America's Cup - Umpire error makes Cup history on Day 3

by Richard Gladwell on 30 May 2017 Today was a signal moment in America's Cup history.

For the first time in 166 years, an official voluntarily admitted making a mistake!

Chief Umpire Richard Slater made the historic admission a couple of hours after racing had concluded, that with the benefit of hindsight and additional material they would have made a different decision in the final mark rounding of Race 14 involving Swedish Challenger Artemis Racing and Emirates Team New Zealand.

For the past couple of mornings Slater and his boss, Race Director Iain Murray (both Australians) have run through various issues with the media that can make an effort to attend.

The move to the AC50 and its predecessor the AC72 sparked the shift to a new more automated and computer-based umpiring system developed by sailing and sports tracking guru Stan Honey.

That would take over the primary umpiring load from on the water umpires following the competitors in RIBS and make calls in response to competitors waving flags or making arm signals at the umpires - a system similar to the way players Appeal to the Umpires in Cricket.

In other words, unless someone asks the question of the Umpire, generally speaking, there is no ruling - unlike refereed sports.

The decision was made at the 34th America's Cup to shift to a computer based adjudication system based on the GPS position of boats and marks, which allowed start lines to be defined and boundary lines were also added around the perimeter of the course.

It is called Liveline and uses the same race data that is used on TV broadcasts, but uses a specially developed application and views for race adjudication.

Few would argue that a Mk 1 human eyeball can definitely say when two boats closing at speeds of 80kts had crossed a virtual three boat length circle drawn around marks, who was first in, when they exited and whether they manoeuvred in accordance with the racing rules during a mark rounding or indeed any other time when the boats were close, and Part 2 of the racing rules came into play.

The GPS-based system might not be perfect, but it is the system and right or wrong that is what the competitors and officials have to live by. Decisions have to be made in a split second by competitors; the officials have maybe a few seconds to make their call.

With theLiveline system there are three umpires sitting in a booth ashore - known as the booth umpires, and two more following in a RIB - as much as you can indeed follow an AC50 in a RIB.

The primary decision is taken by the booth umpires who call the race the same as they did on the old on the water system.

In other words, two umpires take a boat each and mimic the call the tacticians would make between them. The process allows them to start raising potential rule issues before they occur, and if the other disagrees they keep the call running until something happens - a give way boat may keep clear - or there may be an incident. In which case the umpires have pretty well already had the discussion and can do a quick review and then work as a team to make the decision.

In the America's Cup system if there is any doubt or feeling there could be an error, then the on the water umpires are consulted, and their view quickly contained. They may have seen something that the computer has not.

The point is that two groups working independently can make a decision and five umpires are involved.

Under the manual system, there was a similar number working from two umpire boats.

The other feature of the Liveline GPS-based system is its accuracy with each position being reported ten times a second to an accuracy of 2 centimetres. According to Race Director Iain Murray, the record for a boat being called over is just 4cms on the wrong side of the start line at the start of a race.

Emirates Team New Zealand got called over by 7cms during Round Robin 1. The teams live and die by the thickness of a line on a computer screen.

The point being that the system and its claimed accuracy works both ways. But Liveline is really the only way that an event of this type involving these very fast wingsailed catamarans can be run.

It follows that if errors are made - which seems highly unlikely - then like other sports that use video replays for close-call adjudication - that the decision stands whether right or subsequently proved wrong.

Perhaps the only surprising thing about the Chief Umpire's admission is that an announcement was actually made.

Even if there had been an error or fault or misheard communication uncovered in the Umpires Debrief - so what? It is no different from a team debrief after a sailing session when things are discussed, issues raised and improvements made.

The fact that the Chief Umpire felt that he could make an announcement also speaks volumes for the transparency of the adjudication at the event, and that goes a very, very long way to remove any suggestion that the regatta management processes are what they are claimed to be 100% independent and above board.

And in case anyone thinks that should be just the way things should be - remember we are talking about the America's Cup where books have been written about dodgy dealings, and indeed the very words 'like the America's Cup' has become a byline in common parlance for something dodgy and underhand.

Richard Slater didn't have to make the statement he did today - in the past 166 years nothing would have been said by those in the know and the whole deal covered up.

This was indeed a historic moment in America's Cup history.



Emirates Team New Zealand makes the Play-off cut

On the racecourse, three races were sailed, today to bring Round Robin 1 to an end.

