Battlelines drawn on and off the water in Valencia

by Richard Gladwell on 25 Jul 2007
One of the worst kept secrets in sailing was confirmed overnight (NZT) with the appointment of Russell Coutts as CEO and Skipper of BMW Oracle Racing for the next America’s Cup series, whenever that may be.

Coutts was presented with a team shirt emblazoned with the number 12 – his lucky number. The three times winner of the America’s Cup described himself as obviously being delighted to be with BMW Oracle Racing and that he had been presented with a tremendous opportunity, plus more of the usual supportive words that are said on such occasions

The Media Announcement at the BMW Oracle Base was preceded by a meeting of the Challengers at which various issues confronting this group were said to have been discussed.

At the Media event, Larry Ellison, owner of BMW Oracle Racing took up the cudgels on behalf of the Challengers against the Defender and the controversial Protocol that has so dominated matters since the 32nd America’s Cup.

Ellison stated his intention to negotiate a reasonable Protocol with Alinghi and their clear preference was not to go to Court to resolve the issues between the Challengers and Defenders.

A key sticking point with Ellison was the right of the Defender to accept or reject any the entry of any challenger, including he claimed the ability for this to happen during a regatta.

Another issue was the Selection of the Sailing Jury and Arbitration Panel, claimed to be by America’s Cup Management - which again is not quite right in that selection of members is by mutual consent between the Defender and Challenger of Record. However most would not be entirely convinced that the relationship between two is at arms-length, and therefore the issue of Mutual Consent in this regard is flawed.

It is correct as claimed by Ellison that ACM does have exclusive right over the selection of a number of officials and committees which were previously by Mutual Consent and further governed by the doctrine of Neutral Management. And, on these points he moved to safer ground.

The development of the design rule solely by Alinghi was another issue raised by Ellison, citing the huge advantage that the Defender had in this regard through being able to work on the Rule and know its thrust, before the formal announcement of the new Rule expected to be for a 90ft yacht.

Ellison said that the Challengers were going to develop their own Rule and present it to the Defender, and described the current Protocol as 'a huge step backwards'

Stating that BMW Oracle Racing’s clear preference was to negotiate a sensible outcome with the Defender to resolve the issues, Ellison added that: 'we will go to Court if we have to, and only if there is no other choice left to us.'

Russell Coutts expanded on Ellison’s lines saying there were many other aspects of the Protocol which were unfair, such as the ability of the Defenders to be able to compete in the Challengers Selection Series, not score points, and also with the ability to decide if they were going to sail hard, or not so hard against a particular Challenger.

'They can obviously pick who they race against and who they race hard against and not so hard against. It’s a very strange situation,' added the most winning skipper in America’s Cup history.

'Those of us who witnessed that event, would like to preserve it that way', he added. 'We want to race under rules that are much fairer to all competitors and provide a close Match. That is what most people want to see again.'

Ellison made an interesting point when he made the commitment that if BMW Oracle Racing did have to go to Court - and were successful - and had to sail a Deed of Gift Challenge in 2008 - and won. Then, 'we would come back to Valencia in 2009 to defend that Cup'

'Our goal is to have an open design rule where all of the teams collaborate on the Class Rule and get back to the great racing we had in the last Cup and get rid of this one-sided Protocol.'

'At any time Alinghi can change this (ACC) design Rule. Every single Challenger is upset by this Protocol, there has never been anything like it.'

In another interesting comment on the hosting of future America’s Cups by Valencia, Ellison made the comment that 'Obviously the America’s Cup is not going to be for free. It is going to cost the Host City something, however the commercial terms that Valencia has already put on the table, we find completely acceptable.'

Turning to the strength of BMW Oracle’s Court case, Ellison commented that they would have not have gone to Court if they did not believe they had a strong case. 'We think that the Challenger of Record is not a yacht club as envisioned by the Deed of Gift. It was a few days old when they challenged for the America’s Cup; they had never held a regatta of any kind; and they were not a recognised yacht club with the Spanish Federation of Yacht Clubs.'

'It was clear that this yacht club was created for the purpose of accepting this one sided Protocol.'

Ellison said that he had tried to speak by phone with Alinghi’s Ernesto Bertarelli to discuss the Protocol, but could not reach agreement.

Returning to his theme of the Protocol allowing a Challenger to be unilaterally forced from regatta, Ellison added: 'It is very difficult for us to make the investment along with our sponsors to go into a race where Alinghi can suddenly decide to dismiss us, or send us away, with no reason. That is just one of the things. There are many others. I don’t think that any team has any chance of winning under this Protocol, other than Alinghi. So why would you race under this Protocol?'

Coutts took the floor again responding to questions on his role which he qualified by saying that he wanted to put in place an structure that would cope with the daily on-shore operations leaving him free to concentrate on the sailing and development of the boats which is the part of the America’s Cup which he enjoys the most. 'I really want to get out on the water again,' he explained.

Coutts said he was at a loss to explain why Alinghi were behaving the way they had done since winning the 32nd Match. 'What I do know is that Alinghi have won the last two Cups by designing better and sailing better. And that’s what we will be trying to achieve with BMW Oracle', he added.