The ISAF appointed International Jury for the America’s Cup ruled early Wednesday morning on the redress brought by the challenger BMW Oracle.
Five requests for redress were brought before the International Jury by BMW Oracle in their ongoing litigation ahead of the 33rd America’s Cup which is scheduled to start on 8 February. The five-member Jury issued a decision in the early hours of Wednesday morning stating that the America’s Cup organising authority (OA), Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), is correct in setting a start time for the race at 10:06 (local time). There is no Deed of Gift requirement for the start time to be agreed with the challenger as the OA has the responsibility to set the start time.
The Jury also ruled that the Deed of Gift shall prevail over any other conflicting rule and the SNG will amend the Notice of Race (NOR) and Sailing Instructions (SI) to further reinforce this. In another decision, the Jury confirmed that SNG’s race committee will be responsible for determining whether to start or continue a race and in doing so has the obligation to comply with applicable safety and legal obligations. This will be reflected in the Notice of Race (NOR).
While the challenger’s request for redress regarding their intention to dump substances in the sea while racing was denied, the Jury reinforced the fact that all applicable laws must apply to any discharge while racing. The competing parties mutually agreed to modify the rules regarding detection equipment at the challenger’s request.
“We welcome the Jury’s involvement and decisions for the sport. We are confident racing will go ahead as scheduled on Monday – weather permitting – and we are looking forward to finally getting this competition on the water,” said Alinghi team skipper and tactician Brad Butterworth.
It was like the end of a school term at the skippers’ press conference in Stockholm today as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet prepares to tackle leg ten, a final, short, sprint to the overall finish line in St. Petersburg.
By: Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race
By: Rick Tomlinson/Volvo
By: Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race.
Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race.
Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race
Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race.
With just 400 miles remaining in a race around the world that measures over 37,000 nautical miles, and the leaderboard almost entirely decided, the finish line – the real one – is now in sight.
One leaderboard duel does remain. With a maximum of eight points available to the winner of the leg, PUMA leads Telefónica Blue by 6.5 points in the battle to finish second overall in the race.
The forecast is promising for the start on Thursday afternoon. A light northeasterly breeze of 8-10 knots is expected. But, as the leg progresses, the wind is forecast to ease. It could be a long 400 miles.
“This weather forecast is not perfect for us,” said PUMA skipper Ken Read. “We don’t want it to turn into a light air crap shoot because anything can happen that way. Telefónica can go and win the leg by 100 miles if they want; (but) we just have to beat one boat.”
“I think, realistically, they have sewn it up,” countered Telefónica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking. “But it’s yacht racing and hopefully they sail the wrong way, come last and we come first. There would be a lot written if that happened. We’ll certainly be pushing hard for a win.”
Also making an appearance at the press conference today was Team Russia skipper Stig Westergaard, who brought the Russian boat, Kosatka, into Stockholm last night. They haven’t competed since leg three and the team is now engaged in a race against time to get rule compliant ahead of the start.
With Ericsson 4 having mathematically won the Volvo Ocean Race on the leg into Stockholm, the rest of the teams are sailing for pride. And, according to Telefónica Black skipper Fernando Echávarri, that will be motivation enough.
“This is the last chance we have to win a leg and we’ll try to do that,” he said. “It’s more about personal pressure and trying to finish with a leg win, rather than pressure on the overall standing. It’s going to be good (weather) conditions for our boats so we’ll try to do our best to arrive in St Petersburg in the top position.”
Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael agreed it will be a competitive race: “We all owe it to our sponsors to get a good result and we are all very competitive people. A win is important to us.”
There will be full coverage of the start (web tv and audio commentary) and the leg (including a live race blog) at www.volvooceanrace.org and www.volvooceanrace.tv The start is scheduled for 12:00 GMT on Thursday, with an ETA in St. Petersburg on Saturday morning.
A third place finish in leg nine has been enough for Ericsson 4 to provisionally win the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. The team now has a 13-point lead over PUMA, with just 12 points available in the rest of the race.
“We made a few errors on the leg, but we got what we wanted so we’re pretty happy,” said Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael. “We were very close in Marstrand, but now it’s done. It’s finished. We can really enjoy it.”
It was a good night for PUMA as well. After a fearsome catfight with the crew of Stockholm-based Ericsson 3, whose crew wanted a win here in front of their home crowd more than anything, PUMA stole victory on the finish line tonight in Sandhamn (an island in the Stockholm archipelago just east of the capital city), and claimed full points for Volvo Ocean Race leg nine.
Today’s win was PUMA’s first leg victory in this 10-leg race, although they have had a good showing during the in-port racing. Their score of 95 points so far strengthens their second place overall at this stage of the event.
“It feels fantastic and it’s wonderful to be here in Stockholm. We feel a little sad to spoil Ericsson 3’s homecoming, but it’s a great win, and a hard-earned win,” said American skipper Kenny Read.
“Man do we know how to make it hard. I don’t think it has to be this hard, but somehow that’s the only way we seem to have success. We let them [Ericsson 3] go, on a little squall by lighthouse, and they went from half a mile behind, to overtake us. We had to battle back, but none of these guys quit. They sailed a great race and it was quite a drag race.
“When we let them get ahead of us at the lighthouse, I think most teams would have quit right there, but adversity seems to be our friend and we got a little break when they got their jib hung up on the radar dome. It’s a great relief to get our first leg win out of the way,” Read said.
Fighting PUMA for second place overall is Telefónica Blue/Bouwe Bekking, who had the terrible misfortune of being grounded on a rock outside Marstrand shortly after the start. The crew expects to complete this leg and be in Stockholm in time to contest the in-port race on Sunday and thereby pile the pressure back on PUMA.
The largely Nordic crew of Ericsson 3, skippered by the hugely popular, Magnus Olsson, and winners of leg five, the longest leg of the race, had to settle for second place tonight, bringing their overall score to 71.5 points.
“It was very close. That was enough tacks for a lifetime. We wanted so badly to win and now Ken Read has destroyed my party. How mad do you think I am? From now on, I’m really going to pick on him,” joked skipper Swedish Magnus Olsson, when he stepped ashore.
The final podium spot went to Ericsson 4, which ensures her overall victory in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09. Although there is still one leg left to complete before the team crosses the finish for the final time in St Petersburg on 27 June, it is now not possible for them to be beaten.
Skipper Torben Grael said, “We are finishing Ericsson 4’s circumnavigation. The boat was built here and left here nearly a year ago, so she’s back after sailing around the world and winning the race. It couldn’t be any better.
“We have a wonderful crew. A lot of experience. They have been fantastic on the whole leg, the whole race around the world. It’s a pleasure to sail with them and get back to Stockholm in this position,” he said. Read Ericsson 4’s full race statistics here: http://press.volvooceanrace.org/?p=3030#more-3030
Fourth, fifth and six spots were filled by Telefónica Black, Green Dragon and Delta Lloyd.
Leg Nine Finishing Order Stockholm
1. PUMA
2. Ericsson 3
3. Ericsson 4
4. Telefónica Black
5. Green Dragon
6. Delta Lloyd
7. Telefónica Blue SUSPENDED RACING
8. Team Russia DNS
Overall Leaderboard
1. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA): 108 points
2. PUMA (Ken Read/USA): 95.0 points
3. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED): SUSPENDED RACING 86.0 points
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE): 71.5 points
5. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR): 63.0 points
6. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP): 47.0
7. Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP): 38.0 points
8. Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT): 10.5 points
For elapsed times, please go to the Data Centre on the official Volvo Ocean Race website: www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/ and navigate to the Data Tables. You will find the elapsed times are under Position Data.
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