Jochen Schümann is like many America's Cup fans: he has long since had enough of the new America's Cup, which is sliding from one crisis to the next and has caused lasting damage to the reputation of the oldest and most famous sailing regatta in the world.
This is now also the judgement of the five-member Cup jury, chaired by Australian David Tillett, which has imposed harsh penalties on Oracle Team USA as a result of illegal manipulation of its AC45 boats: Three team members have been banned for the remainder of the 34th Cup cycle, while others have been warned or given time bans (see YACHT online "Cupgate: cheating and lying").
Jochen Schümann told YACHT online: "I'm surprised that it was done so consistently. The two minus points don't really matter, because one team will be so clearly superior to the other in the final that there will be a clear result anyway."
The three-time Olympic champion's verdict: "It's good that an example is being made here! We want to be a clean and fascinating sport, and then a few people drag the sport into the mud like this. The worst thing is the bad image that the Cup has presented for the last two years. That's bitter! Larry Ellison can no longer feel comfortable. And we can only hope that it will soon be over and that the America's Cup will recover from this edition. It probably won't take much longer than ten days ..."
