America's Cup jury to hear calls for yacht's expulsion

AN AMERICA’S CUP jury will meet today to hear a New York Yacht Club request that Seattle’s OneWorld Challenge be expelled from the premier sailing event for breaches of sportsmanship and fair play.

New York's Team Dennis Conner, already a participant in an application to the cup's arbitration panel demanding OneWorld's disqualification, attacked its Seattle rival from a fresh front yesterday, protesting against its conduct and integrity to the international jury. The New York protest was placed before the jury after repechage races between Stars & Stripes and OneWorld and Prada versus Victory Challenge were postponed for the third straight day because of unsatisfactory wind conditions.

Team Dennis Conner alleges OneWorld breached Fundamental Rule 2 as set out in Racing Rules of Sailing, the regulatory guidebook that governs all competitive sailing events. Rule 2, headed Fair Sailing, states "a boat and her owner shall compete in compliance with recognised principles of sportsmanship and fair play."

New York's protest cites its application to the arbitration panel, lodged jointly on Sunday with Italian challenger Prada, which accuses OneWorld of "multiple gross violations" of the America's Cup protocol.

The application alleges OneWorld possessed and used confidential design information belonging to rival teams Team New Zealand, Prada and 1999 challengers America True.

"But perhaps even more serious than those violations is the breach of the obligation by [OneWorld] to make full and frank disclosure of all the facts and, in particular, [its failure] to disclose all plans, specifications and design information in its possession," Team Dennis Conner submits.

The Seattle team issued a statement yesterday, saying: "It is disappointing to see the perpetuation of these kinds of tactics by a few individuals which do nothing other than put this great event at risk of being completely derailed after the racing already started." The dispute has potential to disrupt the event for weeks, or even months. US Team Dennis Conner and the Italian Prada Challenge have filed more than 70 pages of evidence, including affidavits and correspondence, to the America's Cup arbitration panel.

The syndicates are currently competing in the repechage quarter-finals of the Louis Vuitton challenger series here. The winner gets to take on Team New Zealand in February for the 152-year-old America's Cup.