Oracle
escapes penalty for now (12/25/02) (source
: NZ
Herald)
Seattle's OneWorld Challenge last week asked
the regatta's jury what sorts of radar or lasers were
allowed under the racing rules. The jury has ruled
all radars and lasers are illegal, but OneWorld did
not formally protest against Oracle's equipment so
the results of past racing stand.
That means Oracle's clean-sweep over OneWorld Challenge
in the semifinals repechage cannot be overturned so
billionaire Larry Ellison's team remain a finalist
in next year's Louis Vuitton Cup against Alinghi of
Switzerland.
Exactly what the suspected radar system on the back
of Ellison's boat does is still not known. Rivals
claim it has been developed using military know-how
and may be capable of picking up significant performance
data about Oracle's opponents.
OneWorld had asked if it could transmit a cloaking
beam to block their boat from Oracle's detection,
and the jury has also ruled that would be illegal.
Also caught up in the ruling are the commonly used
hand-held laser rangefinders which are now also said
to break the regatta's rules, but they provide far
less data than a sophisticated radar system.
International jury chairman Bryan Willis said they
had not yet asked Oracle what the device on their
boat could do, or if it was a radar. No one had asked
them to.
Instead, the questions from OneWorld and other teams
had been "generic" about what systems were legal or
not.
A clash of rules meant that while the protocol appeared
to provide some legitimacy for laser rangefinders,
another set of rules, in the Notice of Racing, prohibits
teams using anything capable of transmitting or receiving
information off a boat, including readings on wind
speed and direction.
Mr Willis said Team New Zealand and the challengers
would be asked for their views on rangefinders and
other similar equipment, and officials may ratify
their use in the challenger finals and the America's
Cup races.
However, that will still leave questions hanging over
Oracle's device, nicknamed "the goose". In answer
to OneWorld's inquiries, the jury ruled many standard
functions of radars would be illegal.
If Oracle continues to race with the "goose", Alinghi
and Team New Zealand may go one step further than
OneWorld and formally protest, forcing the San Francisco
team to reveal to the jury what the device can do.
Oracle
BMW Racing under legal attacks (12/23/02) (source
: NZ
Herald)
OneWorld will not ask the Arbitration Panel to
investigate documents which appeared to show Oracle
obtained prohibited design data when they bought assets
belonging to 2000 Cup challengers AmericaOne.
"We have heard from Doug Smith for Oracle and he has
assured us Oracle never had those plans," OneWorld
spokesman Bob Ratliffe said. "We have accepted his
word and we will behave like gentlemen. We will not
be taking the matter further."
Like gentlemen but OneWorld has now lodged a question
with the International Jury in asking to check whether
Oracle's radar system is within the rules. Two other
teams have joined McCaw's team.
The radar, nicknamed "the goose" by Oracle crew, has
attracted rival crews' curiosity for some time. Now,
OneWorld is asking the jury if the equipment is legal,
and, if so, can they try to block it.
"We are just seeking clarification," said OneWorld
executive director Bob Ratliffe. "We want to know
if it tracks our boat and our boat speed and whether
we can block our boat."
OneWorld chief executive Gary Wright said his team
had the technology to disrupt the signal and ensure
their boat "disappeared" from radar. "We can either
do that with equipment on the race boat or by beaming
a blocking signal from our chase boat," Wright said.
The jury also would be asked to determine whether
the radar was linked to systems on Oracle's weather
or support boats, which is banned under Louis Vuitton
Cup regatta rules. (America's Cup yachts can receive
data from their weather boats until 10 minutes before
the start of any race).
The jury will continue deliberations, which begun
Sunday night.
Time
to revenge for OneWorld ? (12/22/02) (source
: Foxsports)
Lawyers for Seattle's OneWorld Challenge were
studying leaked documents Saturday that could reveal
breaches of America's Cup rules by San Francisco's
Oracle.
OneWorld, which actively sought copies of the documents,
challenged Oracle on Saturday to publicly admit wrongdoing,
whether it was intentional or not. Oracle replied
privately to OneWorld that it had no admissions to
make.
OneWorld, which has denied leaking the documents to
the media, was considering whether it would place
the matter before the Arbitration Panel, the Cup's
principal rules body.
San Francisco's Oracle racing team took a step
towards the final of the America's Cup challenger
series Friday then found itself involved onshore in
allegations of technical impropriety.
Documents delivered anonymously to The Associated
Press suggest Oracle could have obtained prohibited
construction drawings and plans when it bought yachts
belonging to the defunct San Francisco team AmericaOne
after the 2000 Cup regatta.
The America's Cup protocol allows current challengers
to purchase yachts used by 2000 challenge syndicates
and to use those yachts in the establishment and development
of their later campaigns. However, the protocol prohibits
teams from acquiring plans, specifications or other
design information, including performance data, on
those yachts even though they own the boats.
A document leaked to The AP records an agreement between
Team Sayonara Inc., owned by Oracle chief executive
Larry Ellison, and the San Francisco Challenge, formerly
AmericaOne, under which Ellison's group takes on the
assets and liabilities of the AmericaOne campaign.
The document states Team Sayonara "intends to conduct
a challenge for the 2003 America's Cup based on the
efforts of AmericaOne." It records the sale of assets
which include AmericaOne's two America's Cup Class
race boats - AmericaOne's USA-49 and USA-61 - and
"construction drawings and plans" for USA-49 and USA-61.
