America's Cup- Artemis claim ongoing uncertainty despite Jury decision
by Richard Gladwell on 14 Jul 2013
Artemis Racing’s Sailing Director, Iain Percy polishing a daggerboard - Artemis Racing - Media Tour of Alameda base, July 7, 2013 Sander van der Borch / Artemis Racing
http://www.sandervanderborch.com
After the end of the day's racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup, Artemis Racing issued a media statement updating on their state of progress towards competing in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
At this stage their most likely option appears to be to start in the Semi-Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup, and on the basis of the forfeited races and today's results would be competing against Luna Rossa.
The statement from Artemis Racing reads:
Following the Jury ruling, which leaves uncertainty with respect to the event and Artemis Racing's position in the competition, the Regatta Director started discussions with the teams and the US Coast Guard. Artemis Racing is supportive of these efforts.
On Thursday, ETNZ offered a solution that would enable all teams to comply with the Safety Recommendations so not to put the US Coast Guard permit in jeopardy. Artemis Racing welcomed the ETNZ solution to support the event and Artemis Racing in its current challenge. Unfortunately, not all teams supported ETNZ's offer and the current state of the race for the team remains in question.
Artemis Racing continues to progress towards racing. Today, we have completed the structural testing of our boat. Final assembly will take place next week with the goal of getting on the water by the end of next week. Our entire team has been working tirelessly for two months and we are all eager to race. We will keep supporting the America's Cup.
It should be noted that in the Jury's Decision, the Regatta Director Iain Murray was ordered by the Jury to start discussions with the US Coast Guard with a direct interface to all the teams, and not via the Golden Gate Yacht Club, as effectively that body has a conflict of interest as Event Sponsor and Defender (paragraphs 158 and 159 of the Decision)
Further it was recorded in the 23 page Decision (at paragraphs 84 and 85) that the US Coast Guard's role does not 'does not include imposing design regulations on the event participants'
Further there would seem little risk of the already issued permit being 'placed in jeopardy' given that the Permit adjustment process stated by the US Coast Guard to the International Jury is described in the Decision as: The USCG stated that they do not dictate what is in a Safety Plan and if a component of a Safety Plan could not be implemented, it was incumbent upon the Event Sponsors to communicate with USCG.
This would not immediately affect the status of the Marine Event Permit but the event sponsor through consultation would need to restore the USCG’s confidence in the Safety Plan. This would require the Event Sponsor to detail how that issue would be mitigated in respect of risk and there would be further review by USCG
Earlier Artemis Racing claimed that it had modified Rudders on the basis of the Safety recommendations without waiting for the actual publication of the Class Rules, and that the team now had practical issues with being able to compete in the Regatta, under the reverted version of the AC72 Class Rules.
While Emirates Team New Zealand may be comfortable with granting a dispensation, assuming that is actually possible within the constraints of the Protocol, Luna Rossa have always taken the consistent line that they believe all competitors should comply with the same rules, particularly as it would seem likely that they will be the opponent for Artemis Racing if they are ready in time for the Semi-Final.
The full Jury Decision can be read by http://noticeboard.americascup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/JN075.pdf!clicking_here
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