America's Cup gets under way with one-boat race
Source: Agencies |
July 9, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
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THE 34th America's Cup sailing regatta began in San Francisco on Sunday with only one team competing in the first race as Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge sat it out in protest over rule changes it says put it at a disadvantage.
In a bizarre start to a competition that was originally meant to attract a dozen or more international challengers, Emirates Team New Zealand sailed the race course alone in San Francisco Bay in order to formally win the first of several matches in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup will challenge software tycoon Larry Ellison's Oracle Team USA for the America's Cup in September.
Luna Rossa's failure to show up for the midday match that was supposed to kick off the America's Cup "summer of racing" was another setback for an event where little has gone as planned.
Both Luna Rossa, backed by Prada fashion mogul Patrizio Bertelli, and New Zealand have objected to boat design changes that were put in place after a May accident that killed Artemis Racing crew member Andrew Simpson, an Olympic sailing champion from Britain, and wrecked the team's boat.
An international jury is considering the arguments, but a formal hearing was not scheduled until yesterday - a day after the opening race.
After the one-boat race, New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said that while he respected Luna Rossa's decision not to sail and shared the Italian team's concerns about the rule changes, he was disappointed that they refused to sail. "People come down to see a contest and that's what we should be putting on," he said.
In a bizarre start to a competition that was originally meant to attract a dozen or more international challengers, Emirates Team New Zealand sailed the race course alone in San Francisco Bay in order to formally win the first of several matches in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup will challenge software tycoon Larry Ellison's Oracle Team USA for the America's Cup in September.
Luna Rossa's failure to show up for the midday match that was supposed to kick off the America's Cup "summer of racing" was another setback for an event where little has gone as planned.
Both Luna Rossa, backed by Prada fashion mogul Patrizio Bertelli, and New Zealand have objected to boat design changes that were put in place after a May accident that killed Artemis Racing crew member Andrew Simpson, an Olympic sailing champion from Britain, and wrecked the team's boat.
An international jury is considering the arguments, but a formal hearing was not scheduled until yesterday - a day after the opening race.
After the one-boat race, New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said that while he respected Luna Rossa's decision not to sail and shared the Italian team's concerns about the rule changes, he was disappointed that they refused to sail. "People come down to see a contest and that's what we should be putting on," he said.
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