The first between Groupama Team France and Land Rover BAR (GBR) continued the redemption of Franck Cammas and his crew. A come from behind win gave Groupama their second win of the series and in fact the second on the trot - after they had a surprise win over Artemis Racing in Race 7 on Sunday, when the Swedes allegedly had their All Purpose daggerboards on and were caught when the breeze lightened a few knots before the start.

The Brits led off the start and first downwind leg, lost almost all their margin on the next beat, were passed by the French on the first run, but were still well in contact at the turn. Land Rover BAR dropped a massive 52 seconds on the next beat and that was the finishing margin.

Having won just a single race in Round Robin 1 - the first they sailed on Day 1 - skipper Ben Ainslie admitted at the post-race media conference that the British boat had an upwind speed problem.

Although he firmly denies any ongoing issues from their collision with Softbank Team Japan, the British seemed to lose their mojo after the near sinking as they returned to the dock

With just one Round Robin series left, and the rise of Groupama Team France, the question will be whether the Brits can put enough wins on the board, plus their two bonus points from an outstanding win in the America's Cup World Series to stay in for the America's Cup past Saturday, when the first team gets cut.

At this stage it would seem that four points would be the minimum to stay in the game - the Brits currently have three (one win and two bonus points), the French have two - from two wins. Artemis Racing and Softbank Team Japan both have two points, but don't have the inconsistency of the Brits and French. It would be a major surprise if they did not win two or three more races of those they have available.

The French also have two points and the race for the bottom of the table would appear to be between them and the Brits.

Ben Ainslie will be hoping that a change in weather lighter airs could give him the point he needs.

Oracle Team USA have five points and Emirates Team New Zealand have the four - apparently sufficient to make the cut for the Play-offs - even is they lost every race of the second Round Robin.

A forecast of lighter winds later in the week may well be the deciding factor, if the Challengers get onto their high lift, light air daggerboards.

Emirates Team New Zealand and Artemis Racing had a ding-donger of a match in Race 14 with nine lead changes, as the two rival 49er helms renewed their acquaintance in the AC50's.

Performance and SWAT Analysis for Series

The only conclusion that can really be drawn is that the much vaunted Emirates Team New Zealand, in the moderate winds at least doesn't really have a speed advantage. She is as fast as the other top three (being Artemis, Japan and Oracle Team USA). She is consistent in her top end speed. Emirates Team NZ's foiling tacks and gybes are probably the best in the fleet - as evidenced by Race Director and top designer Iain Murray's comment today that Emirates Team NZ had the best bottom end speed of the fleet during tacks and gybes. However, the determining factor is positioning on the course and how they pick shifts and pressure - as the effect on the Great Sound is marked, and there are big gains to be made and winning margins easily lost.

Plus the Kiwis are short of a gallop in both race sharpness and match racing against other AC50's - they should improve with every hard race they get.

Helmsman Peter Burling grows in stature every day and appears to be relishing the challenge ahead of him and his crew. They are up against some outstanding sailors and teams and are more than rising to the occasion.

Their light air performance will be watched with great interest.

Artemis Racing is much the same, but they tend to stumble more than they should. They also don't seem to be lucky - of which Emirates Team NZ seem to have more than their fair share.

In the final race of the day and of the Round, Softbank Team Japan led around every mark finishing a massive two and a half minutes of Groupama Team France as the breeze increased to over 17kts.

The Dean Barker skippered Japanese entry is impressive, as would be expected given their leg-up from Oracle Team USA. Their speed looks good, and they always seem to be ready to pounce and capitalise on any error by their competitor.

Oracle Team USA didn't race today, having sailed her last race in the re-scheduled series yesterday.

She is still the form boat of the series, despite skipper Jimmy Spithill's numerous protestation at the post-race media briefings that they are making too many mistakes for his and his crew's liking.

The hybrid grinding system seems to be working well for them, whether it was given then as much gas as Emirates Team New Zealand's four-cyclist system remains to be seen, but their splashdowns seem to have reduced since its installation - an indication that they may have a bit more control as a result.

For better or worse, the comments made above are based solely on observations on the water and from statistics from the last two days, with no exposure at all to television broadcasts or replays - for the simple reason that these are not available post-race in the media centre or for media reviewing in Bermuda.

You can only call what you see.