Gilmour's big hurt

By JULIE ASH

Veteran America's Cup skipper Peter Gilmour yesterday expressed his hurt and disappointment at Prada and Team Dennis Conner for going back to the America's Cup arbitration panel with information which accuses his OneWorld syndicate of using other teams' design information.

OneWorld and Prada advanced to the semifinals of the Louis Vuitton challenger series yesterday in straightforward fashion, beating Conner's Stars and Stripes syndicate and Victory Challenge respectively 4-0 in the quarter-final repechage.

But OneWorld's future hangs in the balance after Prada and Team Dennis Conner asked the arbitration panel to throw OneWorld out of the regatta, claiming the syndicate had violated the cup rules by using other teams' design information.

The panel meets next week to hear evidence on the claims.

Team Dennis Conner also took the matter to the international jury who will discuss it after the arbitration panel has made its ruling.

When asked about the proceedings, an emotional and almost tearful Gilmour replied: "I am not particularly worried. . I am more disappointed than anything.

"I was very surprised in the New York Yacht Club and Team Dennis Conner, and the Yacht Club Punta Ala and the Prada team, with their approach.

"They have clearly not respected the efforts that we went to last year in putting an application in front of the arbitration panel and presenting a very detailed and thorough internal investigation.

"What was seen at the time was a lot of very small combinations of small rule infractions that had occurred.

"The arbitration panel ruled and they placed a penalty down, and now these guys are coming back. It surprises me they would do it on the eve of when we had to race them.

"I'd just like to think inside me it is not the sailors."

Conner would not comment on Gilmour's comments.

"For me to say anything about it at this point would not be wise," he said.

Accusations against OneWorld began more than a year ago, after the syndicate launched court action against their former operations manager Sean Reeves, who they claimed had tried to sell their confidential design secrets to three other teams.

Reeves, a New Zealander, hit back with his own allegations that it was OneWorld staff who had obtained, and used, other syndicates' information.

OneWorld this year admitted to the panel they had some unimportant material they should not have, but said they never used it.

The panel accepted OneWorld's word, but docked them one competition point, saying they had broken cup rules by having the information.

But instead of the case ending there, Conner's syndicate and Prada decided just before the quarter-finals repechage to take the case back to the arbitration panel after receiving information from Team New Zealand.

The challenger representative for the New York Yacht Club, David Elwell, said Team Dennis Conner would like to see the matter resolved once and for all.

"These are allegations that have been out there and we, along with Yacht Club Punta Ala, feel that for the benefit of the event they absolutely need to be cleared up.

"I hope in many, many regards they are cleared up satisfactorily and OneWorld goes on to win the America's Cup and they can go home with a wonderful feeling they have done a great job and they have done it the way the rules say.

"I think it will be very appropriate for these issues to be laid down on the table and resolved. We do believe Sean Reeves will be there to testify."

When asked why they waited so long to put in the protest, Elwell said: "We waited until we had the material in our hands and we had permission to use it."

Meanwhile, on the water the cup dream of Victory Challenge came to end yesterday when they were beaten by Prada for the fourth successive time.

Prada rounded every mark ahead, winning by 1m 37s.

"I think we have surpassed what my father expected. I am very happy with the crew, it has been a great experience," said Hugo Stenbeck, the son of the late Jan Stenbeck, founder of Victory Challenge.

When asked if the Swedes would be back, Stenbeck said: "Team New Zealand chief executive Ross Blackman summed it up best when he said 'watch out, you'll catch the America's Cup fever,' and I think that might have happened.

"I would like to say yes, but I don't know."

OneWorld once again had no trouble toppling Stars and Stripes, at least on the water. With James Spithill at the helm, OneWorld led around every mark before winning by a minute.

Prada and OneWorld now join Alinghi and Oracle in the semifinals, which start on December 9.

This campaign has not gone smoothly for Conner, who reunited with the New York Yacht Club almost 20 years after he lost the cup to Australia II.

The team suffered a huge setback in July when their yacht USA77 sank off Long Beach.

A new bow had to be fitted, leaving the team with just one boat in which to train during the crucial stages leading up to the start of the series.

Team Dennis Conner were also one of the last syndicates to move to Auckland, arriving a month before the start of the challenger series - whereas the likes of Oracle and OneWorld had been training on the Hauraki Gulf for almost two years.

Conner's team were fourth equal after the first round, but slipped to seventh after the second round.

They went on to beat Britain's GBR Challenge 4-1 in the quarter-finals.

"I believe we can all think of things in our programme which could have been done better," Conner said.

"Certainly, having a boat on the bottom of the ocean is not a very good way to have two boat testing.

"If we had been here racing some of the other guys in September we would known we had a little way to go.

"We didn't realise we were a bit off the pace until round one. We had to wait to do something about it, where if we had two boats we could have done more."

Although they ooze experience, it was obvious Conner's estimated $70 million campaign was no match for the likes of Oracle BMW Racing and Prada - who have budgets close to $200 million.

"Money buys speed, but in this campaign I didn't feel disadvantaged," Conner said.

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