Furious spat as inner-harbour racing outlawed in America’s Cup

Emirates Team New Zealand has said it’s ‘outraged’ that, after three years of planning, the Challenger of Record Luna Rossa has led a campaign through the arbitration panel which ‘has destroyed one of the most exciting benefits of the America’s Cup event for the people of Auckland and visitors from throughout New Zealand’.

“The America’s Cup Arbitration Panel has issued a ruling overnight that effectively cancels the use of the inner harbour stadium race courses for all racing of the Prada Cup and America’s Cup Match,” says Emirates Team New Zealand in a statement very focused on the negative repercussions to the accessibility of the event for the public, and to laying the blame at Luna Rossa’s feet.

The two courses affected are in the Rangitoto Channel closest to Auckland’s inner-city waterfront and along the North Shore’s eastern beaches. Both allow land-based spectators to watch the competition.

Luna Rossa says it’s all about sporting fairness.

The challenging team says it’s ‘disappointed’ by Emirates Team New Zealand’s press statement, and is keen to explain why the arbitration panel made the decision to exclude racecourses B and C from the 36th America’s Cup.

“The America’s Cup is governed by a set of rules accepted by all challengers and the defender: the protocol. This guarantees the sporting fairness of the event,” a Luna Rossa statement says.

“A fundamental rule of the protocol (3.1) specifically provides that all the PRADA Cup challengers selection series races must be sailed ‘within the course areas of the match’.

“In early September, the Challenger of Record discovered, without having been previously involved nor informed by the defender, that the round robins and the semi-finals of the challengers’ selection series – the PRADA Cup – could not be sailed on courses B and C, designated as preferred courses for the final match.”

This, says Luna Rossa, is a situation that Emirates Team New Zealand has kept hidden since the end of January/beginning of February.

All three challengers, Ineos Team UK, American Magic and Luna Rossa, who brought the case to arbitration, argued that only courses available for the entirety of the regatta should be used.

“Upon learning of the situation, the Challenger of Record COR 36, supported by all the challengers, requested that the above-mentioned rule 3.1 be enforced,” the Luna Rossa statement continues.

With the aim to restore sporting fairness and equity, the arbitration panel ruled that either racecourses B and C could be used for all the regattas of the PRADA Cup, or they could not be used at all.

“Quite frankly, we are outraged by this decision, it has gone against everything we have been trying to achieve over the last three years, with no consideration to the effect this has on the public of New Zealand and the city of Auckland,” says Emirates Team New Zealand CEO, Grant Dalton, who must be feeling the heat and reeling from the decision after only just getting cleared of financial impropriety.

But, says Luna Rossa: “The attacks by Emirates Team New Zealand are intended solely at discrediting the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team with populist pretexts that tend to mask the attempt to gain an unfair advantage over the challengers who, we repeat, unanimously supported COR 36 by each lodging their own independent submission.”