Spying on another team is actually forbidden in the America's Cup. However, as it would never be completely controllable, it was limited to a distance of 200 metres. This means that no team is allowed to come within 200 metres of the other team without permission. However, this apparently happened at the beginning of November 2012.
In any case, the Italian challenger had lodged a protest with the International Jury against Oracle Team USA for violating this rule. Matt Mason, a member of the US team, had taken photos of the Italian cat from a distance of less than 200 metres.
The jury has now ruled in favour of the Italians: the ten photos must be handed over and the team will also receive a fine of five cancelled training days and 15,200 US dollars. The latter is likely to hurt the US team more, as it had already lost the first important training period due to the rollover during training and subsequent breakage of the catalytic converter. These further five cancelled days at the end of the second permitted training phase, exactly from 26 to 30 April, will put additional pressure on the development programme.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
