Coutts admits rival boat in clear

An America's Cup challenger craft rammed by a support boat was playing by the rules, Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts admitted yesterday.

Chris Main from Japan's Nippon Challenge syndicate told the New Zealand Herald that he feared for his safety when a Team NZ chase boat rammed his craft in the Hauraki Gulf last week.

Main, a 24-year-old Aucklander, said he had been abiding by cup protocols, which stipulated that craft should not venture within 200m of competitors' yachts.

The incident followed jibes about his sailing for the Japanese, he said.

Coutts said on radio yesterday that Main's rubber boat "wasn't within the 200m rule at that time" of the incident.

However, both the Nippon Challenge and the New York Yacht Club syndicates had been doing "what we would deem as shadowing," which was against regulations, he said.

"I think what they're trying to do is stir up some issues about Team NZ because really there haven't been any issues with Team NZ."

Nippon Challenge syndicate manager Terry Newby said that if Main had contravened a rule there were procedures in place to deal with it. "They're just trying to intimidate him."