OneWorld penalty 'clarified', McCaw stands by team

9.30 am - by MICHAEL DALY

America's Cup challenger OneWorld was today feeling like "the boot's just got stuck in a little further", after a clarification to their punishment from the yachting event's arbitration panel.

Yesterday the panel docked the Seattle-based team a point for each of the remaining rounds of the competition, but from their written finding it appeared that penalty did not apply to the semifinal repechage, should OneWorld get that far.

But OneWorld executive director Bob Ratliffe was greeted with a clarification when he got into work this morning, explaining the penalty would also apply to the repechage.

"It's like the boot's just got stuck in a little further," Ratliffe said.

"It is what it is. We've just got to do what we came here to do, which is win yacht races," he said.

The panel imposed its penalty, which also included an order for US$65,000 ($131,000) costs, after finding OneWorld had design secrets belonging to Team New Zealand which they did not acknowledge previously.

The information included a disk from the 2000 campaign and a computer from 1995.

Both items had been in possession of OneWorld's former Team NZ designer, Ian Mitchell, but the team said they not used the information, which had never been at their Seattle base.

Team Dennis Conner, representing the New York Yacht Club, and Italy's Prada had applied to the panel seeking to have OneWorld thrown out of the event.

After they failed in that attempt yesterday, Dennis Conner said: "We've had our day in court."

Team Dennis Conner later announced they would be seeking to withdraw another protest to the America's Cup international jury, also seeking to have OneWorld disqualified.

Jury chairman Bryan Willis said the jury would consider the withdrawal application this evening, and other teams were invited to make submissions on the issue.

The panel's decision yesterday marked the end of any hopes Conner's team had of getting back into the event after they were beaten in the quarterfinal repechage races by OneWorld.

Among those on the OneWorld base yesterday when the panel's decision was announced was the syndicate's founder and one of two main backers of the US$75 million ($151.05 million) campaign, telecommunications billionaire Craig McCaw, who had just arrived in New Zealand to watch the event.

"He was standing within five feet of me when the decision came in," Ratliffe said today.

"He probably was disappointed, but he is energised and right behind the team."

McCaw has been a fan of the America's Cup since childhood and after the 2000 event he sent a representative to see whether Team NZ members were interested in joining a new syndicate with a focus on drawing attention to the health of the planet.

He addressed his team later yesterday, Ratliffe said.

"He said he stood behind their decisions and ethics, and admired them for their ability to rise above these things."

OneWorld will sail against Prada and Oracle, of San Francisco, against the Swiss Alinghi team in the first-to-four semifinals starting this afternoon. The first day of the semifinals was postponed yesterday due to strong winds in the Hauraki Gulf.

OneWorld will now have to win five races instead of four to beat Prada as they start the semifinals with a minus point.

"They aren't going to let this stuff get them down very far," Ratliffe said of his crew.

"They've had their backs up against the ropes lots of times."

- NZPA

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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