Young America cleared of misleading cup jury

The heat went on one of the top syndicates off the water last night, reports Suzanne McFadden.

Young America were late last night absolved of allegations that they misled an America's Cup jury, but were still stripped of a point.

The international cup jury hauled back the challenger from the New York Yacht Club - the most famous institution in the 148-history of the cup - to answer more questions over why they withdrew from their match against Young Australia on Wednesday.

Young America, who almost had a boat sink last week, could have faced a serious reprimand - even expulsion - if they were found to have withheld information from the jury at a redress hearing after their boat broke down before the race on Wednesday.

But the jury chairman, Brian Willis, said at midnight that new evidence, uncovered by television microphones, failed to prove any intention to deceive.

However, the jury reversed their decision from Wednesday's original hearing to award Young America a point for being denied a postponement to fix damage to their boat.

The single point had been given on the grounds that Young America was capable of sailing and winning the race. But the latest evidence convinced the jury they would not have repaired the break in time.

Allegations reverberated around the cup village yesterday that the American syndicate, steeped in cup history, had misrepresented the nature of the damage.

The furore began when Young America withdrew from their race and were told they could not have a 45-minute delay to fix their boat.

The jury later found the race committee should have granted the postponement, and gave Young America the one point as an apology.

But the jury decided to reopen the hearing yesterday after they were "disturbed" by a conversation captured by an on-board microphone on Young America.

It was clear from the crew's commentary that there was something more serious than a broken gooseneck at the mast - the damage they told the race committee they had.

But when the video was replayed to the jury last night, it was found that comments over cracks heard elsewhere on the boat came after the postponement had been refused, so it was no longer relevant.

"They were off-the-cuff remarks made in the panic of the moment, which is perfectly understandable given the history of their boats." Willis said.

Crew members yelled that they heard something else crack, and they decided it was better to forfeit the four-point race, head home and avoid further damage.

In a transcript from the audio recording, an unidentified crewman says: "We can't race here. If we blow the boat we're all done, man.

"Where is that crack? ... We're dead. We're done ... Let's get the jib down, get on home, get out of here. If we risk it, it's not worth it. It'll go, it's cracked."

After saying for two days that there was no damage to the hull, Young America skipper Ed Baird later admitted that there were cracks in the deck - a little forward of where USA53 snapped in half.

AmericaOne, Prada and Abracadabra lodged requests for the hearing to be reopened, and all presented evidence last night.

Young America is not out of the woods yet. Other challenger syndicates could still lodge protests over the matter.