For the Record!

News
07.08.2008 (13:00 CET) - Valencia (ES) - Alinghi
Once issued, the Protocol was progressively amended and developped together with the entered challengers.

With misinterpretation still lingering in part of the America’s Cup community, Brad Butterworth, Alinghi team skipper, gives the following explanations in a bid to clear up any confusion once and for all:

Race officials
BB: “As in the previous edition of the America’s Cup, they would have been ISAF race officials and umpires. However, the uncertainty caused by the legal case prevented their nomination.”

The Jury
BB: “The three member America’s Cup Arbitration Panel consists of Professor Henry Peter (Switzerland), Graham McKenzie (New Zealand) and Luis María Cazorla Prieto (Spain). Both McKenzie and Peter served on the Jury of the 32nd America’s Cup, agreed back then with BMW Oracle. Peter was also a member of the 31st America's Cup Arbitration Panel in New Zealand and Luis María Cazorla Prieto was nominated together with the CNEV.”

Defender racing in the Challenger Selection Series
BB: “This is a result of an attempt to curb costs. The idea was to have a one-boat campaign to aid entries, but the Defender also needs to race to get a measure of where it is at versus the competition. It did this in the 32nd America’s Cup Acts and the resounding agreement was that it was of equal benefit to the challengers.”

Club Náutico Español de Vela
BB: “It has been ruled an adequate yacht club by the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court. Following the success in Valencia and the Desafío Español's excellent results, the Defender wanted a Spanish yacht club as Challenger of Record. CNEV was formed in 2007 to become the Challenger of Record because BMW Oracle caused such a fuss over the Spanish team representing a Federation last time round. It is a legitimate yacht club and it has a proper annual regatta as it should.”

Class Rule
“The new AC90 rule was defined together with the challengers. The latter decided the displacement to guarantee no Defender design advantage.”

Conclusion“The Protocol was clearly not perfect. AC Management, the SNG and Alinghi made some mistakes in launching it without proper explanation but the errors in communication and wording were corrected by working through the document with the entered challengers. The process is no different to that of the 32nd America’s Cup, when the Protocol was amended 14 times between 2003 and 2007 to achieve the best possible event.”