Conner attacks OneWorld from a new front

6.30pm

Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes today opened a second front in their attempt to have the OneWorld syndicate disqualified from the America's Cup challenger yachting series.

After a third fruitless day on the Hauraki Gulf today, Stars and Stripes sent their protest in a second direction, to the International Jury, another of the bodies overseeing the America's Cup event.

The jury is expected to hear the protest tomorrow night.

Conner's syndicate, representing the New York Yacht Club and Prada, of Yacht Club Punta Ala, yesterday filed an application with the cup's arbitration panel, alleging OneWorld had used design information belonging to other syndicates.

Three members of the five-member panel live overseas, and there are concerns their proceedings could take months.

As they did with the panel, Team Dennis Conner have asked the jury to disqualify OneWorld.

They have also asked the jury to take any necessary measures concerning scheduling of the quarterfinal repechage, to ensure the effectiveness of the final decision of the panel, and the integrity of the event, should the panel's decision be in Prada and TDC's favour.

As the boats sat in millpond-like conditions on the Hauraki Gulf today, unable to race for the third successive day, OneWorld were at the mercy of the panel, waiting to hear how it would react to the application against them.

The application relies heavily on an affidavit sworn in June by Sean Reeves, a former Team New Zealand rules adviser who helped set up OneWorld after the last cup.

OneWorld executive director Bob Ratliffe today said the allegations of wrongdoing in the Reeves' affidavit were untrue.

He hoped the panel would quickly dismiss the application, and said the alternative would see the cup event mucked up "rather fiercely", and potentially derailed.

Louis Vuitton Cup regatta director Dyer Jones said he would like to have the issue sorted out quickly, saying organisers were having a hard enough time just dealing with the weather.

In the event a team were ruled ineligible to continue in the regatta, the protocol governing the event provided a mechanism for continuing with the contest, he said.

OneWorld were previously docked one point by the arbitration panel after admitting they had some information from Team New Zealand and Prada but denied using it.

In September, the Seattle syndicate had a victory over Reeves in the United States Federal District Court in their home city, with a judge ruling Reeves had retained and disclosed OneWorld's confidential information, and ordering him not to disclose any more confidential information.

Ratliffe today said the syndicate were in the process of seeking to have the judgment entered in this country's courts, and had put documents in front of courts in the US seeking costs of about US$700,000 ($1.4 million) from Reeves.

He was confident the application to have his team disqualified would not have any impact on OneWorld's sailors.

"It really isn't causing us any grief at all, we're so used to this issue," he said.

Team New Zealand were unwilling to comment on the application, with spokesman Murray Taylor saying it would not help to discuss the matter through the media.

In a third element of today's protest, Stars and Stripes are asking the jury to provide an urgent interpretation to the arbitration panel of whether their allegations against OneWorld, if proved, would constitute a breach of what is known as "Fundamental Rule 2" of the Racing Rules of Racing.

That rule requires boats and their owners to comply with recognised principles of sportsmanship and fair play.

- NZPA

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