WYRF transcript final v2 - The Daily Sail

amount of effort and money and
infrastructure into making this
happen and the bases were all set
up. We both had a common vision
of a fast turnaround of two years,
a new boat, of lowering cost to
the teams, by limiting it to one
boat.
And the Spanish they were
hesitant to continue as an
association, because they had had
this problem with Oracle at the
beginning, so they formed their
own yacht club and they wanted
to be the Challenger of Record
with this yacht club. But that
hasn’t been taken on so well by
you, Tom, and Oracle. So we are
in court about this.
So you look at where we are:
Really we were working hard at
that stage with the Spanish to try
and put this thing together and
Oracle have been - they had lost
their challenge and finished fifth.
And in the month between being
eliminated and the Cup ending,
they used that time to devise an
aggressive legal strategy that really
put Alinghi and SNG [Societe
Nautique de Geneve] in a no-win
situation when they took us to
court, looking for a DoG [Deed of
Gift] match 10 months later. Well
we wouldn’t have been able to
cope with that and we had to
defend ourselves in the courts in
New York.
And where we are now? Well, the
court in New York has once sided
with Oracle and then it went to
Appeal and has been sided with
the SNG and the Spanish Yacht
Club and that means that we have
an underlying obligation as the
Trustee and the Defender to
organise this next America’s Cup
event and that is what we are
doing with 14 teams that are now
entered and that is soon to
probably change to 17-18 teams.
We have an open process with
them. Even old grey haired salty
dogs like myself, you learn from
your mistakes. When we delivered
the Protocol, it certainly wasn’t
communicated very well. And we
have tried to change things. I talk
about the Protocol – but it is not
the 10 Commandments. It is a
living document. It was changed 14
times in the last edition. It has
been changed up to four times
already.
So here we are, waiting for this
court case. The thing is, it evolves
around different personalities. I
have had the pleasure of working
and sailed with both Larry and
Ernesto, who I’ve been working
with for the last seven year. And I
look at Ernesto and he is a guy
that is just passionate about the
sport, whether he is sailing a
foiling Moth - which he tells me he
is getting quite good at - to a
catamaran on the lake [Geneva] or
Cup boats. He is into sailing and
he spends a lot of time with it. I
run Alinghi out of his family office
in Geneva. I have daily exposure
to him, where we talk about the
sailing issues, of what we are doing
as a team and the Cup.
He has won the Cup twice, under
New Zealand rules in New
Zealand, when we were a
Challenger, through the Louis
Vuitton and into the America’s
Cup, and as a Defender last time
in Valencia. In no way does he, or
the team, want to create an
environment where we win the
Cup by default. He is into the
sport, into the competition of
sailing, into the spectacle that it.
And to me, as I look at this panel
and I think it is indicative of our
sport, unfortunately: As I sit here
and there are two gentlemen
here, trying to do their best to get
their teams going forward, to
create sponsorship, to try and
create jobs, with a dream of
winning the Cup. And I see two
sportsmen, one being an icon of
the sport - Paul Cayard - and I see
two lawyers that sit here, that
spend their time ashore trying to
impact the outcome of the event
on the water. That’s what I think.
Applause
Peter Montgomery: I know I
said we were going to open it up.
Tom, just touching on what Brad
has said, that Ernesto has got daily
hands on involvement. How much
involvement would Larry be aware
of? Would he be aware of it on a
daily basis, because we know he is
a busy man with huge companies.
And part two, the financial crisis
has had him in the spotlight in the
US, as we all know, in the last two
months anyway.
Tom Ehman: Peter, I think you
taught me long ago that I don’t
necessary have to answer the
question posed to me by a
journalist. Is that fair enough at
this juncture?!
I work with a lot of New
Zealanders, including of course
Russell. There is a word in New
Zealand, called a ‘porkie’. First of
all, first of all. I am not a lawyer. I
am a sailor, like everyone else
here, including Alessandra, who IS
a lawyer.
Secondly BMW Oracle Racing
was, for sure, not planning to do
anything until the Protocol was
released two days after Alinghi
sailed a great regatta and beat
Emirates Team New Zealand. And
then seven teams, including this
gentleman [indicates Stephane
Kandler], including this lady
[indicates Alessandra Pandarese]
including five others,
representatives of their teams,
signed a document calling that
Protocol “the worst text in the
history of the sport”.
It was at that moment that Larry –
Russell wasn’t even involved yet –
Larry started to think about what
we could do, as did all of those
other six Challengers.
And what do you do when the
Defender has created a sham
yacht club? And by the way Brad –
another porkie: None of us ever
took the RFEV to the Arbitration
Panel. Alessandra will vouch for
that. That was simply not the case.
New York YC wrote you a letter,
and said “don’t ever do that again.
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