CC MEETING (MAR) -- Media Statement

For Immediate Release
17th March, 2005 - 18:00


The Challenger Commission for the 32nd America's Cup ("CC") met in Valencia, 15-16 March, hosted in part by Valencia City and the Holiday Inn Valencia. Challenge Representatives from eight of nine official Challengers were present:

- BMW ORACLE (USA) -- Russell Green
- Piu 39 (ITA) -- Luca Devoti (alternate for Paul Henderson)
- Team Shosholoza (RSA) -- Salvatore Sarno
- Emirates Team NZ (NZL) -- James Farmer
- K-Challenge (FRA) -- George Clyde
- Luna Rossa (ITA) -- Bruno Finzi
- Desafio Espanol (ESP) -- John Cutler
- Mascalzone Latino (ITA) -- Tom Weaver (and Alessandra Pandarese, as alternate the second day)

Apologies were received from Victory Challenge (SWE).

Prospective challengers were invited for a portion of the meeting dealing with general business, and the CC were pleased to have representatives of Fresh 17 (Uwe Sasse, Marketing Director) and Sausalito Challenge 2007 (Ashley Tobin, General Counsel) in attendance. Apologies were received from Team C7 Malaysia and China Team/Le Defi, both of which had prior commitments related to their AC efforts. C7 and CT/LD did, however, forward comments on a number of agenda items, which the CC received with appreciation along with significant input from F17 and SC2007.

ACM CEO Michel Bonnefous, ACM COO Michel Hodara, and ACM Director of Operations Christophe Martin were present for a portion of the meeting on 15 March, and ACM Regatta Director Dyer Jones joined via telephone for part of the meeting on 16 March, as did Jury Chairman Bryan Willis.

Main decisions and points of discussion:

1. A proposal by ACM for the Challenger Selection Series scoring/format was, by unanimous decision, not accepted, and the proposal adopted by the CC at its February meeting ("San Fran Plan") affirmed. A working party of John Cutler, Tom Ehman, Bruno Finzi and Dawn Riley was appointed to meet with ACM officials, and attempt to reconcile differences and reach an agreement before the 29 April 2005 final challenge deadline.

2. A number of prospective challengers requested that the CC seek an amendment to the Protocol to postpone the final challenge deadline (29 April 2005) to a date later. This was not supported, and Prospective Challenger Fresh 17 wished to be on record as also not supporting any postponement. Likewise the CC did not support any relaxation of the rule requiring V5 yachts for the 2005 Acts and beyond.

3. A draft Act 4 Notice of Race, previously negotiated by the Chairman with Dyer Jones and Brad Butterworth (Alinghi) following guidance from the CC at their February meeting, was reviewed and supported with minor modifications. Notably, it was suggested that the per-leg time limit be increased from 40 to 45 minutes given the approx. half-mile increase in leg length in 2005 (the target length in 2004 was 2.0-2.5 nautical miles; and will be 2.5-3.0 n.m. in 2005). Also a proposal to delete racing rule 18.4 was not supported, but would be discussed with the Umpires and Defender at a racing rules seminar to be held at Valencia on 9 May. Further to the sail limits previously agreed, a limit of 20 "old sails" (sails registered before the end of AC 31 and those registered in 2004 for Acts 1-3) was agreed.

4. Jury Chairman and Chief Umpire, Bryan Willis, proposed that, in lieu of deleting RRS 17.1, the umpires could make a signal when they are certain a yacht, which is subject to RRS 17.1, must gybe in order not to sail above its proper course. Such a signal would obligate the leeward yacht to gybe at the first reasonable opportunity; a yacht failing to do so would be penalized. The CC received this suggestion with interest and appreciation, will consult their teams, and asked that it be discussed further at the 9 May racing rules seminar.

5. A proposal by the Defender to relax the 18th Crew rule, to allow persons with acknowledged technical or tactical skill to race as 18th Crew, was not supported.

6. It was unanimously agreed that onboard cameramen for the 2005 Acts should be permitted (as they were in 2004) only if ACM and their vendors comply strictly with all required insurance, indemnity and waiver provisions.

