OneWorld allowed to continue racing

4.15pm - By HELEN TUNNAH

OneWorld's $150 million dream of winning the America's Cup is an all but impossible dream.

The Seattle syndicate was dealt a significant blow when the regatta's arbitration panel ruled it possessed design secrets of other teams.

The panel docked OneWorld one competition point for each of three remaining events - the Louis Vuitton semifinals, the challenger finals and the America's Cup itself should they advance.

This week, in the challengers' semifinals, they will have to win five races, instead of four, to beat Prada in the contest.

Then they would need to win six races in the challenger final.

And finally they would have to beat Team NZ six times, not five, to take the cup back to the US.

OneWorld escaped disqualification for breaking the America's Cup rules a second time, but were handed the stiff penalty by the arbitration panel, the regatta's ultimate authority.

The punishment followed revelations that OneWorld designer Ian Mitchell kept a computer disk thought to hold Team NZ design and structural data from when he worked on their 2000 campaign. He also had 1995 design information.

Mr Mitchell said he never used the information on the disk, which he destroyed last year. Earlier this year he swore two affidavits for OneWorld in another panel hearing which also found the Seattle syndicate - which has a budget of about US$75 million (NZ$149 million) - had broken the rules. He did not say then that he had the disk.

The panel rejected an application by Team Dennis Conner and Prada that OneWorld be disqualified for failing to declare all the secrets they had.

That claim was based on a 46-page affidavit sworn by former Team NZ rules adviser Sean Reeves, who helped to set up OneWorld and alleged that they used the design data of several other teams.

The panel has made no comment on Mr Reeves' affidavit or his responses during cross-examination.



OneWorld were last night upset at the penalty, which includes a US$65,000 ($130,000) fine. Executive director Bob Ratliffe described it as "extremely harsh".

"This is a stunning indictment of honesty, to be penalised for telling the truth."

OneWorld emphasised that they volunteered the evidence about the Mitchell computer disk.

Team NZ would not comment.

Dennis Conner was disappointed with the penalty. "We believe it does not do justice to the years of dedication and hard work on the part of our entire team."

Prada's legal adviser, Alessandra Pandarese, said the decision backed up their allegations.

Mr Ratliffe said OneWorld were told about the disk only last week, when Mr Mitchell swore his third affidavit.

Exactly what was on the disk was not revealed, though Mr Mitchell said he believed it contained six to eight files from Team NZ. He said he never took the disk to Seattle when he went to work for OneWorld and had never accessed its information.

In his previous affidavits for OneWorld, Mr Mitchell admitted he copied a Team NZ deck layout before his computer was purged.

Team NZ designer Mike Drummond said earlier this year Mr Mitchell had opened a Team NZ file one day before the laptop was purged. In a fresh affidavit sworn last week, Mr Drummond said the file he noticed had been opened was a master file.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

Racing schedule, results and standings

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

Racing schedule, results and standings