INEOS Team UK's Britannia returns from a long training session on Course A. Photo: Richard Gladwell
OPINION:
By Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz
The impasse over shared course use between the defender and challenger comes as no surprise to long-time America's Cup followers.
It has surfaced in the 2013 and 2017 America's Cups - in both instances to try and gain some competitive or psychological advantage over Team New Zealand.
Predictably the challengers for the 2021 America's Cup once again tried to work the angles on this course use - and managed to portray Team New Zealand as the villains, and triggering a media firestorm.
That puts the Kiwi team management under pressure as it is forced to defend against friendly fire and screaming headlines.
For the past 30 years Team New Zealand has always stood between any other team and winning the America's Cup. The tactic of disruption is an easy one to play against the Kiwis given their high domestic profile and government backing. It is guaranteed to grab Kiwi media attention - with the bonus of being a distraction for team management.
Ports of Auckland was asking for trouble when in a letter dated January 29, 2020, they proposed a scenario to be discussed at the "On Water" stakeholder meeting scheduled the following day.
A fundamental aspect of any selection system in sailing is that the selection races be held in conditions approximating the venue, or ideally at the venue itself.
The point missed by the Ports of Auckland proposal is that one of the Challengers will be eliminated at the end of the Semi-Final phase on February 2 - after just ten days racing. They are surely entitled, given the cost and effort to compete, to have the opportunity to race on all courses that could be used for the America's Cup, and not a sub-set convenient for the port company.
The Protocol reflects this principle in Article 3.1 "In January / February 2021, COR shall organise and conduct a Challenger Selection Series for all Challengers ("CSS"), at the venue of the Match and within the course areas of the Match".
The Port suggested that the "Prada Cup round-robin races are restricted to Race courses A, D or E. Race courses B & C cannot be used for these races."
(To recap, Course A is off Takapuna Beach, Course B is in the Rangitoto Channel, Course C - expected to be the main or Stadium Course runs between Bastion Point and North Head, Course D runs up the southern side of Rangitoto, and Course E is off Eastern Beach.)
The Deed of Gift for the America's Cup has always allowed challenger and defender to make agreements on race arrangements between themselves under what is known as "mutual consent".
Nick Hill, Independent Chair of the AC36 Joint Chief Executive Group, and CEO of Auckland Council's Event and Economic Development Agency confirmed that such an agreement was made when the courses were agreed by all parties including the Challenger of Record and Defender in February 2020. That contradicts claims by the Challenger of Record that they only knew of the arrangement more than six months later in September.
"The uses of the courses and the parameters around their use were agreed to by all of the agencies, including the Challenger of Record representative and the Defender in February," Hill said in a written statement earlier this month.
Six weeks after the February meeting, where the course use agreement was signed off, the senior management team in challenger event organisers, COR36 were replaced including CEO, Marketing Director and the Communications Director.
There has been a further change in the organisation team for the Challengers - and they are now believed to be on their third iteration of management.
Seven months later, the matter came before the Arbitration Panel. COR36 tried to wind back the February 2020 agreement and sought an order for the challenger and defender organisations (CoR36 and America's Cup Event Ltd) to approach Ports of Auckland and the Harbourmaster to "explore the possibility of allowing the use of race Courses B & C during all races of the Prada Cup".
The challengers' concern was that while the Round Robins and Semi-final of the Prada Cup were being raced off Takapuna or Eastern Beach, Team New Zealand could take the opportunity of a couple of weeks exclusive practice on the Stadium course.
In an unusual 2-1 decision, the Arbitration Panel felt they had little option but to uphold the provisions of the Protocol, which in Article 3.4, provides the course area "shall be shared equally between the Challengers (50%) and the Defender (50%) as managed by the Regatta Director."
The Arb Panel's decision left the way open for Ports of Auckland and the Harbourmaster to withdraw their suggestion on the limited use of courses B and C for the Round Robin and Semi-Final phase of the Prada Cup.
It is not clear why the Arb Panel did not just hand the issue to the Regatta Director, to consult parties and make a decision as authorised in the Protocol.
While the Challengers may have a point in their interpretation of the Protocol, they are attacking a straw man.
Any of the defender and challenger teams can practice on Courses B and C. They can do so now, and at any time up to the start of the Prada Cup in mid-January.
The Stadium Course will be available for racing in the Christmas Cup/America's Cup World Series Regatta in mid-December.
It is not credible to argue that Team New Zealand after sailing America's Cup Class boats in the Course C area for over 30 years could pick up some match-winning local knowledge in the 30 hours of access spread over ten days of Round Robin and Semi-Final racing for the Prada Cup.
The windfall competitive gain from the Arb Panel's decision for the Challengers is that they don't have to learn the nuances of tricky Course C, and can concentrate on the more straight forward Courses A and E, where they currently train. Courses B and D were unlikely to ever come into play for reasons of wind direction and sea-room.
The point that seems to have been ignored is that the Regatta Director, Iain Murray, is responsible under the Protocol to decide where racing is going to be held.
The Arbitration Panel asked Murray for his view. Part of his proposed course of action Murray said that if the Port company and Harbourmaster's prohibition on Course B and C remained in place for the Round Robin and semi-finals, then Team New Zealand would also be blocked from using Courses B and C from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm on each race day.
Team New Zealand later agreed to this exclusion.
The simple solution is for Harbourmaster to withdraw the Round Robin and Semi-Final prohibition on use for the Stadium courses in the Prada Cup. It then falls to the Regatta Director to decide on which of the five courses areas to be used the evening before racing (as he advised the Arbitration Panel) – and after consulting the Harbourmaster, weather forecasts and whatever else he considers relevant.
Auckland will be Iain Murray's third America's Cup regatta as Regatta Director. The highly experienced Australian did an excellent job in Bermuda and worked under some very difficult, and tragic, circumstances in San Francisco. As a teenager, Murray won back to back 12ft and 18ft skiff titles on the Stadium course skippering boats he designed and built.
Maybe it is time the City and Port officials stepped back and left the Regatta Director to do the job and make the decisions with which he has been tasked under the Protocol.
The next step in their evolution is increasing the precision in the final third.