The five judges of the America's Cup Arbitration Commission have delivered a Solomonic judgement in the case of Conner and Prada v OneWorld. None of the parties involved can feel like winners or losers. The US team is once again penalised, but is allowed to continue sailing.
The verdict: OneWorld will be stripped of one win in each subsequent round for which it qualifies. This means that skipper Peter Gilmour's men will have to win five instead of four in the best-of-seven duels in the Louis Vuitton Cup in order to progress. And in a possible final against Team New Zealand, they would have to win six instead of five times to lift the Americas Cup. The team was also fined 65,000 US dollars.
The judges recognised an additional breach of Americas Cup protocol because OneWorld designer Ian Mitchell had admitted to possessing a zip disk containing design information from his former employer Team New Zealand. He also reported that he had an old computer that still contained data from the New Zealand 95 campaign. All other charges were dismissed by the commission.
This is why OneWorld feels it has been treated unfairly. "Our honesty has been penalised," says spokesman Bob Ratcliff. Designer Mitchell had voluntarily reported on the - according to him unused - backup disc. The allegations made by Conner and Prada could not be substantiated in any way. Dennis Conner expressed his understanding of the decision. But he was disappointed that the evidence that his team had gathered against OneWorld had not been sufficiently taken into account. In his opinion, there had been a clear breach of protocol and the rules. "If a team starts with design information that they shouldn't have, that gives them an advantage over their opponents who don't have that information. I don't know if OneWorld really did everything Sean Reeves says they did. How could I? But if they did, that would be a huge advantage."
For Dennis Conner, this case makes it clear that the rules of the Cup have become far too complex and difficult. "There are just too many rules. Maybe I'm just an old-timer, but we weren't used to having these rules. The protocol and especially the nationality rule is ridiculous. Maybe it's time for me to go. I'm obviously still living in the old days."
He also made clear his intention to withdraw the protest against OneWorld because of the fair sailing paragraph. The jury will have to decide whether this is admissible. However, nobody expects a different outcome than the decision of the arbitration committee. This case is due to be decided on Tuesday.
OneWorld may complain about the severity of the punishment. But the team actually got off relatively lightly. Previous duels have shown that even slight superiority has led to clear one-nil victories. It makes no difference whether OneWorld has to win five or four matches. Especially not in the possible final against Team New Zealand. It has been a long time since a final was decided by a narrow margin. If OneWorld has a superior design, it will take home the Cup, with or without penalties. However, the psychological disadvantages of the penalty should not be underestimated.
