America's Cup: "A pretty pumped-up story"

It sounds like the stuff of which America's Cup thrillers have often been made: A defender wins in brilliant style, turns a 1:8 score against the strong challengers from New Zealand into a 9:8 victory, impresses the world with a century comeback - and is then convicted of cheating years later. However, it is not quite as easy as former Wall Street reporter G. Bruce Knecht suggests in his new book "The Comeback" to establish any offence committed by the American Oracle Team USA in the 34th Cup duel against Emirates Team New Zealand.

At the heart of the accusation is the repeatedly discussed "pumping" in sailing performance sports, whereby additional propulsion is generated with the help of a planned, multiple sails moved in quick succession. Depending on the class and regatta rules, this "pumping" is sometimes permitted (such as in Olympic windsurfing) and sometimes not. In his argument, the author of "The Comeback" accuses the Americans of "pumping" in contravention of the rules. In the 34th America's Cup, the crew deployed their wing sail in this way, i.e. they opened it slightly from the optimum position to the wind and then closed it again, repeating this process several times and as quickly as possible.

The author assumes that this "pumping" was prohibited under the rules of the 34th America's Cup. According to his argument, the boat's propulsion should have been generated exclusively by the "normal" interaction of the boat with wind and water. The crew should have used the wingsail, rudder, centreboards and hull to optimum effect, but should not have "pumped" in a deliberate and planned manner. Knecht admits in his book that Oracle's technological optimisation of the boat, the crew change (Sir Ben Ainslie replaced the hapless US tactician John Kostecki) and the unconditional will to win combined with a willingness to take risks were further reasons for the comeback of the century and the sporting rebirth of Larry Ellison's team. But he maintains the accusation of fraud.

However, experts may not follow Knecht's reasoning. Their reasoning is as simple as Knecht's: the rules of the 34th America's Cup did not explicitly prohibit "pumping". They merely stipulated: "A yacht shall only be allowed to increase, maintain or reduce her speed by using wind and water. Her crew may adjust the wing sail, sails, rudders, centreboards and hulls or perform other sailing actions ..."

This seems to make it clear that although no engines, paddles or other non-sailing methods of acceleration were permitted, the boat's existing equipment could be used to trim the yacht. The rules did not contain any additional restrictions on the subject of "trim" at the time. "I think the author's whole construct is a pretty inflated story," says two-time America's Cup participant Tim Kröger, "it's a bit of a conspiracy theory. Who seriously believes that Jimmy Spithill would talk publicly in an interview about pumping his team if it had been forbidden?"