A second document, drafted by the San Francisco law
firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, records the sale of
"two boats and ancillary equipment" to Team Sayonara,
"an entity owned by Larry Ellison."
Neither document, whose authenticity could not immediately
be confirmed, indicates that the plans were ever turned
over to the Oracle team.
The purchase price is listed as US$7.3 million, including
a cash payment and the payment of lease obligations
on AmericaOne's Auckland base and of taxes and other
levies.
The document is dated June 2000. On Sept. 19 2001,
the America's Cup Arbitration Panel delivered an interim
ruling on an application by Oracle for an interpretation
of the protocol as it relates to "plans, specifications
and other design or performance information" acquired
from previous teams.
Oracle asked if it was able to to acquire such information
and, in a lengthy and deliberate ruling by the Panel,
was told it could not do so.
Oracle rules adviser Tom Ehman said Friday the application
was sought by Oracle because the yachts it had bought
from OneWorld had twice lost their keels in training
accidents on the Hauraki Gulf.
The team hoped to be allowed to obtain the plans for
the yachts to prevent a repeat of what had been life-threatening
accidents, Ehman said. When the panel provided its
interpretation Oracle made no further attempts to
obtain the plans and had never had them in its possession.
Ehman, who was also AmericaOne's rules adviser said
he was distressed to hear documents suggesting a protocol
breach by Oracle had been delivered to media organizations
anonymously and without his team's knowledge.
"It's insulting to ourselves, insulting to the event
and insulting to the integrity of the people who have
been drawn into it," Ehman said.
He said was saddened at the manner in which the allegations
had been made and was adamant they were without substance.
He was unable to comment further until he had seen
the documents in question.
Oracle
BMW Racing keep faith in USA 76 (12/20/02) (sources
: NZ
Herald&
LV
Cup)
Oracle had until 1.05pm today to notify organisers
if they intended to change yachts for the best-of-seven
series. Then came the announcement. Oracle used USA
76 when they beat OneWorld 4-0 in the quarter-finals,
which was the last time the two American teams met.
At the skippers' media conference in the morning,
Oracle navigator Ian Burns said his team were still
deciding whether to stay with USA 76 , the yacht they
had used throughout the regatta, or introduce USA
71.
"We haven't finalised that decision yet. We're still
considering a couple of options", he said. "We've
been refining a few things on the boats, a few subtle
changes, and we think they're pretty good."
Ian Burns said the team had made a few subtle changes
to their boats, but he would not say whether the large
kite Oracle has been seen flying in practice was a
serious attempt at coming up with new technology to
use during races.
The most interesting development on the eve of the
next round is the unique sail that Oracle presented
to peering eyes the other day. With a spinnaker flying
high above the masthead, USA-76 looked more like a
giant kite surfer than a US$5 million carbon-fibre
sloop.
"Our design team has certainly encompassed a lot of
innovations throughout this whole project and that
is one of the things we have been looking at, and
so far it's been a pretty interesting project," Burns
said.
According to confidential interpretations filed with
ACC Technical Director Ken McAlpine, the sail was
first researched as far back as April 2001. The source
sought the legality of such a sail and clarification
on how it could be flown.
"We’ve had days on the Hauraki Gulf when there’s
almost no wind on the water, but at 300 to 400 feet
(elevation) there’s been 20 to 30 knots,” said Burns.
“So there are obvious benefits of flying a spinnaker
at higher elevation from your masthead."
"The thing you have to wonder is if you are skilled
in using it, wouldn’t you use it secretly or on a
semi-regular basis?" said Team New Zealand sail
designer Burns Fallow. "It could have some merit.
Kites can generate quite large forces. I just don’t
know if it would outweigh the conventions of a normal
spinnaker."
"The results to date have been interesting",
concluded Burns. Whether it will be used in a race,
however, remains to be seen.
Aside from that, Burns would not say whether Peter
Holmberg, who had considerable success as Oracle's
starting helmsman during much of the regatta but missed
a race during the last round, would be at the helm
during the repechage races.
"We have a pretty large number of afterguard members
on our team and virtually every morning we consider
which crew will be best suited for our day's racing",
he explained. "Sometimes the goal maybe for development
of the boat's speed, sometimes the goal maybe for
a close tactical battle. It all depends on what we
think we're going to come up against".
"We will be changing crew, I think, if we think it's
necessary."
Dickson
confident of improvement (12/18/02) (source
: NZ
Herald)
Oracle's New Zealand skipper Chris Dickson insists
his team have gained from the America's Cup challenger
series semifinals, despite being whitewashed 4-0.
Dickson and his crew on the San Francisco-based syndicate
appeared to have little answer to the speed and skill
of the Swiss-based Alinghi entry, skippered by fellow
New Zealander Russell Coutts, in their best-of-seven
semifinals contest.
Despite losing, Oracle get a life in a repechage round,
starting on Friday, because their pairing was the
higher-ranked of the two in the semifinals.
Dickson said the round had been "beneficial," even
though Oracle had not got the results they wanted.
"We did learn a lot of things; we learned a lot from
Alinghi, we learned a lot about our own boat as well
and we're in a strong position to move forward"
Dickson said. "Oracle were willing and able to
adapt as needed",
