Yachting: Squadron denies acting against Coutts

Yachting officials yesterday rejected any suggestion that a dispute over whether the Russell Coutts-led Swiss Challenge could enter the America's Cup was personal.

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron commodore Peter Taylor said the squadron and Swiss Challenge lawyers had worked closely to try to resolve problems blocking the entry of the Swiss syndicate.

An America's Cup arbitration panel will now resolve the dispute, which was sparked by Switzerland's landlocked status.

Coutts, who won and defended the cup for Team New Zealand, is skippering the challenge of Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli for the 2002-2003 regatta.

But the Societe Nautique de Geneve Yacht Club is based on the freshwater Lake Geneva, and the cup's long-standing Deed of Gift requires challenging clubs to hold annual regattas on the sea or an arm of the sea.

Coutts has been heavily critical of the squadron's failure so far to accept the entry from his syndicate.

He said conditions that were being applied to the syndicate were stricter than for past Swiss syndicates.

"I know we've come under more grief than any other Swiss team and who knows why that is."

Coutts controversially quit Team NZ for the Swiss team this year, but Taylor denied the delay over the Swiss entry was personal.

"It's not. We're not in the least bit interested, from the squadron's point of view, in pursuing that sort of issue.

"It's been amicable all the way through."

Taylor said that if Coutts checked with his lawyers, he would discover that it had been a Swiss idea to refer the dispute to the arbitration panel.

The squadron and the Swiss lawyers had worked closely together. While they would be presenting separate submissions to the panel, the two parties had liaised closely on key points.

Arbitration panel member Sir David Tompkins, a retired High Court judge, said submissions from all interested parties must be received by Monday. The panel would then consider arguments and probably consult by conference call.

"It will take a little while to consider. I can't say how long it will take."

Two of the panel members were appointed by the squadron, and two by the challenger of record, the Italian syndicate Prada, who have nominated two European lawyers.

The fifth member is Spanish.

Coutts is anxious for the matter to be resolved, saying that only when the entry is formally accepted can nationality and design issues related to the syndicate's members advance.

The Swiss Challenge has submitted the $US150,000 ($375,563) entry fee for the 2002-2003 cup, but the money has not yet been banked by the squadron.

Taylor said other Swiss entries had not had the same problems because they had long-standing sea regattas.

Coutts' club, one of the oldest in Europe, held its first sea regatta this year, off France, after submitting its entry to the squadron.

- NZPA

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