Penalty may be spur to Gilmour

By JULIE ASH

Will a one-point deficit prove decisive? That is the question hanging over Seattle syndicate OneWorld Challenge.

The likely answer is no.

The syndicate go into the Louis Vuitton challenger series with the deficit after the America's Cup Arbitration Panel ruled that they had other syndicates' design secrets.

But regardless, the team backed by billionaires Craig McCaw and Paul Allen head into the challenger series as one of the favourites.

With experienced America's Cup campaigner Peter Gilmour of Australia in charge of the sailing team, and several former Team New Zealand members in their camp, including designer Laurie Davidson and long-time sailors Andrew Taylor, Craig Monk and Jeremy Scantlebury, many would not be surprised if OneWorld makes the Louis Vuitton Cup final and beyond.

"It is just too premature to rank anyone as a favourite," says Gilmour.

"We are incredibly respectful of all the competitors here because we know it is what people put together on the day that really counts.

"You are going to see some huge surprises, but at the same time you are going to see also a large disparity between the fleet in terms of performance."

Gilmour has seen some "very interesting" yachts out on the Gulf.

"Dennis' [Conner] boat, for example, is quite an exciting concept. It's quite a narrow boat and it will be interesting to see how that goes.

"Typically in this game, wild ideas tend to have a very narrow window of performance. They do tend to hone in on that narrow window and I wouldn't be surprised to see some boat jump out of their skin in a very narrow area."

But, says Gilmour, you must be good across a wide range of conditions.

"Team New Zealand, for example, have shown that in the last two America's Cup."

OneWorld said yesterday that they would sail USA67 in the first race. James Spithill will be at the helm, Gilmour tactician and Kevin Hall navigator.

"We really have 36 sailors who are capable of sailing. The afterguard is going to sail the first race but it might be different for the next race ...

"Both boats have been going fabulously well. One of our big depths is experience - total experience in the America's Cup across a wide range of different challenges."

Gilmour says setting up a syndicate was a big challenge for himself and many of the former Team NZ crew.

"Guys like Craig Monk, Andrew Taylor, Matthew Mason, Jeremy Scantlebury, Richard Dodson - all that Team New Zealand group have literally blossomed into a far more expansive role of serious leadership in the organisation."

He says the arbitration ruling and Sean Reeves saga have made the team stronger. OneWorld took legal action against Reeves, their former operations manager, last year after being told he was trying to sell their secrets to another syndicate.

Reeves then accused OneWorld of having Team NZ design information.

OneWorld admitted to the Arbitration Panel that they had some "minor" design information, which, among other things, resulted in the one-point deficit.

An American court ruled this week that Reeves had broken his confidentiality agreement with OneWorld, and awarded damages of between $500,000 and $675,000 plus legal costs.

"Since we put these boats in the water we haven't thought about it and the issue has closed now. Is is dead and buried," says Gilmour.

"We have said to ourselves we have to be better. We are starting this regatta at a lesser points tally than anyone else.

"I must say we thought the Arbitration Panel judgment was just and fair and the penalty has been handed down. If you ask what was the impact in a few months' time it might be a different answer."

Gilmour is aware that people will always wonder just how much information they had and what use they made of it.

"But that doesn't really concern us. At the end of the day we know what went on.

"We have done an honest and honorable thing. This has not happened in my recent recollection in the America's Cup where someone has stepped forward and said, 'Look, we have done some pretty serious things here.' We laid ourselves out.

"I must say I am surprised that some other teams haven't come forward. It is just a set of circumstances where a designer has his database going back 10 years."

Gilmour says his fifth cup campaign is going to be "the greatest event of all time", and he is not worried about how some of the billionaire owners will react when they are knocked out.

"They are practical and pragmatic-enough individuals who go through ups and downs in their lives and know how to deal with that. You don't win them all in business."

nzherald.co.nz/americascup