This was to be expected: Six days after the collision between Team Guyot and Charlie Enright's US team 11th Hour Racing shortly after the start of leg seven, the Ocean Race organisers have finally announced a date for the jury hearing. The Americans' application for compensation is to be heard on 29 June in Genoa. Not only the applicants themselves and the parties responsible for the crash have been invited, but also all other Ocean Race teams.
The procedure was announced by Ocean Race Director Phil Lawrence late in the evening of 21 June. The official statement says that "the World Sailing International Jury has provisionally scheduled the hearing for the 11th Hour Racing Team's application for redress for 10.00 am on 29 June". The hearing will take place in person in Genoa. This makes sense as the applicants and all other teams invited to the hearing will not reach the Italian Ocean Race finish port with the leg seven showdown until 27 or 28 June.
The aim is to find the fairest possible solution for everyone
The Ocean Race statement continues: "As the outcome of the 11th Hour Racing Team hearing may affect the entire fleet, the International Jury is committed to making the fairest possible ruling for all boats affected and would therefore like to give the entire Imoca fleet the right to be present at the hearing to present their views and ask questions."
The Ocean Race organisers further state: "Accordingly, the International Jury, acting in accordance with the International Rules of Sailing 60.3(b), will at the same time make amends to Team Holcim - PRB, Team Malizia, Biotherm and Guyot Environnement - Team Europe after the collision at the start of stage seven. The incident resulted in both the 11th Hour Racing Team and Guyot Envrionnement - Team Europe finishing the stage with damage and the 11th Hour Racing Team subsequently applying for compensation."
11th Hour Racing chases after the Imoca fleet
What happens in the meantime: Team Guyot is sailing towards its home port in France. However, the crew will be in the final harbour of Genoa for the finale. At the same time, the 11th Hour Racing Team is on course for Genoa after a lightning repair of its Imoca "Mālama". The Americans, who have officially abandoned leg seven, are attempting to reach the Italian finish port by 30 June by transferring their boat back to Genoa in order to rejoin the fleet there and compete in the last port race of this 14th edition of the Ocean Race on 1 July.
The International Jury confirmed by World Sailing consists of six members. It is chaired by the Spaniard Andres Perez. The other members are Chris Atkins from Great Britain, Pauline Den Burger from the Netherlands, Line Buhl from Denmark, George Priol from France and Sofia Truchanowicz from Poland. An application for redress is a familiar procedure in sailing when teams are disadvantaged by incidents at regattas through no fault of their own.
Racing rules 62.1 and 64.3 are relevant
The relevant section in the Racing Rules of Sailing is rule 62.1, which states, among other things, as follows: "A request for redress or a protest committee's decision to consider redress shall be based on an allegation or possibility that a result or placing of a boat in a race or series has been or may be materially prejudiced through no fault of her own by (...) injury or physical harm resulting from the action of a boat that has broken a rule (...) and has received an appropriate penalty or been penalised (...)."
The process is linked to rule 64.3 on decisions on redress: "If the protest committee decides that a boat is entitled to redress under rule 62, it shall find the fairest possible settlement for all boats concerned, whether or not they have asked for redress. This may mean adjusting the scoring (see rule A9 for some examples) or finishing times of the boats, cancelling the race, allowing the results to stand or making some other arrangement (...)."
Nobody wanted this to happen, but everyone has to cope with it
The decision of the International Jury on the application for redress will be communicated as soon as possible after a judgement has been reached. It will be of crucial importance for the 14th The Ocean Race. For the first time, in the 50th anniversary year of the most important race around the world, its outcome will be decided at the green table. Nobody has wished for this exceptional case. Everyone has to come to terms with it.
How the sailing teams will deal with this can be discussed in the final days of the current leg. On leg seven, the teams Holcim - PRB, Biotherm and Malizia are currently leading the Strait of Gibraltar. The Swiss are still defending their lead with just under twelve nautical miles ahead of the French. Boris Herrmann's team Malizia has been able to make up ground after losing ground in days of fluky conditions and had only 27 nautical miles to make up on the leaders at midday on 22 June.
New hope for Team Malizia
Team Holcim had the lead up to the finish PRB still had 940 nautical miles to complete on leg day six. The Swiss were travelling at a brisk 17 knots on Thursday. Team Malizia, however, had recently achieved higher speeds than their rivals over 24 hours and sailed closer to the Rhumbline on the Gibraltar-Nadelöhr course. Boris Herrmann and his team could benefit from a shift to the left and increasing winds in their race to catch up.
