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| | Friday, November 19 | |||||
| AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- New York's Young America was stripped of a point Saturday (Friday in the United States) in the America's Cup challenger series after officials found it made a false claim about damage to its boat.
The decision came after the international jury reopened a
protest hearing into whether the New York Yacht Club's syndicate
was able to start its race against Young Australia on Wednesday.
Young America withdrew from the race, but was awarded one point
by the jury after complaining that officials didn't properly
consider a request to postpone the start so the team could fix what
it said was a problem with the boat's gooseneck, which fixes the
boom to the mast.
After an initial hearing, the jury decided that race officials
had made a procedural error by not consulting Young America about
the problem before going ahead with the race.
But after hearing the voices of Young America sailors caught by
a television camera just prior to the start, the jury decided the
damage was much more serious than the team claimed and that there
was no chance the boat could be repaired in time to race.
In the tapes played to the jury, an unidentified voice talks about a crack on the boat and says the team should "get on home."
"We can't race here," the voice says. "If we blow the boat we're all done, man."
The $40 million syndicate is sailing its second boat after the first cracked apart during an earlier race and almost sank.
Chairman Bryan Willis said that after hearing the new tapes the
jury was "satisfied that Young America had little or no chance to
win the match against Young Australia. Before, we believed they
might have had a 50-50 chance of winning."
Skipper Ed Baird told reporters Thursday it was the gooseneck
that stopped Young America from racing, but admitted later the deck
of the boat had cracked.
Reuters reported that if the New York Yacht Club is found to have presented false evidence to
the jury, punishment options range from deduction of points up to
expulsion of the team from the regatta.
Young America remains sixth among the 11 challengers fighting it
out for the chance to take on defender New Zealand next year for
yachting's most prized trophy.
The second round-robin of the challenger series officially finished Friday, although three races that were deferred earlier were run Saturday.
AmericaOne had a comfortable 48-second win victory the French
team, Japan's Nippon defeated Young Australia by 4 minutes, 12
seconds, and Hawaiian team Abracadabra's hard-fought victory over
the Spanish team was enough for it to move up one place in the
standings.
Italy's Prada tops the standings with 46 points, followed by
America True (38), Stars and Stripes (36.5), AmericaOne (36),
Nippon (29.5), Young America (24), Spanish Challenge (17),
Abracadabra 2000 (16), Le Defi Francais (14), Young Australia (9),
Fast 2000 (8).
Victories in the third round-robin, which is scheduled to start
Dec. 2, will be worth nine points each.
|  ALSO SEE Second-round schedule and results
Troubles mount for Young America
Cracked hull has Young America against the gun
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