Ruling the waves

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Russell Green reckons he will never win the America's Cup through his work.

But the Team New Zealand rules expert has to make sure they don't lose it by slipping up on and off the waves.

New Zealand sailors are continually reminded of the infamous bowsprit issue of '92 - when Paul Cayard and the Italians triumphed over NZL20 in the protest room, knocking the stuffing out of the Kiwi challenge.

"No matter what the rights and wrongs were, it derailed the campaign," Green recalls. And Kiwis don't want it to happen again.

The America's Cup is a law unto itself. There is no other sporting event on the planet with such complex rules and regulations, that can perplex even the most astute cup lawyers and rules advisors.

Trip-ups - like Team Dennis Conner building a rudder in Australia, and AmericaOne forgetting to declare a sailor's dual nationality - can spell the end of a multi-million dollar campaign.

Green kept an eagle eye on the rules issues in the Louis Vuitton Cup every day since October to make sure nothing happened in the challenger series that could "result in a disadvantage to our guys."

Not having a defender series to test things out made life interesting for Green. "It's like a guy fawkes party next door and I'm not invited. But I keep throwing a cracker over the fence every now and then," he smiles.

There was a bit of argy-bargy between the defender and some of the challengers over the spying rule and AmericaOne sailed through the defender's course one day. Tame stuff in the context of the Cup.

But he is ready for a big boom once the Cup starts.

"It's the nature of the game - everyone jockeying for position," he said.

Every syndicate who came to Auckland for this cup had a rules expert as part of their team. They are as vital to a successful campaign as a navigator, sailmaker or meteorologist.

Green is both a lawyer by profession and an astute international umpire. His job has been to make sure Team New Zealand has complied with the rules from day one - when they were drawing up a protocol, when they designed their boats, and teaching the crew the sailing rules.

AmericaOne's rules advisor Tom Ehman left his business in Europe taking care of Formula One sponsors, to help out Paul Cayard.

Ehman has worked on seven Cup campaigns, beginning as rules advisor to the defenders in 1980, and led the legal argument for the New York Yacht Club against Australia II's winged keel in 1983.

He helped out Dennis Conner five years ago, finding loopholes in the defender rules, before following Cayard to AmericaOne.

Prada's law team has been headed by Alessandra Pandorese, with Italian America's Cup syndicates since Il Moro di Venezia in 1992. She also prepared a challenge for the late Raul Gardini in 1995 which never eventuated.

She has a law office in Milan, but moved to Auckland with her two children - aged two and one. "It's hard work but it's definitely interesting," she said.

"The rules are really complicated. Our team has been really careful from the beginning to comply with all of the rules. We know if we don't there will be consequences."

Green, who worked with Team New Zealand and Chris Dickson's Tag Heuer in '95, has also been doing a bit of umpiring on the side during this Cup.

He has been calling the shots in Team NZ's in-house racing between the new black boats, making sure the sailors are up to scratch with the matchracing rules.

"I get a bit of flak from the guys," he laughs.

"But Russell [Coutts] doesn't need to be taught the rules. We just have to clarify how the umpires here are interpreting them.

"It mirrors rugby - the way the Northern Hemisphere umpires are different from us. Down here, we let the game flow. The umpires from the north umpire to the top of the rule."

Since January, Team New Zealand have had some of the challenger umpires over to help with their races. The Kiwis have been pushing to have on-board umpires, standing at the back of the race boats, for the Cup match.

On-the-water umpires have changed the face of the America's Cup. There are two umpire boats - the main rubber boat follows the two yachts with two umpires on board. Each umpire is assigned a boat - one boat is yellow, one blue.

The umpires keep up a running commentary, talking as though they are driving the race boats: "I'm on port tack. Rule 17 now applies to me."

On board the real boats, the tacticians are in charge of waving the red and yellow striped protest flag. If the umpires wave a green and white checked flag in response, the protest is thrown out.

But if one of the boats is in the wrong, a yellow or blue flag is waved - and a ball of the same colour is put on a rod on the umpire boat until the 270 degree penalty turn is carried out.

The umpire's decision on the water is final. Just like a rugby referee's call, there can be no appeal.

If the boats fly a red flag, it is an issue which has to be resolved off the water, by the international jury. Englishman Bryan Willis, a magistrate and marine arbitrator, heads both the umpires and the jury.

On the question of breaching the cup protocol, the arbitration panel is called on. It is a five-man panel - two New Zealand High Court judges, Master John Faire and Sir David Tompkins, two Americans and a Brazilian.

Scattered around the globe, they must deal with matters by fax, phone and email - which can be a drawn-out affair.