Your feedback

Reaction to the latest machinations in the America's Cup and a word on ACCBank Cork Week

'Hurrah' and 'I think its great what is going on with the America's Cup' and 'the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court seem like a smart bunch of guys' are sentiments not in our mailbox following the ruling yesterday from New York flipping the 33rd America's Cup back from being a two horse race in one hundred and something foot long multihulls to Alnighi's heavily biased towards themselves affair originally proposed shortly after thier winning the 32nd America's Cup last July:

Ross Bateson sends this:

Phenomenally, the appeal court misunderstood the point of the DoG once again. I fail to understand how hard it is to read a sentence of English in context.

"Having for its annual regatta an ocean water course on the sea" refers to the need to have a water course on the sea on which to hold ones regatta. It was supposed to exclude the Canadian lake sailors that Schuyler believed were off too poor a quality to compete for the Cup. CNEV has a water course, and is thus valid and entirely within the DoG spirit as written by Schuyler. Alinghi's puppet it may be, but entirely compliant with the DoG.

The Deed also includes the provision that a club with the aforementioned has the right to sail, not challenge, for the Cup. Thus the Desafio regatta, which could have been held several years by the time the Cup match was sailed, would have qualified CNEV anyway.

However, the fact that SNG was wrongly allowed to enter into the 2000 Cup without a water course rather put paid to Larry. Mercury Bay, Justice Cahn, now the appelate court have failed to understand what the DoG is talking about.

Either way, it is undoubtedly a blessing that the god-awful money match between two stubborn billionaires trying to use nothing but money to win the Cup has the potential to be over. It remains to be seen whether Alinghi will have learnt anything from this experience and develop a superior protocol. Otherwise I doubt this is the last we will have heard from the courts!


thedailysail editor's former employer at Yachting World, Dick Johnson, writes:

Who cares? It’s just two obscenely rich men in a pissing contest. If they weren’t screwing up our sport in the eyes of everyone else we ought to just ignore them.

Can’t the RYS take it back and start all over again?

Ben Lexcen was right! Flatten the damn thing and turn it into a hubcap!


James Davies writes:

I can't imagine Formula 1 ever spending this much time and effort arguing about whether or not to accept a team. They would simply welcome a new team on the basis that it would increase public interest in the sport and correspondingly media interest and advertising revenue.

Perhaps Larry could stop trying to make sure the Cup is on his own terms having failed to win it twice and concentrate on putting together a campaign that can win the cup on any terms.


Matthew Armstrong sends this:

I read the first paragraph of this report then I have to say I gave up reading. While this is very very sad it is also becoming incredibly boring watching the ‘who has got the best lawyer’ show. I’m looking forward to the Volvo Ocean Race and the Vendee Globe, two awesome, well run, world class yachting events, everything that the America's cup once was, sadly not anymore.


John from London writes:

The Appellate Court ruling is just another example showing that the basis for the America's Cup is no longer fit for purpose in modern times. The sailing world needs a competition like the AC, but it's now time to start a new one, with a new constitution.


From China Alistair Skinner writes:

While professional sailors who depend on the likes of The America’s Cup for their income, and the others financially effected by the current hiatus will be similarly delighted, and understand I have sympathy for them, I have to admit disappointment in the decision of the appellate court.

I am open to correction but as I read the decision, any group of people and 5 seems to be a sufficient number, who don’t have a boat between them, can set up an organization, call it a yacht club, get it recognised by someone, promise to hold a regatta and they qualify as a legitimate challenger.

So the defender, in this case SNG, through its nominated team Alinghi, has to start putting together a defense against a challenge that has nothing to lose in terms of reputation.

Can you imagine a New York Yacht Club, a Royal Yacht Squadron or a Yacht Club du Monaco putting forward a challenge where there was any chance of them bringing their club’s reputation into doubt?

If you have a bunch of 5 people, and I am not doubting the credentials of the individuals, only the club, what reputation does that club have to lose?

Not only that, should the challenger ultimately fail to appear at the start line due to loss of appetite, lack of funding or any other reason the defender cannot afford to damage THEIR reputation by not appearing. Imagine how hard it would be for the defending club to find a team the next time a challenge appeared on the table.