7. It was agreed that, during the 2005 Acts, V4 masts should be allowed to be used in the event a team's (only) V5 mast fails; any necessary rules interpretations or amendments will be sought with the Technical Director and Defender.

8. A proposal by K-Challenge to amend the Protocol to ban the use of land-based lidar, radar and similar to track competitors' yachts was unanimously supported, and the Chairman will pursue enactment with the Defender.

9. A proposal from the Regatta Director to add, for Acts 10 and 12 (Valencia 2006), knock-out semifinals and finals for the top four boats at the end of round-robin racing was supported, along with the proposal to have fleet racing for the eliminated teams concurrent with the semis and finals of those Acts. However, each team's Act 10 and 12 final position (carried forward for scoring purposes in accordance with the San Fran Plan and annual ACC championship) would be the position at the end of the match racing, not fleet racing. (Act 11, also in Valencia, is all fleet racing.)

10. Likewise, a proposal for a fleet racing series in 2007 during the Louis Vuitton Cup semis and finals (for all Challengers that do not advance to the semifinals), was generally supported; however a proposal that such a series be match racing instead of fleet racing was not.

11. The Chairman reported on behalf of the Challenger of Record that the ISAF Review Board had received an application from Russell Coutts concerning Protocol Article 13.12, that the Review Board had forwarded the application to the Defender (SNG), the Challenger of Record (GGYC) and ACM asking for a response prior to 21 March, and that a letter has been sent by those three parties back to ISAF drawing their attention to the ISAF-ACM Agreement signed in November, 2003. Under that Agreement the ISAF Review Board has no jurisdiction over the America's Cup. It was also noted that the Agreement states that the America's Cup can adopt, or decline to adopt, any ISAF Rule or Regulation; and that in the case of conflict between ISAF and AC rules or regulations, the AC rules/regulations prevail. The CC received the report and agreed no action was required or appropriate on the part of the CC.

12. The CC continues to strongly oppose, for technical and fairness reasons as well as the enormous expense, the Met Data Service program as currently spec'd by ACM. It was unanimously agreed to form a working party headed by Luis Saenz (Luna Rossa) including team meteorologists to recommend next steps, and, if necessary, prepare a filing with the Jury to formally dispute the matter with ACM and the Defender.

13. The CC asked ACM to forward to all teams the latest site plan for the Super Yacht Pier now under construction in the America's Cup Harbour. Teams will review and comment back to ACM with any concerns.

14. A re-draft of the ACM's proposed license agreement (ACPI) regulating the use by teams and others of AC symbols and trademarks was unanimously approved and will be forwarded to ACM.

15. The CC confirmed its view from previous meetings that, under the Protocol, the name of a country is not "advertising" even if that country is somehow involved in the sponsorship of a team, and welcomed the display of country names on genoas or elsewhere as teams saw fit. Any teams adding their nation to genoas would, for aesthetic reasons, be asked to use lettering in size and location similar to that already displayed by Emirates Team NZ.

16. A proposal from ACM to "update" the Cup logo on the mainsails was referred to the teams' marketing and legal departments. It will be considered further with the Defender (it would be an amendment to the Class Rule requiring unanimous approval of all Competitors), and taken up at the May CC meeting.

17. A number of ongoing, serious concerns regarding marketing, TV, promotion and other commercial issues were discussed at length. Various individuals and working parties were tasked to attempt to resolve the issues with ACM or recommend next steps to the CC at its May meeting.

18. Chairman Tom Ehman re-stated his desire, expressed at the February meeting, to step down following the 29 April 2005 final challenge deadline. George Clyde of K-Challenge has agreed to assume the Chair at the May meeting and to continue at least through the end of 2005, and this was approved unanimously. The CC expressed their appreciation to both.

19. The CC will next meet in Valencia on 10-11 May, and again in Valencia just prior to Act 4 on 12-13 June. A meeting to debrief Act 4 was also scheduled, to take place at 16:00 on Monday, 27 June, also in Valencia.