Illegal routing in the EDS

We look at what is known and conclude there has either been a misunderstanding or someone is lying

Controversy has been flaming in the EDS Atlantic Challenge following Josh Hall's protest against Ellen MacArthur and Mike Golding for allegedly cheating. The proceedings have been exacerbated because of question marks left when the protest was thrown out without a hearing and because the allegations taint the otherwise impeccable reputation of two of Britain's leading solo sailors Mike Golding and Ellen MacArthur.

On 24 July the EDS Atlantic Challenge boats were slightly more than halfway across the Atlantic on the race's third leg from Portsmouth to Baltimore.

On this day Josh Hall, skipper of Gartmore, had put a call through to Jenifer Clark, renown as the world expert on the Gulf Stream, who runs the internet site Jenifer Clark's Gulfstream. During this conversation Clark told Hall that she had already supplied information about the Gulf Stream to Kingfisherand to Ecover. This was repeated to another crewmember later and to the boat in an email. It is not clear whether during these conversations Clark stipulated when she had been in contact with the two boats.

After some deliberation and discussion with his crew Hall lodged what he later described as his first protest in 20 years of offshore racing. However it was not until a week later, after Gartmore had crossed the finish line that the EDS Atlantic Challenge's jury put through their decision. Hall's protest was thrown out on a technicality - it had not been placed within four hours of witnessing the infringement and lodging the protest, a point which Hall later claimed he could prove was not the case.

Two days after hearing that the protest had been thrown out Hall issued a statement to madforsailing and the American e-letter Scuttlebutt among others. In this he re-emphasised the serious nature of his protest and how he would be taking his protest to a higher authority. However because an international jury is employed to look after protests for the EDS Atlantic Challenge their decision is final and in the racing community there is no higher authority to take a protest to.

Hall's statement was ill-judged because it made accusations without providing hard evidence, nor does it name Jenifer Clark. However in it Hall maintains his accusations and says he feels like his protest has been whitewashed. In particular he accuses Jenifer Clark of giving the international jury a different story to the one she gave him. "Her explanation to the race committee is totally different to that which she had given us on the phone before and, interestingly, matched Kingfisher's response."

The Kingfisher team ardently maintain their innocence saying that one of Clark's tidal atlases, available to EDS Atlantic Challenge skippers for $300 and giving predictions for the flow of the Gulf Stream had been ordered by their navigator Adrienne Cahalan some time prior to the start. This had arrived by email at around 0300 on the morning of the Portsmouth start well before the late afternoon gun. " Kingfisher had routing information , but we had it before the race," Ellen MacArthur told madforsailing. "As far we're concerned we've done nothing wrong. This has been blown up out of all proportions."

"The team on Kingfisher can without ambiguity, without any question, with no grey area, swear on oath, that they have in no way infringed any rules at any time," commented Mark Turner, Kingfisher's project director who was sailing on board at the time the protest was filed.

Hall's evidence has yet to made public and there are still many issues that this raises. What was Hall doing contacting Jenifer Clark in the middle of the leg? Could this be construed as weather routing?

Mark Turner has a theory that the international jury made their decision to spare Hall embarrassment. "The jury may have viewed his protest form, realised that he was implicating himself and wanted to avoid disqualifying him and maybe other boats from the race." He believes that the protest should have been heard. "By not hearing it this situation has been allowed to gather momentum. It is a shame for all of us."

At present there are a lot of loose ends surrounding this. Josh must explain why he telephoned Jenifer Clark mid-race. He must also produce the evidence that Jenifer Clark changed her story by producing her original email to the boat. At present Mike Golding is unavailable for comment, must also answer Hall's allegations.

Gartmore, Ecover and Kingfisher are due to finish in Boston later this evening. Hopefully we will have more answers after this.