A class of ‘risk’ insurance at Lloyds perhaps?

There are clubs which have entered in the past that, to this day, have still to hold their “annual” regatta so this element of the Deed of Gift is impossible to police ‘after the fact’.

Victory in the appellate court or not, it is obvious to sailors the world over that the ‘spirit’ of The Cup,( if not the legality -in the view of 60% of the appellate court panel- of the challenge) is in question and should CNEV ultimately race against SNG instead of GGYC then no matter who wins that particular challenge, the ultimate loser will be the reputation and status of The America’s Cup itself.

Stuart Brown makes a very valid point:

To have an annual regatta would surely mean that a second regatta had already been held approximately 12 months from a first regatta?


And finally looking back to ACCBank Cork Week Phil Lawrence has this to report:

Just a few quick thoughts on Cork Week where I was racing on a Farr 45 which shared the same track as Class Super Zero & Zero:

Good:

- Plenty of racy hardware on show in the big boat fleets with Numbers, Moneypenny & Rambler headlining a good entry of TP 52s and Farr 45s
- Big competitive fleets of J109s and SB3s
- The coastal race, which can be a long, slow and boring particularly for the smaller boats, was dropped this year
- The drop in entries (of which more later) made mooring up and generally getting around the site much easier than in previous years.
- The trapezoid course worked a treat for separating the fleet sharing courses, giving the big boats a great days racing in 18 to 20 knots on Tuesday
- And of course our Irish friends always provide friendly hospitality and a great ‘craic’

Bad:
- The race management was at best ‘patchy’:
- The race team for the classic harbour course must have just been running a super maxi series: On Monday they started the big boats in no wind on a course with 24 miles of fetching round the bay before actually entering the harbour - Only Super Zero made it round with the rest being shortened outside the harbour. They went one better on Tuesday where they set a similar course for the J/109s and despite 18-20 knots of wind; no boats could finish the course (again shortened outside the harbour) within the time limit! – The jury was called upon to find an equitable resolution.
- The new ‘slalom’ course consisting of a beat followed by a series of reaches downwind was a flop, with the only passing possible downwind if the boat in front shredded its spinnaker on the tight reaches and there were several very expensive examples of this on the big boat course. The race officer on this course also spent a lot of time on Friday chastising the professional navigators & tacticians of the big boats on the radio as they attempted to get a good start on his 25 degree biased start line!
- The windward mark for the windward/leeward course was set right under the cliffs giving huge unpredictable shifts: Views varied on this between ‘interesting and challenging’ and ‘a complete lottery’ depending on how your day went!
- Even the race officer on the excellent trapezoid course kept us waiting for an hour in a steady 18knots whilst he set his course up
- The races could often have been shorter with fleets often not getting in until 6pm

My view is that Cork week just tries too hard to offer different racing every day, I would retain the classic harbour race (but inside the harbour please!) and then offer well run conventional windward/leeward and trapezoid courses on the remaining days.

The good fleets for Big Boats, J/109s and SB3s masked a really big drop in entries in other classes. The smaller keelboats have previously been the core supporters of Cork Week and the big drop off here must be a worry for the club.

Very Ugly

The security arrangements were intrusive with security staff aggressive and unhelpful. There were a couple of very unpleasant examples of over- reaction by security staff. This was a problem that Cowes Week suffered a few years ago but quickly sorted out.

But by far the biggest issue was cost, Cork has always been an expensive week, but this year it crossed the line from expensive to ‘rip-off’:
Drink prices - The club/organisers inflated the drink prices to completely unacceptable levels for the week. Despite having Heineken as a sponsor, a pint of lager was well over £4 and rum & coke nearly £6. I bought a beer at the airport bar on my way home and it was a euro cheaper than the event beer tent! Gouging your customers on drink pricing is a huge mistake if you want them to come back

Other costs were heavily inflated with accommodation at an all time high and the entry fees and crew passes alone for our Farr 45 costing close to £1,500!

The general view amongst the competitors that I spoke to was that Cork Week is pricing itself out of the market especially as Dun Laoghaire Race Week becomes a more established alternative event. That would be a shame as Cork still has plenty to offer.

What are your views on the above? Email us here