December 2012
JURY CASE AC19

JURY NOTICE JN060
DECISION on PENALTY and COSTS

APPLICATION from Luna Rossa Challenge 2013 (LR), representing Circolo della Vela
Sicilia.

1. On 19th November 2012, the Jury received an Application from LR protesting “the
Defender, Oracle Racing, GGYC” (OTUSA) for a reconnaissance incident on 8th
November in the waters off Auckland, New Zealand, claiming a breach of Protocol
Article 37.2(g).

DIRECTIONS No. 1 (JN053)

2. On 21st November 2012 the Jury issued Directions No.1 inviting the Parties to
submit a Response to the LR Application by 5th December 2012, and inviting LR to
submit a Reply to any Responses, by 12th December 2012.

DECISION

3. After considering the Responses and Reply, the Jury published its Decision on
18th December 2012 in Jury Notice JN059:

The Jury is satisfied that OTUSA breached Protocol Article 37.2(g).

DIRECTIONS No.2 (JN059)

4. Jury Notice JN059 ordered that the photographs be delivered to LR and the Jury
by 22nd December 2012, and invited Parties to make submissions on Costs and
Penalty by 24th December.

PHOTOGRAPHS

5. On 22nd December OTUSA complied with the Directions of the Jury and provided
10 photographs to LR and the Jury.

SUBMISSIONS ON PENALTY

6. LR submitted that gathering design information was critical to OTUSA as they
were unable to sail their own AC72. LR concluded that the breach by OTUSA was
quite deliberate and that their interpretation of the Protocol was absolutely artificial.

LR submitted that a financial penalty would be meaningless and an appropriate
penalty would be the reduction of 15 sailing days in the Sailing Period 1st February
to 1st May 2013, together with a reduction of two daggerboards of the maximum
allowed limit under Protocol article 29.7 and a reduction of one wing spar of the
maximum allowed limit under Protocol article 29.6.

7. Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) submitted that the breach was deliberate
and based on a distorted interpretation of OTUSA’s own Protocol. The breach
gave OTUSA a significant advantage resulting from the improved quality of images
obtainable from within the 200m limit. ETNZ suggested that a penalty on the
individual rather than the team was inappropriate as the actions were clearly
sanctioned by the team. ETNZ submitted that to be just and equitable a penalty
has to be meaningful, and that the Jury should select from “A loss of a point or
points in the Match; A reduction either in the number of permitted Wing Spar
sections under Article 29.6 of the Protocol or in the number of permitted
Daggerboards under Article 29.7; A reduction in the number of the permitted
sailing days available to OTUSA between 1 February and 1 May 2013 under
Article 29.2(e) of the Protocol; An order that no OTUSA team members or agents
acting on behalf of OTUSA undertake any reconnaissance activities in Auckland or
San Francisco between the date of the order and the 30th April 2013 or such other
date specified by the Jury.”

8. OTUSA submitted that they never set out to deliberately break Protocol Article
37.2(g), and that “a penalty above and beyond the award of costs would not be
appropriate inasmuch as there was a legitimate and honest difference of opinion
as to the interpretation of the Protocol, the observations/photos obtained when
within 200m are no different than can and have been obtained from outside 200m,
at the time the AC72 observed was not testing, training or competing, and there
were no safety or harassment issues involved in the incident.”

DISCUSSION ON PENALTY

9. OTUSA has apologised to LR and indicated that as a result of the Jury Decision
any team members involved with reconnaissance finding themselves in a similar
situation to this incident will:
“(a) safely manoeuvre their vessel to more than 200m from the AC72 in
question;
(b) not photograph or record the yacht if they may be within 200m of the AC72
yacht; and
(c) apart from what basic seamanship demands, not to observe the AC72
yacht from within 200m.”

10. However, the Jury finds the interpretation that OTUSA relied on to remain within
the 200m limit and to continue to observe and photograph LR was both flawed and
unreasonable. If in doubt, OTUSA could have sought an interpretation of the
Article from the Jury.

11. The Reconnaissance Article is an important provision in the Protocol, and contains
express prohibitions with the intention of preventing the gaining of information by
Competitors about other Competitors. In this case, information in the form of a

number of photographs was obtained in breach of that Article, The benefit (if any)
of such information is not possible to determine but neither can it be undone.

12. Therefore it is appropriate that a meaningful penalty be imposed.

DECISION ON PENALTY

13. During the Second AC72 Sailing Period (1st February 2013 to 1st May 2013)
as provided for in Article 29.2(e), OTUSA may not sail their AC72 yachts on the
final five consecutive days of this Sailing Period, that is 26th April to 30th April 2013
inclusive.

DISCUSSION ON AWARD OF COSTS

14. LR and ETNZ submitted that all costs should be awarded against OTUSA; OTUSA
accepted that it alone should bear the full costs of the case.

COSTS AWARD

15. In accordance with the Jury Guidelines for the Award of Costs and Expenses
published on 13th August 2011, the Jury considers it is just and equitable that
costs of €11,500 are awarded. This amount is to be paid by OTUSA by 14th
January 2013 to: ACRM Operations Ltd Account Number: 4005 1570768517
Swift/BIC: MIDLGB22; IBAN: GB78MIDL4005157076851.