By JULIE ASH
Swiss syndicate Alinghi appear to have moved the goal posts in an attempt to stop New Zealander Russell Coutts from joining another America's Cup team.
Coutts and Alinghi syndicate head Ernesto Bertarelli are in mediation and it seems the pair are close to going their separate ways.
However, in an attempt to try to stop the three-times cup winner from joining another team and possibly prevent key members like Brad Butterworth, Simon Daubney and Murray Jones following suit, Alinghi released a revised version of the America's Cup protocol last week.
The protocol is a list of rules which govern the America's Cup and are agreed upon by the defender and the challenger of record, which in this case is Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing.
The rule relates to crew members changing teams.
Immediately after the 2003 Cup, Alinghi relaxed the nationality rules, allowing sailors to move more freely.
At that stage a sailor could not change teams 18 months out from the next cup. In January it was altered, binding a sailor from 2006 on to any team he sailed with since the last cup. Now the protocol forbids "a person who has been contracted, engaged, paid or otherwise engaged [paid or unpaid]" by a team for 180 days since the last cup to change teams.
Which means if Coutts does not sail for Alinghi in 2007, he cannot sail in a rival team.
"I don't support the change," Coutts told Britain's Daily Telegraph.
"It's bad for the event and bad for sailing. To issue a rule that's backdated is just wrong."
An Alinghi spokesperson said the rule was changed because there was nothing to protect teams after the nationality rule was abolished.
"Therefore this rule has been put in place. It is similar to what exists in any kind of sports [Formula 1, football]. You don't see people changing team in the middle of a season."
Coutts has not sailed with Alinghi since the final race of the cup 16 months ago. He sat out last year's Moet Cup in San Francisco and refused to sail in the recent UBS trophy in Rhode Island, saying it "compromises my position, particularly if I fail and then we don't reach a mediation settlement".
While he will not elaborate on the issues surrounding his relationship breakdown with Bertarelli, it is understood Coutts wanted more say in the running of the cup event.
Rule shift a surprise for Coutts
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