Simon Daubney quit the Alinghi team after positive drugs tests. Photo / Kenny Rodger
Alinghi sailor Simon Daubney has arrived home with his wife and children after quitting the Swiss America's Cup-winning team following positive drugs tests.
Daubney, aged 48, and his Scottish wife and children flew into Auckland this week and were yesterday in the throes of moving into a palatial
$2.4 million Milford home, on Auckland's North Shore.
The sailor-under-a-cloud is the first contestant in America's Cup history to fail a doping test and is awaiting decisions from the Swiss national sailing body and the International Sailing Federation, due in four to eight weeks, on whether he will be banned from the sport he has devoted his life to.
Daubney appeared before an America's Cup jury in London last week after two tests carried out on June 23, day one of America's cup sailing this year, returned positive results for metabolites of cocaine.
The jury was satisfied that an anti-doping rule violation had occurred.
The veteran sailor, part of the tight five who, with Russell Coutts, defected to Alinghi after being part of the winning Team New Zealand team of 2000, told the jury he had not knowingly taken cocaine.
He has subsequently hinted he believes he may have been the victim of drink spiking after his defection and subsequent personal harassment.
David Kellett, vice president of the Sailing Federation said Daubney must appear in front of the Swiss national sailing body and then have any penalty reviewed by the ISF.
Daubney was holed up in the plush Spencer on Byron Hotel in Takapuna during the week and began moving into his sprawling new home just five houses from Milford Beach at the weekend.
He was determinedly mute, refusing to say a word to the Herald on Sunday about his plans to relocate to New Zealand.
Daubney's new home is a luxurious two-storey stucco Italian-style villa. It is landscaped, has a 10 metre pool, 30 palm trees and schist fireplaces. A near neighbour in an adjacent street is a former rival - the 2007 America's Cup Oracle skipper, Chris Dickson.
