Yachting: Protest against Camper dismissed

CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, skippered by Chris Nicholson. Photo / Supplied

A protest by Groupama claiming Camper's forestay set-up breached the Volvo Open 70 sailing rules was dismissed by the Volvo Ocean Race international jury.

The French entry made the protest at the end of leg one alleging that several aspects of Camper's forestay and rigging set-up over leg one were illegal.

Camper skipper Chris Nicholson welcomed the news and said it was a commonsense outcome that brought the matter to a conclusion.

"This issue over the last 18 months been looked at by the rules interpretation group, arbitration panel and the international jury twice. In all cases it has been cleared and ruled as legal.

"We have always been open and above board about our forestay set-up. It is frustrating that, despite this, it has repeatedly been called into question at a considerable cost in time and effort to us.

"The simple fact is that nothing has changed in our forestay set-up since the international jury ruled it legal in Alicante last month and yet, once again, we have been dragged through the process of a jury hearing.

"I just hope that all teams can now move on and that this draws a line under the issue. We've always known that our forestay set-up is innovative but that doesn't mean it's illegal."

Camper lie second in the standings, two points behind Telefonica, after the first leg from Alicante to Cape Town. The six boats compete in in-port racing tonight (NZT) before navigating the 5430 nautical miles to Abu Dhabi.