Anguished America's Cup measurement document released by Challenger
by Richard Gladwell on 1 Oct 2009
USA measures just 89.9ft beam and 113.3ft overall according to her Certificate of Documentation BMW Oracle Racing Photo Gilles Martin-Raget
http://www.bmworacleracing.com
BMW Oracle racing have released the Customs House Registry certificate for the yacht USA which they named in their America's Cup Challenge in July 2007.
After obtaining another 'victory' in the New York Supreme Court, last week, which permitted the US team to delay until two weeks before the start of the 33rd America's Cup in Ras al-Khaimah UAE, BMW Oracle Racing have just released the certificate, now known as her Certificate of Documentation.
The document has long been sought by the America's Cup Defender, Societe Nautique de Geneve, who had been requesting that it be provided for many months before the New York Court of Appeal confirmed that Golden Gate Yacht Club was the valid Challenger.
The Deed of Gift for the America's Cup requires that the Challenger provide the Customs House Registry 'as soon as possible'. At one point the Swiss club wanted the certificate furnished at two weeks notice, or USA would face disqualification. The New York Supreme Court did not entirely buy that line of reasoning, saying initially that GGYC would be disqualified if it were not provided as soon as possible, and then in the decision of 22 September 2009 deciding that this meant anytime up to a fortnight before the start of the regatta.
Many will find it hard to understand why SNG were so vociferous in their legal pursuit of the document. It shows that, as most expected, USA is about 115ft overall (113.3ft according to the Certificate) and with a beam of 89.9ft - just under the 90ft stated on the Notice of Challenge. Depth is measured as 7.5ft, however this is somewhat irrelevant.
The vexed Load Water Line measurement is not notated on the document, as this is not a required dimension for the COD/CHR.
A tonnage is stated however this is a calculated measurement and not a measured weight.
As Defender, Societe Nautique de Geneve is not required under the Deed of Gift to provide a Customs House Registry document for the yacht, Alinghi 5, current en route to Ras al-Khaimah.
The paucity of measured data is similar to that on the 1988 Certificate provided by KZ-1 the 130ft monohull used by Mercury Bay Boating Club in their Big Boat Challenge. This degree of minimal information would have been known to SNG, as it was for other observers, throughout SNG's litigation. It would be expected that more information about USA could have been gleaned from Alinghi's own espionage efforts and many hundreds of high quality, publicly available photos on the BMW Oracle Racing website.
The next issue in this process is likely to be the actual measurement of USA by the SNG/ISAF appointed measurer, after the Rules issue currently under litigation and possible Appeal is finally resolved.
The dimensions of USA can be altered before the 33rd America's Cup, however a new certificate will need to be produced - a process which takes about a month. But it is expected that the dimensions of USA will not change significantly, as that would open another, and much more fruitful, area of legal argument.
In an http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Gladwells-Line:-Alinghi-goes-fishing-in-the-Americas-Cup/56402!earlier_commentaries, Sail-World's USA/New Zealand Editor described the exercise as 'a fishing expedition, not unknown in the America's Cup, designed to corner the Challenger, or extract some small advantage, from the Golden Gate Yacht Club.'
Today, the Defender would appear to have landed their fish, which is smaller than expected, but may be able to be fattened into something more useful in the Measuring phase of the 33rd America's Cup.
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