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VALENCIA - Alinghi today described Team New Zealand's protest against the mainsail release system on their America's Cup yacht as a "a waste of time".
But Team NZ boss Grant Dalton said a minority of the five-person international jury in Valencia thought differently and his syndicate simply wanted
a level playing field.
In a majority decision, the jury, chaired by Briton Bryan Willis, dismissed a protest which was lodged by Team NZ, rather than the measurement committee.
Despite the decision being ruled in his team's favour, Alinghi syndicate head Ernesto Bertarelli told reporters the protest was "frivolous and a waste of time".
Alinghi design team co-ordinator Grant Simmer said it was the measurement committee that was charged with making sure the boats complied with the rules.
"If a competitor can put in a protest basically disrespecting the role of the measurement committee, we're going to end up with anarchy in this sport."
Simmer said the issue under protest would not have affected the result of any of the four races sailed so far.
"It wasted our time, it wasted the time of our crew who had to be here instead of having a day off," he said.
"They either accept the role of the measurement committee or they don't accept the role of the measurment committee."
But Dalton said some of the jury members came to a different conclusion than their colleagues on the panel.
"It was not universal at all that they had not broken the rule," he said.
Asked if the protest was frivolous and a waste of time, Dalton replied: "A minority did not think it was a waste of time.
"We just want to make sure it's a level playing field."
He agreed that the system Alinghi had on their boat did not affect the result of the last race. It was after that race that the matter arose, when chief measurer Ken McAlpine asked both crews to do a test drop of their mainsail.
"No, they beat us fair and square but that was not the point," Dalton said.
"We were both asked to perform a procedure which we complied with and once we reviewed the television footage, we thought there were questions to be answered so we went to the jury which is the only mechanism to do so."
The jury, in its decision after a five-hour hearing, said it was not satisfied that Alinghi broke an America's Cup class rule requiring crews to be able to lower their mast without sending a person aloft.
It left it to the discretion of the measurement committee to take any further steps it felt necessary to ensure yachts complied with the rule.
The jury's decision means Alinghi's 30-second victory in race four stands and the score remains at 2-2 in the best-of-nine series.
Race five is due to be sailed early tomorrow (NZ time).
The rule was formulated for safety reasons and McAlpine, in what the jury described as a normal post-race check, asked both crews to drop their mainsail without a man at the top of the mast.
Team NZ lowered their mainsail from the deck but Alinghi sent crewman Pieter van Nieuwenhuyzen to the masthead before releasing theirs.
The procedure was caught on television and the protest was lodged by Team NZ and not the regatta's measurement committee.
The jury said Alinghi had asked the measurer who boarded SUI100 if they could send a man up the mast to fix a halyard (rope), which would not be put under tension, to the mainsail.
The reason was to prevent the sail from being damaged if it came down uncontrollably.
The jury said the measurer agreed to the request and van Niewenhuyzen went up the mast, attached the halyard and held his arms out to show he wasn't assisting or interfering in the process.
The halyard lock was tripped, the mainsail was lowered and the measurer was satified with what he witnessed.
However, the televison footage showed van Niewenhuyzen's foot making contact with the mainsail as he swung around the mast with the boat rolling in the unsettled sea state, the jury said.
The pictures prompted Team NZ to question whether van Niewenhuyzen had interfered in the process.
- NZPA
